In my soon-to-be-published paper, I make a point that it is a good idea for vendors to make friends with security researchers in an effort to encourage delayed disclosure (some people call it 'responsible' disclosure).

It is interesting then to see that Microsoft will be throwing a party for security researchers at BlackHat. This, along with their BlueHat efforts is a very good idea. I look forward to seeing if it pays off given the past (and somewhat current) negative opinion of some security practitioners towards Microsoft. Or, more simply, will it have a material effect on the number of Microsoft 0days?