From: Matthew Reidsma (matthew_at_reidsrow.com)
Date: Mon Sep 22 2003 - 17:45:01 PDT
On Mon, Sep 22, 2003 Peter H. Coffin wrote:
>>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.>
That's not the whole story. I just helped a friend in the Science/technology and society PhD program at Virginia Tech do some research Into Mac viruses, and the evidence shows that there were virtually *no* malevolent viruses written for the MacOS platform. A few errant strains of the Hypercard viruses and some code distributed by an irate programmer mad at his previous employer did circulate, but nothing as destructful as what is being circulated in the Wintel community.
I am not denying that market share has an impact; Indeed, even crackers seem immune to capitalist pressures. But do not underestimate the impact of "underdog" or "participatry" camaraderie in the evolution of viruses/worms. Mac users feel connected hot only to other Mac users in ways that tend Io elude the majority ofthe Wintel populace, but they also have sympathies to the machines themselves. Most Mac viruses appear to be an exercise in programming aptitude, not in mindless (or mindful) mass destruction.
Remember the words of Einstien: reduce everything to the simplest form possible, but no simpler.
Matthew Reidsma :: matthew_at_reidsrow.com
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