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McAfee Feigns Fear at Mac Security
conq writes "BusinessWeek reports that McAfee has just come out with a report which asks the question 'Is Mac OS X the Next Windows?'." They appear to be attempting to scare consumers into buying anti-virus software for OSX. Blogger Arik Hesseldahl breaks down their claims: "First off, Mac users on average pay more for their computers, are self-selected because they tend to know more about technology than your average PC buyer, and by and large are a bit more affluent than those who buy cheapo commodity Windows PCs ... When you take into account the ongoing growth in general PC ownership, even if Apple pushes its annual unit sales to 12 million or more by 2010, its share of the overall market will still account for about 4%, leaving Windows the far more tasty target."
Mac users by and large have become complacent when it comes to basic security principles. They are even more at risk of infecting their machine when viruses and other threats start to spread on the Mac platform.
"because they tend to know more about technology than your average PC buyer"
I think that's debatable, since the popular saying goes "People that don't know how to use a computer buy an Apple"...
That is absolute BS. I used to work at CompUSA and we have an Apple store in there. The majority of Mac users that came in there knew next to nothing about technology. Most of them were running pre-G3 era computers on OS 7.5. When the Mac Mini came out, they jumped on it because it was small and cute. They had no idea what was inside and were pissed when they had to buy a new keyboard because they either had no idea the difference between an old Mac keyboard plug and USB. As for software, a lot asked if they could still buy and downgrade to OS9 because OSX was so different and weird.
The few people that did know about Macs had a specialized purpose. They were either into digital photography, or digital video. They bought the PowerMac G5 because it was the best. They only bought Mac LCD screens because they had no idea any screen would work with a Mac. They still thought there was no inter-compatibility with Mac and PC hardware and heavens forbid if you tell them you can use a two button mouse on a Mac.
The majority of Mac Users are morons. No, I am NOT saying all Mac users are morons, but trust me, they only buy Macs because they are scared and ignorant of what is out there. They like thier little Apple logo and thats all they know. They hear virus and freak out and think that if you have a PC with Windows on it, its an immediate virus. I have only had one virus in my life and its because my wife opened a freaking attachment on an e-mail. Lets just say that never happened again.
Click Click Bloody Click PANCAKES!
News for Nerds?
"Tech company tries to stir up some business using FUD"
Hardly.
Stuff that matters?
"Macs? Pfft."
*Comment removed due to danger of fanboi activity*
Forgive me, but I find this funny because of how often Apple press releases get repeated here and I never see this sentiment expressed.
Apple is in business to make money. They *want* larger than 4% of the market share. They *want* Joe Consumer to buy a slightly-more-expensive Mac Mini instead of a $500 HP because that means more cash for them to roll in. In other words, Apple's mission is to dilute the technical abilities of their user base and turn it into a pool of Windows users.
Windows is insecure because people don't bother to learn how to make it secure. I know quite a few people who have had XP since its release and never picked up anything worse than a piece of spyware that was packaged with a program they downloaded...which could happen to a Mac just as easily.
If Apple gets what they want, they'll have a large, uneducated userbase just like Microsoft has. They'll have people creating security holes by clicking stuff they shouldn't. They'll have people accepting installations when they don't know what they're doing. They'll have enough users that the botnets will want to tap into the Mac market, and enough stupidity to let them do it.
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
In other words, Apple's mission is to dilute the technical abilities of their user base and turn it into a pool of Windows users.
Turn it into a pool of users that don't get confused by 2 button mice?
OK that's flamebait, but I think you have some very incorrect assumptions about the computer saavyness of Apple's traditional (non-Unix geek) userbase.
Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
Go suck it you McAfee apologist whiny biatch. They just want to make money and you probably work for them, ho-bag!
The simple fact that Apple users are "Self-Selected" doesn't show anything about their technical abilities. In fact, Apple's "Easy to use" interface promotes keeping users "technically inept".
Its like Apple is saying "It's ok users, you don't need to know how to end runaway processes... Command Prompt??? You don't really need to know what it is.". While as with Windows, Microsoft has seen fit to add little "features" that often require the user to get outside their "comfort zone" and tinker with the inner workings of the operating system. As you can clearly see, Microsoft's honorable goal is to increase the "Technical Aptitude" of the general population wheras Apple is trying to "Dumb down" the population with software that "Just works".
Remeber, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger -- so as far as technical abilities Windows users in general must be stronger than Apple users because Apple users aren't being pushed to "excel".
If you didn't get it, a courtesy laugh isn't necessary... I can't hear you anyways.