[BubbaBasher]

In the end, though, hacker disinterest in Mac OS X has more to do with numbers, as in market share, than in what protective measure Apple adds to the OS. "It's harder to write exploits for Windows than the Mac," Miller said, "but all you see are Windows exploits. That's because if [the hacker] can hit 90% of the machines out there, that's all he's gonna do. It's not worth him nearly doubling his work just to get that last 10%."

This is what I have maintained all along. The same goes for all the Linux variations as well. I'm loving my new Windows 7 64 bit PC. A quad core AMD CPU clocked at 3.2Mhz, 4 Gbs of dual channel RAM, a BluRay/HD/DVD optical drive, 1 Tb hard drive, 7.1 surround sound audio, and HDMI video output. Total cost: $1,000.

[Brookhaven]

But...but...but...Apple’s are immune to viruses!!!!

Why do people hate America? It’s the worlds big dog. Why do people target Windows for viruses? It’s the computer world’s big dog.

Linux is succeptible to viruses, but has two things going for it: 1. it isn’t a big target, 2. there are tons of developer eyes looking at it, so vunerabilites get found and corrected quickly.

I suspect at some point Apple is going to get bitten bad by a virus. Because it is a closed OS, nobody really knows what vunerabilities have been found, but haven’t been publicised by Apple.

[dayglored]

You guys gotta see this. Same old anti-Mac, anti-Linux misdirection... all over again.

Microsoft's ramping up the FUD campaign in preparation for the Windows 7 rollout in a month.

I like Win7, and am using it happily, but there's no excuse for this kind of misleading stuff.

[krb]

Are you using a Phenom II 940? If so, what OC settings are you using?

I have one of those with 8GB of cheap ECC memory. It is the most stable system I have ever owned. I’d love to see if I couldn’t get some more cycles out of it, though.

[coon2000]

Good for you! You win a cookie! Just keep repeating, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”

[dartuser]

Please ... do tell where you got it or list your components if self-built.

[dayglored]

> ...hacker disinterest in Mac OS X has more to do with numbers, as in market share, than in what protective measure Apple adds to the OS. "It's harder to write exploits for Windows than the Mac," Miller said, "but all you see are Windows exploits. That's because if [the hacker] can hit 90% of the machines out there, that's all he's gonna do. It's not worth him nearly doubling his work just to get that last 10%." This is what I have maintained all along. The same goes for all the Linux variations as well. I'm loving my new Windows 7 ...

I'm glad you like Win7. I like it too.

Now think for a minute. There are 35,000,000+ Macs on the internet running OS-X. Virtually ALL of them are being operated by non-techies, running with full admin privilege. Virtually NONE of them have any 3rd-party anti-virus protection whatsoever.

A useful botnet is 30,000 machines. A big botnet is 100,000 machines.

If a virus-writer could write a successful virus for OS-X, they could immediately have A THOUSAND BOTNETS that are useful, or maybe 300 BIG botnets.

And no competition from other virus writers! Wow, what a great opportunity -- millions of machines wide open and no competition!

Yet there is NOT A SINGLE SUCH VIRUS in the wild. The only exploits for Macs are user-operated trojans that are human-engineered for the operator to spread their legs.

The reason is that OS-X is, at its core, Unix, which is inherently much more secure than Windows, even Win7, which is still the NT codebase. Security by design, not by marketshare. DESIGN. Unix was done right. Windows could have been, but wasn't. Someday it will, but that's not today.

Your argument just doesn't hold water -- it's the same old FUD about marketshare. Sorry, it's an old, discredited argument.

[taxcontrol]

Do tell where you got the box please. While I am a Linux bug, I have a friend who is shopping.

[Terpfen]

Put ASLR and DEP in an operating system, Miller argued, and it's much more difficult for hackers to create working attack code. "If you don't have either, or just one of the two [ASLR or DEP], you can still exploit bugs, but with both, it's much, much harder."

The presence of ASLR and DEP on Windows XP, Vista, and 7 machines has not stopped the proliferation of viruses, spyware, trojans, and other assorted malware. In fact, proliferation is at an all-time high.

FUD article.

[antiRepublicrat]

Full of FUD, but I was a bit dissapointed that Snow Leopard didn’t use ASLR.

However, ASLR is only one bit on the back end to reduce the possibility of a successful intrusion being able to do its work. Attacks are just plain harder in the first place with OS X.

IOW, ASLR would have just been icing on the cake for OS X, while it was sorely needed by Windows.

[bmwcyle]

bttt