How bad is Microsoft software?

They could tell you, but then they'd have to kill you.

Seriously, Microsoft bigwig Jim Allchin is answering proposed antitrust remedies which involve the release of their source code by arguing that that release would reveal flaws in the software which would compromise national security. Which would be laughable, except for the alleged billions of dollars worth of damage already done by worms and viruses exploiting holes in Internet Explorer, and particularly Outlook.

So, is this the desperate cry of an engineer with a guilty conscience, or the last-ditch gambit of a lawyer with none?