PseudoRandomDragon Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Macs are more of a target than may come to believe. Companies are interested in the browsing habbits of Mac users. How many Mac users use IE? Do they update it? What games do they like the most? All information that companies like. Just becaue Mac users are a minority does not mean that they are not targeted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PureEdit Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Easy to say since it will never happen. :whistle: Well it wouldn't. If it were that easy to exploit, windows fan boys like you would write spyware and virus's for OS X to **** off mac users. And who ever said it doesn't bother you to run spyware scans once a week, that is just an example of how you have been influenced by MS to except things not being as good as they could be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aristotle-dude Posted June 5, 2004 Author Share Posted June 5, 2004 Easy to say since it will never happen and therefore no way to verify. :whistle:Also wtf is "beiged"? That should be besieged. :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzla Veteran Posted June 5, 2004 Veteran Share Posted June 5, 2004 That's total BS. The smallest mac security holes HAVE made it onto news sites like the president would having an affair on his wife.Granted that, OS X *IS* not that "popular" with viruses and the like for this reason, and so far all the exploits have been discovered by accident, not by some h4x0r wanting to take down the platform. On the other hand, OS X is written as stupidly as windows. I've NEVER to this day seen any other OS so easily exploitable that it has security problems by simply plugging it into an unprotected network. Having said that, a lot of you are forgetting that the average OS X box is definitely more secure than the average XP box, out of the box and onto a fresh connection. Even if OS X held more than 80% of the market I doubt it'd be that crazy. Total BS? I've never seen a single article on OS X security on UK TV EVER. MSBlast brought out the generic techie saying get a firewall, AV and run WU often, that's it. OS X wouldn't create the slightest ripple, perhaps the US is different... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redestium Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Well it wouldn't.If it were that easy to exploit, windows fan boys like you would write spyware and virus's for OS X to **** off mac users. And who ever said it doesn't bother you to run spyware scans once a week, that is just an example of how you have been influenced by MS to except things not being as good as they could be. Watch who you call a fan boy, you know nothing about me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NetRyder Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Well it wouldn't.If it were that easy to exploit, windows fan boys like you would write spyware and virus's for OS X to **** off mac users. And who ever said it doesn't bother you to run spyware scans once a week, that is just an example of how you have been influenced by MS to except things not being as good as they could be. Let's keep personal attacks out of this thread, ok? If not, it's going to end up being just another pointless thread full of flames that sinks to the bottom of the ocean (as if we've not had enough of those here :rolleyes:). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parimal_kumar Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 That's total BS. The smallest mac security holes HAVE made it onto news sites like the president would having an affair on his wife. Err...I don't recall the last time I saw a major news publishing company (e.g. BBC, Sky, etc.) publish a relevant article about virus infections being epidemic (even though Mac security loopholes have been reported in more specialised media such as Neowin, Slashdot, etc.) unlike major PC viriii. I have no intention to flame, but I am pretty sure everyone knows here that what you've said is patently incorrect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FM Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Okay kiddies, I think we all need to calm down. Bottom line is, Linux and Mac ARE a minority. Why bother writing spyware for a userbase that will infect the least people? Virus writers are people whos main goal is to *usually* infect as many target machines as possible. And, we all know there are soooo many macs out there [/sarcasm]. So, of course PCs are the target. When OS X and Linux get more popular (they already are) then, we'll see viruses and spyware for them. You Mac users aren't as invincible as you think, but I can just see it now..."OMG LOLERZ I R ON MAC SO I NO GET BAD STUFFORZ ON PC OMG HAXXXORS!!!!!!!111ONELOLOMFG". Then, the 1st REAL Mac virus will come along, and you'll all be too damn clueless to know what to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NetRyder Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Oh goodness...I see what's coming :no: Think it's time to leave another degenerate thread... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HellBender Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 I think everyone should stop arguing about OSes and just switch to Sun Java Desktop :happy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PureEdit Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Let's keep personal attacks out of this thread, ok? If not, it's going to end up being just another pointless thread full of flames that sinks to the bottom of the ocean (as if we've not had enough of those here :rolleyes:). Its not really an attack, I was just suggesting that he is 'one of them' based on what he said. And you are right, Mav. I know nothing about you except what you say here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Err...I don't recall the last time I saw a major news publishing company (e.g. BBC, Sky, etc.) publish a relevant article about virus infections being epidemic (even though Mac security loopholes have been reported in more specialised media such as Neowin, Slashdot, etc.) unlike major PC viriii. I have no intention to flame, but I am pretty sure everyone knows here that what you've said is patently incorrect. Well, they made headlines on the Yahoo news pages, and I'm sure plenty of people saw it there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzla Veteran Posted June 5, 2004 Veteran Share Posted June 5, 2004 That's the thing, Yahoo News pages, you're assuming that people read these things. For the hundreds of thousands that'll be reading Yahoo News online, there's tens of millions watching Sky News, that's why you'll not see news of an OS X virus on Sky News for years and years to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Also wtf is "beiged"? Well, if you had followed the link to the article mentioned in the first post, you'd have seen that it's a typo, it should have been "besieged". I guess you didn't even bother to read the article (which is shown by the rest of your post, since that exact point was brought up). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redestium Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Well, if you had followed the link to the article mentioned in the first post, you'd have seen that it's a typo, it should have been "besieged". I guess you didn't even bother to read the article (which is shown by the rest of your post, since that exact point was brought up). I knew what it meant, I wanted to try and hint that it should be edited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 that's why you'll not see news of an OS X virus on Sky News for years and years to come. Nope, the reason for that is that there most likely won't be one for years to come. Which by itself makes OS X a much safer platform to be on than Windows. Did you even bother to read the article? