Were there any Microsoft XP security issues caused by "Easter eggs" prior to that policy change? Or was this just put in place as a policy because it was easy to put in place?
It seems kinda harsh but it's important to remember the context: at the time, the security situation in Windows and Office was dire and it was (probably correctly) perceived as an existential threat to the company. I think "no Easter eggs" was as much for optics as for its actual effect on the codebase, a way to signal "we know about and stand behind every line of code that gets written; nothing is unaccounted for".