Flint, I’m so computer challenged, I belong in remedial classes. ;-)
OK, well to summarize:
This attack was originally published in 2005. Any machine with an IEEE 1394 (Firewire) port is vulnerable provided the hacker has a Linux machine ready (or, in one case, a malicious iPod) and physical access to your machine. The real kicker is that with physical access to a machine, other attacks are possible. It’s of very little concern (if any) to the average user, especially since not that many computers have Firewire connections.
It also has next to nothing to do with companies who design and build operating systems (regardless of whether it’s Apple or Windows) because it’s part of the Firewire standard.