Is Windows inherently more vulnerable to malware attacks than OS X?

I already cited one in post 36. Want another?

Another random point:

Windows requires that users log in with administrative privileges to install software...

"Windows" requires no such thing - poorly written software, created with no sense of how Windows access-controls work, requires one to have administrative privileges to install software. Are such things unique to Microsoft? Try installing iTunes or Quicktime on your OS X box without the administrative username and password - see how far you get.

I already cited one in post 36. Want another?

You're right, bfobserver doesn't have a man page in XCode 2.3. I haven't checked in 2.4 yet. But it's a rare daemon that doesn't have a man page, and compared to Window, the documentation for components in Mac OS X is much better.

Are such things unique to Microsoft? Try installing iTunes or Quicktime on your OS X box without the administrative username and password - see how far you get.

Mac OS X Installers use "Authorization Services" to perform privileged operations. That is not the same as logging on, but it does require an administrative password - and after the operation is completed, the privilege level reverts back to normal user levels.

But it's a rare daemon that doesn't have a man page, and compared to Window, the documentation for components in Mac OS X is much better.

If that was the point being made, I might not have called it out as an example of wrongheadedness. But the point in question was that Apple daemons always have man pages, and that third parties are somehow obligated to produce them as well. Well, the first part is, as I've demonstrated, simply false, and the second part is silly enough that I didn't bother addressing it. At best, any "duty" to present man pages is a sort of moral obligation at best. And any proposition predicated on the (implied) premise that people who program for Macs are somehow nobler and better people, who always, always, always do the right thing and never take shortcuts, and never cut corners and never rush deadlines, and never omit man pages, as opposed to those slackers who program for other platforms...well, that's pretty much too goofy for words.

Of course. Of course, "runas" does virtually the same thing, which doesn't require you to log on as the administrator either, so the claim that "Windows requires that users log in with administrative privileges to install software" is similarly false.

I didn't have to stop there, I assure you - I can pick out other points that are simply wrong, if you like. But why bother? The article is completely wrong in its argument, but ironically probably right in its conclusion. Windows probably is inherently more susceptible to malware than OS X. Of course, the guy who wrote this piece doesn't really have a clue why that is, though, as is evident by the fact that he totally missed out on naming the things that are real problems, and put the blame on a host of things that aren't really problems at all.

It happens. Computer columnists are like computer salesmen. And the only difference between a computer salesman and a used-car salesman is that that the used-car salesman knows when he's lying to you.

The author was writing from the perspective of an enterprise-class server administrator, so all of the daemons on his Mac server may have man pages.

I have my machine configured differently - with XCode and the undocumented fbobserver. The user experience for software developers is atypical, and weird stuff like fbobserver just goes with the territory.

And any proposition predicated on the (implied) premise that people who program for Macs are somehow nobler and better people, who always, always, always do the right thing and never take shortcuts, and never cut corners and never rush deadlines, and never omit man pages, as opposed to those slackers who program for other platforms...well, that's pretty much too goofy for words.

We do try to be noble. Thanks for pointing out a couple of exceptions to the rules.

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