Apple disclosing more vulnerabilities than any other vendor

Computerworld Australia vis Infoworld.com ^ | Aug 6, 2008 | Darren Pauli

[BRK]

Apple has taken the place of Microsoft for disclosing more vulnerabilities than any other vendor, according to an IBM security report. The company rose from second place in 2007 to take the top spot away from Microsoft, which had fallen into third place behind open source content management system Joomla.

[Swordmaker]

Sorry, but you don’t persuade me. He was responsible for dealing with viruses. He is Mac friendly and your inference is that he is not.

I'm responsible for dealing with viruses for my clients. That's the way I make a living. I own a business that specializes in support for small businesses and professional offices. I have both PC and Mac using business clients. NOT ONE of my Mac using clients has ever been infected by any type of malware. None of them are running cycle stealing anti-ware like Windows machines must to remain clean. Every one of my PC using clients has been impacted in some way by malware. None of the Mac using clients have. Those are facts.

Sorry, but persuading you is not the issue. The truth is the issue.

His claims about "just as many viruses attacking Macs as Windows," makes him a FUD spreader and someone who literally does not know what he is talking about. Facts are facts. There are literally over a 100,000 Windows viruses in the wild and over 300,000 total malware including spyware and adware. There are ZERO self-replicating, self-transmitting viruses for the OSX Mac. Even for the previous classic Mac OS (version 9.2 and under), there were only a total of 114 viruses! That is a fact. For him to claim otherwise is a lie or he is deluded. That makes me suspect his claim of owning a Mac "at home."

If he were working IT for me, he would be out of a job, spreading howlers like that. It would make me seriously doubt his judgement and analytical abilities.

Are there vulnerabilities that might be exploited in the Mac? Of course. Have they been exploited to cause damage to even a small number of Mac users—no. A few careless idiots downloading a video codec trojan from a porn site got their browsers' URL parser hijacked. That number is under 50 users. Not a virus. They had to download it, give it permission to uncompress even though the system was telling it was an application and not a codec, give it permission to install despite the system warning them again, and finally give it permission to run... despite the system telling them it was an application downloaded off the internet. That kind of stupidity deserves its fate. It is easily fixed by deleting one file.

[antiRepublicrat]

I am bored with the topic now and I have had my fun

It appears you are admitting you are trolling. Reported vulnerabilities are important only if they aren't patched, and Apple has been guilty of waiting too long for a patch in some cases (but then, so has Microsoft, so much that hackers wrote patches before Microsoft did).

but what I could do is go back and dig through the FreeRepublic archives and pull up a few of the more choice quotes I have heard in the past

Most of what I remember concerns a superior architecture that makes it harder to exploit any known vulnerabilities, and the lack of exploits in the wild.

[astyanax]

“This kinda stuff worked in High School. I have no idea why folks try it here however.”

Because it obviously didn’t work, right?!
100 posts later...

[astyanax]

Oooooh! They brought out the “big guns.” ;o)
I figured you guys would be all over the security aspect here.
Instead it’s been nothing but uptight Apple guys.
And those like me, goading the trolls...

[astyanax]

re: ads
I always got the impression that the gist of their argument was:
“Too stupid to use a P.C.? Buy a Mac!”

It didn’t seem like a very effective argument, except maybe for the AOL crowd.

[astyanax]

And now who did I offend w/ the AOL comment?!
Sorry.

[Leonard210]

What BRK attempted to do was goad fellow Freepers who use Macintosh computers into displaying a preconceived behavior which he alternatively describes as drooling, obnoxious, smug, etc. The behavior that you can scroll through, however, was quite the opposite. Take a closer look astyanax. You'll see that what was actually posted by Mac users were well reasoned corrections to the perception that BRK attempted to paint. In addition, if you'll look again, you'll notice that many of the Mac folks here are cross platform computer specialists. None seemed smug, drooling or obnoxious. Either you and I have been reading different threads or you haven't actually read any of the dialog here.

[astyanax]

I disagree. He was quite upfront about his intent.
He wasn’t attempting to goad anyone into displaying preconceived behavior.
He was gloating about previously displayed behavior.
Not sure which thread you’ve been reading, but I certainly gave no mention to “smug, drooling or obnoxious.”

[Leonard210]

I disagree. He was quite upfront about his intent.

OK, now you're not even reading MY posts. We actually AGREE that BRK was upfront about his intent. That is PRECISELY what I stated in my post.

He was gloating about previously displayed behavior.