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack_canada Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 trust me, if macs ever become more popular as pcs, you will be beiged by spywares andviruses too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzla Veteran Posted June 5, 2004 Veteran Share Posted June 5, 2004 *sigh* This is all going under the assumption that OS X has a virus similar in style to MSBlast. On the one hand you accuse Mav for not following the thread then fail to follow the discussion on potential virus outbreaks on both platforms... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 trust me, if macs ever become more popular as pcs, you will be beiged by spywares andviruses too That's a big "if", therefore, I'm much safer on my Mac than I will ever be on Windows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the evn show Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Total BS? I've never seen a single article on OS X security on UK TV EVER. MSBlast brought out the generic techie saying get a firewall, AV and run WU often, that's it. OS X wouldn't create the slightest ripple, perhaps the US is different... Across the pond we had stories on CNN about the "trojan horse" proof of concept as well as front-page stories on most tech-new sites (including this one), and it was in both local news papers + the national paper (which was really much ado about nothing). I also saw stories on the BBC so it's not just North-American news agencies that cover this sort of thing. Same thing happened with the launch services URI holes (which was/is a serious problem that deserves more attention than it got). I don't doubt that you didn't see them, but to say that it wasn't covered is false. These aren't even 'in the wild' malware problems, just "proof of concept" examples so they're really hard to sensationalize (but that didn't stop them from trying). If there was a Mac OS virus/worm spreading as fast as it does in the Windows world (doubtful for reasons already stated) or did even 10% of the damage that the Windows worms have done (unlikely to happen any time soon) you'd hear about it - probably for days on end. Netryder: I didn't miss your comment, but I don't want to another windows vs mac os x debate, so while I disagree with significant portions of your comments I'm going to leave this fight for another day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
area91 Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 (edited) <snip> Edited June 6, 2004 by Wickedkitten Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 I see the Mac fanboys are playing there usual game... The irony! :laugh: :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NetRyder Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 For the people that actually read the whole article, it appears as if the author attributes the outbreak of malware on Windows to the complacency of the entire Windows user base, in general. He claims that Mac users, on the other hand, are infinitely more vigilant and have a "zero-tolerance" policy. If some ?freeware? software for the Mac surreptitiously installed some sort of adware / spyware / crapware, there?d be reports all over the Mac web within days. Uninstallation instructions would be posted (and thus made available to all via Google), and the developer who shipped the app would be excoriated.[...]My answer to question posed earlier ? why are Windows users besieged with security exploits, while Mac users suffer none? ? is that Windows is like a bad neighborhood, strewn with litter, mysterious odors, panhandlers, and untold dozens of petty annoyances. Many Windows users are simply resigned to the fact that their computers contain software that is not under their control. And if they?ll tolerate an annoying application that badgers them with pop-up ads, well, why not a spyware virus that logs every key you type, then sends them back to the creator [...] The security disparity between the Mac and Windows isn?t so much about technical possibilities as it is about what people will tolerate. And Mac users don?t tolerate ****. Now just stop and think about what has just been said. Then look back at all the instances in which spyware-ridden software has been blacklisted and shunned by the Windows community - a prime example that comes to mind is KaZaA. When malware was discovered in this application, a group of programmers came up with KaZaALite as an alternative, which gained tremendous popularity within such a short time. In fact, the software became so much more popular than KaZaA itself, that it reached a point at which Sharman Networks felt threatened by its presence. Another example that's right in front of our eyes is Windows XP's SP2 itself - why do you think Microsoft is giving so much importance to security? It's simply because of customer feedback, and because Microsoft wants to win the goodwill of its existing user base. Every company knows that if they don't give in to customer demand, they're going to start losing users. There are so many other such examples that I could list...instances in which security and privacy have been major concerns of the Windows community. Saying that the community itself is complacent and ready to tolerate malware is simply ludicrous. I don't know about you, but everything about that site clearly shows signs that the author is a blind Apple fanboy/Microsoft basher (not to mention the "Mac Nerdery" tagline). It's just a blog...some random person's opinions on a matter, not gospel truth in the form of clear-cut facts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PseudoRandomDragon Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 I think Mac users are missing out though. Spyware is great. It enhances your browser experience by providing helpful popups and ads. I mean, I really needed to enlarge the size of my ... television. Ads provided me with a 12" TV for only $1200. I mean, what a deal! I don't even need to go to the store, I can just buy things online with my credit card. Spyware is a derogitory term. I rather call them "helpware", because they can help me out alot, even if I am not online. Who knows, a special offer might popup while I am in the middle of a game. I need to know! and btw, what the hell is Linux? Is that some sort of game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 At the end of the day, the way i see it is this. I have a computer, i rarely need to install security patches for, i don't need to download new virus definitions all the time, i don't worry about spyware. In truth there's little I Do worry about, i just use the computer, then move on with my life. Surely this is how all computers should be. For me this is a determining factor in choosing a Mac, maintenance across the board in contrast is low. Please, quit comments like, what if Mac OS X had _ _ % Market share... We could 'what if' the world away. Be real, and with the facts, and the facts are that Mac OS X has minor market share, and minor maintenance woes. Its a quite a carefree life for 'us' Mac users, savor it... I sure do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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