"There is a lot of action but not necessarily a lot of results," said Bruce Schneier, the chief technology officer at Counterpane Internet Security and the author of Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly about Security in an Uncertain World." Schneier is also one of seven security experts who penned a report warning that Microsoft's dominance in the IT market carries a risk of catastrophic failure.
The risks to the IT infrastructure have even Microsoft's competitors hoping that the company gets it right.
"On the macro level, you want every vendor to do a better job of security," said Mary Ann Davidson, the chief security officer at database maker Oracle.
Davidson sees Microsoft's focus on security, paired with the fact that the company admits to losing sales because of security issues, as proof that customers can demand better products. "You have the moral liability to your customers -- they bet their business on your software," she said. "They expect it not to break, and they should get that."
For its part, Microsoft is repeating a mantra of a year ago: patience -- security is a journey.
"You can't turn around the infrastructure in 24 months," said Scott Charney, a Microsoft security strategist who has repeatedly likened the initiative to NASA's 10-year march to the moon.
"You need better education, you need better tools, better technology," he said. "Are we committed to providing those things? Yes. Are we making progress? Yes. But are we anywhere near done? No."
Analyst O'Grady said he'd give Microsoft "improved marks". "But are they where they need to be? No, they are not. The numbers indicate that they are at least taking it seriously."
CNET News.com's Mike Ricciuti contributed to this report.
