Users took a cautious attitude to that claim, saying it is something that will be clear only with time. Mark Olson, manager of information security at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said that so far at least, Microsoft appears to be on the right track with its TWC initiative. But Beth Israel Deaconess has yet to deploy any products that have emerged from the SDL process, he said.

"Till [such a product] is deployed and we have a solid 18 months of runtime, I won't know for sure if they have gotten any better," he said, adding, "It's wise to be wary of sales pitches."

Still, he said Microsoft's patch release processes and its efforts to develop tools such as its rootkit detector have been positive steps forward.

Marcin Czabanski, chief security officer at Medical Network One, a Rochester, Mich.-based provider of managed health care services, said he is taking a "wait and see" attitude toward Microsoft's claims of improved security.

"There have been a lot of improvements of their processes, and their products are more stable," Czabanski said. Even so, he plans to hold off on deploying Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista operating system across his enterprise until there is reasonable evidence that it's secure. Microsoft also needs to improve the reliability of its patches, he said, noting that there have been a few occasions in the past where his company has had to reinstall patches from Microsoft that were initially faulty.