As a company, and as individuals, Microsoft (MSFT) really does value honesty and openness. Consider this: In a presentation yesterday at RSA 2008 in San Francisco, David Cross, a product unit manager at Microsoft, explained the design concept behind the User Account Control in Windows Vista in the following very honest, very open way:

The reason we put UAC into the platform was to annoy users. I’m serious.”

A true credit to the company, that Cross.

If that truly is the reason for UAC’s inclusion in Vista, it’s served its purpose well.