PC Guy with a Mac

Jim Lynch over at ExtremeTech posted an article both titled and stating that “Microsoft is Stupid, Apple is Not.” Right off the bat, this title intrigued me, because I do agree that Microsoft is indeed stupid in a lot of areas (I think Microsoft Bob was the first shot across the bow of “duh”), but Apple is not stupid? This sounded like another Mac-Zealot handing out pamphlets on how you too can join the cult that Steve built, so I had to take a look.

I agree with Jim that Vista is a monster that does look like it was “designed by committee.” I also agree that when comparing the UI of Vista against Tiger or Leopard, Vista is a counter-intuitive mess. What I take exception to is the same argument I’ve heard from readers of this blog and Mac users in general: Macs don’t get viruses or spyware.

Jim writes..

Apple … decided long ago to ditch their old operating system and build one that was Unix based. Why did this matter? Well as people have begun to notice, thanks to its Unix roots, Mac OS X is a hell of a lot more stable and secure than any version of Windows ever released. Apple didn’t make this choice by chance, they thought it through and knew exactly what they were doing and why.

Above, Jim is stating that Apple rewrote their entire operating system so Macs could be more stable and more secure than Windows. I totally disagree with this perception.

The reason Apple rewrote their OS is because it needed to be compatible with the Intel architecture that Apple decided to adopt a few years ago. There is no way that the old OS would ever work on the x86 platform, so it was a smart move for Apple to stand on the shoulders of BSD giants and craft an interface on a ‘nix OS. The decision to go this route and adopt Intel hardware standards automatically made Mac systems PC compatible, and it was a matter of days after the first Macbooks with OS X came out that someone figured out how to get XP working on the system.

Also, I find it a little naive’ to think that any company would wipe the OS slate clean and start from scratch just to improve stability and security. I’ve heard the whole “Mac is more stable and secure” argument for years prior to OS X’s release, so my postulation above seems to be the more valid argument (and of course, I welcome all differing and inherently incorrect viewpoints that are contrary to my own ;).

The real reason that Apple computers are more stable and secure with regards to viral and spyware attacks is for this reason and this reason alone: Mac users are small potatoes.

People lose sight of the fact that virus makers used to be kids in basements trying to see if they could program the next big inconvenience to the most people possible. Now, with the advent of spyware and pop-ups, the reasons are very clear: money and money. As long as there are web site marketers out there that will pay-per-click, there will be virus and spyware writers set on maximizing clicks by putting as many pop-ups in front of your browser as possible.

Now, if you were a virus/spyware writer looking to make a quick buck and you needed to strike as many people as possible in a short amount of time (until someone writes a tool that removes your handiwork), which platform would you choose? Would you choose a computing platform that has less than 3% of the desktop computing market, or would you shoot for the 90th percentile? The answer is obviously the highest percentage of computer users, and those are Windows users.

I said it before and I’ll say it again: Mac’s days of wine and roses are almost over. The bigger Apple gets, the bigger a target they will be for virus writers.

The worst part of all of this is when that day comes, the Mac faithful who have been computing in their iCoccoons won’t know how to avoid infection when it comes looking for them. They won’t be prepared for all of the pop-ups and all of the lost productivity hours that a serious case of spyware can manifest.

Don’t fear, Mac users – a PC guy with a Mac will be ready to provide assistance when the day of reckoning approaches. I’ve been in the trenches, I know what you’re in for, and yeah, I can help. See this scar? Yea, this big one right here? I got that back during the Sasser invasion of 2004…