i think anyone with a good security sense would be avoiding windows xp any ways. the system has many flaws and even with the implementaion of microsoft's security patches (some of which were released the same day xp was) can still be very insecure. not to mention that most people complain of their system becoming unstable after the patches and hotfixes. microsoft's answer to this? only install the hotfixes and patches you really "need", so i suppose after you get hacked or exploited, you know which ones you need.
if you are going to use windows, the most stable and secure still seems to be windows 2000 pro sp2.