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Mac OSX Virus Rumors

John Gruber has an excellent and very sarcastic article poking a little fun at the recent hype about the possibility that someday there may in fact be a virus for Mac OSX. The fact is well known and common sense, but why is there repeated story after repeated story about new Mac viruses (there are no actual viruses yet), and such hysteria?

We are all watching the security nightmare Windows users experience every day. Thousands of viruses a year, hundreds of malware programs that illegally rob cycles and memory from unsuspecting user’s computers, and that there is a possibility of one on the Mac is news!? Yes it is possible. Someday it will happen. Trust me, we are watching and learning from the Windows security nightmare. Very smart people are ready to stop the first Mac virus when it appears… some day. Sigh. Guess it must be a quiet news week…

On a lighter side, Apple has a really spiffy and poignant ad campaign about this very issue and about why years ago I switched from Amiga and Irix to OSX and not to Windows XP. Check them out for yourself, they are very funny, even if you prefer those Windows machines: http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

Oh yeah, and to engage in “post mortem equine floggery” – once again (and for many years now) Apple’s own website requires no cookies, no Java, no JavaScript, and no ActiveX to work – meaning you do not have to lower the security of your browser to visit their website and conduct meaningful business. Hurrah… I sure wish other merchants would figure that out, perhaps they’d get my business then.

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