Well, duh! Owning a Mac in ANY capacity makes life a little easier. Here at the U of Az, owning a Mac is very much encouraged, and most of the administration owns Macs and the UA runs on mostly Macs and Mac servers. On the UA ResComp (Residence Computing) website it has a five page dissertation on WinDell security, and the very last line is simply "There is no security threat what so ever to Apple computers at this time".

We use laptops here at Winona State, and the Mac share has doubled in the last 2 years, from about 5% to 10%. That may also have to do with the fact that the pc provider changed from IBM to Gateway, but given the number of iPods I see on campus, I think Apple is gaining momentum with the key 18-24 demographic.

The best part is that students using the Mac in college are going to have a hard time "switching" to PCs in the home when they graduate and are going to spread the word at work when their company's IT is hit with major problems. Very good for Apple in the long run.

By the way, the Cram & Jam would also have been a factor in choosing Mac notebooks - $200 off an iPod is pretty good motivation!

Mr. Jackson doesn't like Macs...

http://www.applelinks.com/pm/more.php?id=995_0_1_0_M

http://chronicle.com/colloquylive/2004/03/worm/

Daring Fireball said it best:

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Windows apologists have long argued that the only reason the Mac has been so strikingly free of security exploits is that it has such a smaller market share than Windows. This argument ignores numerous facts, such as that the Mac’s share of viruses is effectively zero; no matter how you peg the Mac’s overall market share, its share of viruses/worms/Trojans is significantly disproportionate.....The reason this argument is so popular with Windows apologists is that it’s a convenient bit of rhetoric....You can’t get past this argument, because it can’t be disproven without the Mac OS actually attaining a Windows-like market share....Given that the Mac is never going to attain a monopoly share of the operating systems market — that merely expanding its share to, say, 10 percent would be universally hailed as an almost-too-good-to-be-true success — isn’t it thus only logical to conclude that the Mac is forever “doomed” to be significantly more secure than Windows?...

I was going to quote Daring Fireball as well, good work there AFCdtLoeb! What I can't understand is why its so hard for Win apologists to admit that OS X is infinately more secure than Windows. All they usually do is throw the low market share arguement into the mix then run away. As Mr. Gruber stated before the number of trojans and viruses for OS X is effectively ZERO no matter how you look at it, there's no getting around it.

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AFCdtLoeb wrote:
the very last line is simply "There is no security threat what so ever to Apple computers at this time".

OK. I know I might start an attack here BUT, this does need to be said.

OS X may not have as many weaknesses as Windows. However, that doesn't mean it will always be "strong" or "impenetrable" as some like to describe it. We must remember that although it's based on (runs on top of ) Unix, OS X in and of itself is NOT pure unix. Therefore, due to Apple wanting to continue its reputation of 'ease of use' and 'application interactivity' (iLife) there will be, more than likely, times when there is a found hole that can disrupt our happy lives.

Everything that is connected is not only hackable, but breakable. Some things may be harder than others, but as long as you even for a minute, get online to check email, there is a part of your life that has just become less safe.

So. In naivete, don't ignore virus checking software for Macs. Don't ignore firewall software for Macs. On top of not only just protecting yourself, you also can become a 'stopgap' for the crap that can, and *does*, get passed along by Mac users to Window users. In the very least we can slow the vicious cycle down.

And didn't someone say one time, 'pride cometh before a fall?'

Historically it can be seen that as soon as one becomes complacent in covering your ass, your ass gets busted.

All the above is just a friendly reminder that we do still need to stay on top of our game to continue to be successful in our digital lives.

My name is billyO, and I'm a Mac Addict. (kiss my protected ass, RC)

I dont think Apple has ever claimed to be impentrable. Thats why they release proactive security updates.

Is invasion of aliens from outerspace.

Al Gore did he not invent outer space. Interspace as we know it?

What I meant wasn't that Apple has ever claimed that, but that over-eager users have batted such phrases around when describing security on OS X.

I mean, seriously, you want protected data? Then don't connect to the net.

Obviously, this hinders a lot of things, including some business' mere existence. But the point is that, no matter how good the security, the hardware, the whatever.... everything is breakable.

Yeah, Apple has never said that, it's the masses that like to boast, and some, in their boasting, forget to just be protective of their stuff. That's all....

You really beliebe that Apple is more secure than Windows?? That's because your srupid and dumb! You iLemmings will believe anythng that you read and I'm really smart and know a lot about alot of really interesting computter stuff.

Ha ha iLemmings!! I got you there!!! iLosers!!

See, I'm right, and have always been. Check the facts:

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/windowsxp.asp

Note that the above poster is a copy-cat of the real Reality Check. RC would always have it say "See, I'm right, and have always been. Check the facts" followed by a link. Any RC that doesnt use that format is a knock off. Ignore this clown.

How the tables have turned. Not so long ago use of Macs were discouraged in most places.

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AFCdtLoeb wrote:
Well, duh! Owning a Mac in ANY capacity makes life a little easier. Here at the U of Az, owning a Mac is very much encouraged, and most of the administration owns Macs and the UA runs on mostly Macs and Mac servers. On the UA ResComp (Residence Computing) website it has a five page dissertation on WinDell security, and the very last line is simply "There is no security threat what so ever to Apple computers at this time".