by , 1:00 PM EDT, September 11th, 2003
Yesterday, we reported that Steve Wozniak was to speak at a Rochester, NY college. The Democrat and Chronicle, the same paper that tipped us off in the first place, covered the event in an article titled "Macs called virtually virus-proof." That title comes from comments from Mr. Wozniak, who was talking about the relative bullet-proofness of Mac OS 9. Mr. Wozniak also spoke on the issue of passion that Mac users tend to have about their Macs. From the article:
"People have PCs that do everything they want them to do, but they just don't love them," Wozniak said Wednesday before addressing the Rochester group known as Apple CIDER Inc. at Monroe Community College. "But we (Mac users) are passionate."
"It's very similar to Harley-Davidson. So many people will only buy a Harley-Davidson. It's already pre-decided and it has nothing to do with what the specs of a Harley are. And to keep that brand loyalty, Apple is doing a good job of differentiating their products with style and early features."
Among other reasons Macintosh has a loyal following: the absence of viruses -- such as SoBig -- that have plagued the PC world.
"If you wanted to have servers and not be subjected to viruses, I have one suggestion: Macintosh MacOS9," said Wozniak, who is no longer associated with Apple Computer. "I run all my servers and keep them on MacOS9. I have never had a firewall and I have never been hit in all these years, even though I appear on TV shows with other hackers and the like. I'd be a prime target, and they have not hit any of my machines."
The Woz goes on to explain that the Mac's virus immunity comes from Security Through Obscurity, an issue we have covered in the past.
There's more in the full article on the event, and more comments from The Woz. We recommend it as a good read.
Mac OS 9 also doesn't have some of the access points that the bad guys need to be able to worm their way into the system in the first place, most noticeably a command line, but Mac OS X has a command line and is also virus free (as of this writing). Security firm mi2g specifically said more than a year ago that not all of the Mac's relative immunity can be attributed to the obscurity factor, and there are other platforms with far, far fewer users that have endured more attacks than the Mac has.
The reality is that Macs have a big enough cachet that there are hackers and crackers that would relish being the pinhead who successfully took over a Mac server or wrote a successful and wide-spread virus. Macs aren't going to be hit in an attempt to cause massive damage and consternation, but being the guy who finally brought the world of viruses to the Mac platform to shut those arrogant and unmanly Mac users up once and for all has enormous appeal to many small minded secondhanders.