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This is not really a surprise, but I do want to make a few observations.

Apple’s total desktop/laptop market share as of July 2015 is approximately 8%. Microsoft also sits atop the heap for web client operating systems at 50% while Apple sits around 15%. These numbers are based on user agent statistics which is a measure of the core OS running the browser, not the browser itself.

This means that over 90% of the operating systems running around the world are Windows-based and around 50% of the on-the-wire systems around the world that are doing regular business on the web are Windows systems. These are stark numbers. Apple’s market share has always been behind the curve, and they’ve marketed their security as a selling point. However, as more platform jumpers have gone over to Apple, they’ve brought some of their bad habits and desires for crappy software (I’m looking at you, Flash). As such, the desire to compromise Apple products has increased, and there have been successful attempts, albeit with very specific requirements.

There’s absolutely no doubt that Apple’s found a very delicate balance between security and functionality. This is the aim of all security-minded corporations. On the one hand, you have Linux and Unix with core operating system kernels that are hardened to the point of being almost impossible to crack. You have Apple’s operating systems that are balanced for a user’s experience. Then you have Microsoft’s Windows operating system which is designed to run on almost any platform with any hardware configuration and is packaged in such a way that legacy support is on-disk and provided out-of-the-box. As a longtime Microsoft engineer, I can tell you that this is Microsoft’s Achille’s heel.

That brings me to my final point. With the introduction of Windows 10 and an increasingly favorable adoption rate, I believe we are going to see a marked shift in security for Windows as a platform. Microsoft is taking no prisoners in their latest operating system iteration and have been very public with their desire to completely eradicate legacy support in lieu of a safer user experience. This is going to usher in a less vulnerable core operating system while maintaining the functionality of the Windows platform. Make no mistake, folks, Microsoft is the biggest target for hackers, and they know it. They are finally aiming to do something substantive about it.

Then you have Microsoft’s Windows operating system which is designed to run on almost any platform with any hardware configuration and is packaged in such a way that legacy support is on-disk and provided out-of-the-box. As a longtime Microsoft engineer, I can tell you that this is Microsoft’s Achille’s heel.

Except for Nano Server.

legacy support is on-disk and provided out-of-the-box. As a longtime Microsoft engineer, I can tell you that this is Microsoft's Achille's heel.

Does microsoft still parse audio and video in the kernel?

However, as more platform jumpers have gone over to Apple, they’ve brought some of their bad habits and desires for crappy software (I’m looking at you, Flash).

Apple Macs are safer. But I'm in agreement that users have brought bad habits as they move from Windows to Macs. I spent years as a Windows Admin fixing problems. A lot of problems were created by idiot users loading crap on their machines. I had to repeatedly re-ghost machines that were corrupted, and put in security measures to block users. Problems would come back due to those same users, for various reasons (often due to politics where they had friends bypass security measures).

I've had to admonish Mac users to not use the default admin account as their main account, as well as to make use of a secure password. I mean these as common sense precautions that people ignore. Having a fence around your property does no good if the gate is always open and unlocked. Idiots invite problems. If you use common sense precautions, Apple Macs are inherently safer than Windows machines.

Apple’s total desktop/laptop market share as of July 2015 is approximately 8%. Microsoft also sits atop the heap for web client operating systems at 50% while Apple sits around 15%. These numbers are based on user agent statistics which is a measure of the core OS running the browser, not the browser itself. This means that over 90% of the operating systems running around the world are Windows-based

The latter would only be true if all the world was using Desktops, but which has radically changed. I myself use Windows, but my web site now shows over 60% of hits coming from mobile browsers.

See Mobile Exceeds PC Internet Usage for First Time in History In early 2014, the landscape in which businesses operate changed forever when Internet usage on mobile devices exceeded PC usage. - http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/opinion/2353616/mobile-now-exceeds-pc-the-biggest-shift-since-the-internet-began

1. Mobile Media Time Is Now Greater Than Desktop and Other Media The latest data shows that we are now well past the tipping point mentioned at the top of this post. Mobile digital media time in the US is now significantly higher at 51% compared to desktop (42%)

. 2. Mobile vs desktop device usage The trend in mobile device usage ('vertical screens') compared to all screen use again shows that we're well past the tipping point. - http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/

53% of total email opens occurred on a mobile phone or tablet in Q3 2014. This is an increase from the 48% percent seen in Q2 2014. – Experian “Quarterly email benchmark report” (Q3 2014)