The reason that there isn't more press about Mac vulnerabilities is that the virus writers don't bother with hacking Macs - there isn't enough of an installed base for it to be worth their while. But since virtually everyone uses some flavor of Windows, that's the prime target. So Microsoft products get hit again and again, and their OS's get the reputation of being insecure, while Mac OS's fly serenely under the radar and are treated like the prize pig at the State Fair. Gates' point, I think, is that Microsoft is getting tough and tested from all these attacks, while Apple isn't. Gates' problem is that he is unfortunately inarticulate for a Harvard man.
The reason that there isn't more press about Mac vulnerabilities is that the virus writers don't bother with hacking Macs - there isn't enough of an installed base for it to be worth their while.
The Mac "Security by obscurity" myth is just that: a myth.
Consider the case of the Witty Worm. The Witty Worm was a Windows worm, really quite nasty, that was written to infect Windows server computers that were protected by Internet Security Systems' BlackICE Firewall.
Three months before Witty was released into the wild, ISS released a security update that CLOSED the vulnerability that Witty exploited. By the time Witty was out, all but around 10,000 ISS BlackICE protected computers had been patched. The 10,000 or so computers were spread-out all over the world in over 24 countries.
Within 45 minutes of Witty's release, ALL ~10,000 WERE INFECTED!
The point of this story is that any and every computer on the internet is as close as next door... scarcity has no function in avoiding infection on the internet because of the vast interconnection and high speed which anything can be sent.
There are approximately 22,000,000 Mac OS X computers in the installed base. TWENTY TWO million. That's 2,200 times less scarce that the Windows computers that were susceptible to Witty. It probably can be safely said that the vast majority of those Macs do not run any anti-malware apps at all. Yet not one, ZERO, viruses have been found in the wild in six years.
Gates' point, I think, is that Microsoft is getting tough and tested from all these attacks, while Apple isn't.
The core of Apple's OS X is FreeBSD UNIX, one of the most secure OSes in the world. It has undergone 30+ years of trial by fire and patching by the open source community. The code is open. Anyone can look for vulnerabilities... and any one can patch one they find.
The reason that there isn't more press about Mac vulnerabilities is that the virus writers don't bother with hacking Macs . . .
There have been a few Proof-of-Concept viruses such as Leap-A/Oompa-Loompa, Renepo, InqtanaA and MacArena... but at best, they are Trojan Horse applications and have never been seen outside of a Computer security laboratory. . . and they require an Administrator' Name and Password to be installed. Each and everyone of these were trumpeted in the press... the vaunted Mac has been brought down by the (insert name here)... but after examination, the Mac community laughed at the FUD and went on, unimpressed and uninfected.
Have you hit all your talking points yet?
Complete horse sh*t. Great fame awaits the hacker who can penetrate OS X.
-ccm
Gates, like Jobs, is a college drop-out (which says something about success being antithetical with a higher degree).