Linux and other open-source security programs are quickly gaining ground on Microsoft's products. Can Redmond turn it around?

Historians tracing the tectonic movements of Microsoft have at their disposal a nifty shortcut: the company's habit of outlining its future through memos. From 20-year-old Harvard student Bill Gates's infamous "Open Letter to Hobbyists" (in which he chided his fellow computer enthusiasts for not paying for software), to the 1995 watershed "Internet tidal wave" memo, to 1998's "Halloween" memo warning of the impending Linux threat, the company likes to use these screeds to hint at its next steps. And so it did in a memo Gates sent to Microsoft employees in January, calling on them to embrace "trustworthy" computing. Gates wasn't asking his workers simply to do the right thing; rather, he knew that security would be a top priority in the post-Sept. 11 times. He also realized that security is one area in which Microsoft has fallen well short of the mark. "When we face a choice between adding features and resolving security issues," Gates wrote, "we need to choose security. Our products should emphasize security right out of the box."