Re: "The fact is here also that a: root is disabled in the default install b: the users don't run at even the admin level by default."
My primary machine is an OS X box. A couple of comments.
1) The first user created when you install OS X has administrator privileges by default. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to install or modify software, for example, or for that matter write to anything outside of your home directory. This is different from root, but still has significant privileges.
2) I have root logins turned off, which is the default, as has been pointed out. The procedure gerardj describes for enabling root through NetInfo Manager is correct. Nonetheless, I run as root whenever necessary or desirable, using sudo in the Terminal. If I run sudo -s I get a shell with root privileges. Whether root is enabled or disabled through NetInfo Manager has nothing to do with my ability to run commands via sudo.
3) The shareware utility Pseudo allows an admin-level user to run any app with root privileges. Moreover, certain apps I have installed, such as Retrospect Express, *always* run as root (and in fact run without any user being logged in, for example on timed backups). None of this requires root to be enabled through NetInfo Manager.
I am not sufficiently versed in *nix to know if these features pose a real threat to OS X users in terms of their machines being 'rooted' maliciously. All I *know* is that I can run as root if I want (albeit without a GUI login), I can run any app I want as root using Pseudo, and some apps I have run with root privileges, all without having root enabled in NetInfo Manager. Intuitively, it seems that if I can do all that, malware could do the same, but I haven't the background to *know* if that's true.
Some mistakes are honest ones that you learn from. Others are just plain stupid. QT4 is in the latter category. If Apple had had a functioning Human Interface Group at the time QT4 was developed, or had Tog (www.asktog.com) still been with Apple, a disaster like QT4 (or the hockey puck mouse, or...) would never, ever have seen the light of day. There's just too much known about how humans use devices efficiently to allow such mistakes to happen. These kind of mistakes happen when you put people in charge who care more about things "looking cool" than working right. It's not an area where Apple should get an ounce of slack.
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Ah, I see.
Mac Users Are Elitists.
And George W. "born on third base and thinks he hit a triple" (was that Hightower or Ivins?) is a Man Of The People.
Riiiiiiiight.
Re: "The fact is here also that a: root is disabled in the default install b: the users don't run at even the admin level by default."
My primary machine is an OS X box. A couple of comments.
1) The first user created when you install OS X has administrator privileges by default. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to install or modify software, for example, or for that matter write to anything outside of your home directory. This is different from root, but still has significant privileges.
2) I have root logins turned off, which is the default, as has been pointed out. The procedure gerardj describes for enabling root through NetInfo Manager is correct. Nonetheless, I run as root whenever necessary or desirable, using sudo in the Terminal. If I run sudo -s I get a shell with root privileges. Whether root is enabled or disabled through NetInfo Manager has nothing to do with my ability to run commands via sudo.
3) The shareware utility Pseudo allows an admin-level user to run any app with root privileges. Moreover, certain apps I have installed, such as Retrospect Express, *always* run as root (and in fact run without any user being logged in, for example on timed backups). None of this requires root to be enabled through NetInfo Manager.
I am not sufficiently versed in *nix to know if these features pose a real threat to OS X users in terms of their machines being 'rooted' maliciously. All I *know* is that I can run as root if I want (albeit without a GUI login), I can run any app I want as root using Pseudo, and some apps I have run with root privileges, all without having root enabled in NetInfo Manager. Intuitively, it seems that if I can do all that, malware could do the same, but I haven't the background to *know* if that's true.
Some mistakes are honest ones that you learn from. Others are just plain stupid. QT4 is in the latter category. If Apple had had a functioning Human Interface Group at the time QT4 was developed, or had Tog (www.asktog.com) still been with Apple, a disaster like QT4 (or the hockey puck mouse, or...) would never, ever have seen the light of day. There's just too much known about how humans use devices efficiently to allow such mistakes to happen. These kind of mistakes happen when you put people in charge who care more about things "looking cool" than working right. It's not an area where Apple should get an ounce of slack.