Er, from other Freepers? Where? I've been lurking for as long as you have and posting for quite a while longer and I haven't seen it on Free Republic. If you seek to impose a behavior on fellow Freepers that you have observed at other websites, then that's prerogative. You are incorrect, however.

Not sure which thread you’ve been reading, but I certainly gave no mention to “smug, drooling or obnoxious.”

Seriously astyanax. You're new to posting my friend. It's best to slow down, take a few breaths, and actually read. I CLEARLY stated that "What BRK attempted to do was goad fellow Freepers who use Macintosh computers into displaying a preconceived behavior which he alternatively describes as drooling, obnoxious, smug, etc." Is it possible that you are actually BRK and that you have been posting under two different screen names? Seems you appeared about the time BRK disappeared.

[astyanax]

We may agree that he was upfront about his intent,
but we certainly disagree as to what his intent WAS.
You said it was to goad. I stated it was to gloat.
They are not the same thing.

“Where?” Ask BRK.

Jimmy Hoffa, is that you?
Correlation is not causation...

[itsahoot]

That was during his drug period.

Pre and Post, check his show online, he has several Macs in play, all the latest, toys installed. Money is no object when Rush buys his toys.

[SaveTheChief]

I have a question for you two.

Running Vista on a Mac, do the drivers for USB ports and everything else work as if they would on a PC box? The reason I ask is because there is certain Windows based software I must use for my job, and it requires uploading and downloading data to other equipment. I've been using a USB to serial port adapter to connect to the machines that only have a serial port.

I'm actually very interested in getting a MacBook, but this concern keeps me from considering it seriously.

[itsahoot]

Honest question: what apps do you use that aren’t available on a P.C.? Or is it a matter of security, ease of use, etc.?

Honest answer, I seldom need anything that doesn't come with the Mac. I use ElGato TV recording software for Video. I used to do a lot of Filemaker Pro stuff, and Hypercard before that. But the last few years my skill level has declined, since I retired.

There are programs that people need, or seem to need on the PC, But I have never had need of any of them, I do however have XP installed via Parallels, for that occasional Explorer web site.

I replace equipment at least every three years, just for the heck of it, I no longer buy top line Mac Pros, iMacs do just fine for my needs, and pass on the older stuff to people that need them. They usually run another 5 years or so. Trouble free unless the receiver has never used a computer before, and yes, there are people in my age bracket that fit that description.

[ReignOfError]

always got the impression that the gist of their argument was: “Too stupid to use a P.C.? Buy a Mac!”

Just like all those car ads for people who are "too stupid" to perform auto maintenance and want something reliable; all those ads for restaurants for people who are too stupid to cook.

Sometimes I wonder if Windows advocates were medieval theologians in a past life. They're distrustful of and insulting toward folks who choose the easier path, as if the suffering itself were ennobling. Come to think of it, Microsoft missed a great ad opportunity for back-to-school: "Buy your kid a Windows PC. It builds character!"

[ReignOfError]

Running Vista on a Mac, do the drivers for USB ports and everything else work as if they would on a PC box?

I have limited experience with this, but in Boot Camp, support for USB devices should be identical to any other Windows box. In Parallels or VMWare, it's a little more complicated, because the virtualization software has to mediate between two OSes that are each trying to "own" the same device; sometimes you have to prompt the virtual machine to connect to a device that would otherwise be "plug and play."

I can only think of two ways to be sure it'll work on the Mac. One is to contact the software vendor and ask if they know of any conflicts between their software and virtualization software. Some vendors that don't support Macs recommend that they run a Windows virtual machine, and actively support that. The other option is to borrow or rent a Mac and try it. Ideally with someone who knows the virtualization software well, but I've had good luck finding answers online.

[astyanax]

I said nothing about whom the ads were geared towards,
just that the ads themselves seemed to give that impression.

[SaveTheChief]

Thanks for your reply. I would likely be using Boot Camp for this, so based on what you said it doesn't sound like there would be much of a problem. As long as the computer is running Windows and it "thinks" it is a PC, I should be good to go with the software I use... I think.

I'll try contacting the vendor to see if they know of anyone else who does this.

[astyanax]

Thanks for the honest answer.
I know the artistic/ music crowd likes the Mac’s.
I’ve worked on just about everything
(we still get the occasional SUN SPARCstation through here)
but the majority of universities and gov’t agencies seem to use pc’s.
(or maybe the Mac’s just don’t need fixing!)

[astyanax]

BTW, “P.C.” and “Windows” are not synonymous.
One is hardware. The other is an O.S.
(One of many O.S.’s!)

[jrg]

Are you running microsoft OS on a Intel chip?

Yep
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed 800MHz frontside bus