From: Eric L. Strobel (fyzycyst_at_comcast.net)
Date: Mon Sep 22 2003 - 06:01:14 PDT
on 09/22/03 3:15 AM, Peter H. Coffin at hellsop_at_ninehells.com wrote:
> RedHat's got no holes, and no rootkits? There's more viruses for Windows
> for the same reasons that there's more Palm software being written these
> days. It's about market size, not quality of the platform. Macintoshes
> got viruses back when Apple had 15% of the market. Now Apple doesn't
> have that, so Macs don't get viruses written to exploit them. There's no
> news in it, and little point, when about the same amount of effort can
> get ten times the number of targets vectoring through Windows.
Even back when the Mac got a few viruses, the Windows ones vastly
outnumbered the Mac ones. Plus you have to factor in that it is really hard
to program on Windows (at least in my experience, when compared to Un*x &
Mac), so the only logical conclusion is that the Mac was/is a far more
difficult nut to crack. This is verified by the fact that in the 'hacker
community', one gets a much larger notch on their belt if they can exploit a
Mac -- the feeling is that any idiot can bag themselves a Windows box.
Also, the proportionality is all wrong. When you discount Office macro
viruses (most of which are crossovers from Windows -- thanks MS), there've
only been on the order of 60 or so honest to goodness viruses on the Mac.
[Not sure on that number. Anyone know the actual? It's certainly in the
ball park.] Compare that with the thousands on Windows and you'll see that
the proportion is way off from the meaningless market share numbers. It is
even FURTHER off from the genuinely meaningful installed base numbers (where
the Mac is running somewhere between 7 & 10%, depending on who's counting).
So, no, there's something more fundamental than platform popularity at play
here. Here in the DC area we just had a little windbag named Isabel move
through. By and large, the *healthy* trees didn't go down. The ones that
fell looked good from the outside but were either rotted out in the center
or had really shallow roots. 'Nuff said.
- Eric.
-- Eric Strobel (fyzycyst_at_NOSPAM^mailaps.org) ===================================================================== If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat??? ===================================================================== -- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries List FAQ/Etiquette/Terms: http://www.newtontalk.net/faq.html Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
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