Why Can’t Microsoft Just Patch Everything?

If smaller software companies can patch all of their bugs serious or minor, ZDNet’s George Ou asks, why can’t Microsoft — with its massive army of programmers and massive budget — patch all of its vulnerabilities? Had Microsoft fixed a low risk browser vulnerability six months ago, perhaps we could have avoided last week’s zero-day exploit. Currently, more than two dozen Windows XP issues remain unpatched. Ou thinks Microsoft ought to fix them all.

I never thought of this before, but it’s very true. Are the programmers twiddling their thumbs? Check out the posting at Slashdot, which links to a ZD Net blog.