On October 1, 2003, Microsoft announced that it would release its security fixes on a fixed monthly schedule. The day became known as Patch Tuesday, the second Tuesday of each month. Microsoft said “patch timing was the number one customer request.”
Today more than 100 security fixes in one month is common. Fixes that cannot wait are released “out-of-band.”
The customers did not ask for software without flaws. They asked to know when the fixes would come.