Why Worms Shun Apple's OSX

[MacBytes]

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Category: Apple Software
Link: Why Worms Shun Apple's OSX (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20051025120615)

Posted on MacBytes.com (http://www.macbytes.com)
Approved by Mudbug

[Mudbug]

disclosure - this was submitted a few days ago, and I passed it by because I was sure I had already approved it. When it was resubmitted today, I went back and checked just to be sure, and it wasn't listed.

to the previous submitter - my apologies.

[nagromme]

The registry is still going to be in Windows Vista?

The one feature MS added BACK in rather than removing? ;)

[nbs2]

The registry is still going to be in Windows Vista?

The one feature MS added BACK in rather than removing? ;)
I guess so. The only mentions of it by Paul Thurrott are:
"And in Longhorn Server, the NTFS file system (and Registry) are being upgraded--finally--to support transactions." and
"Windows Resource Protection. WRP will protect system registry settings and system files from accidental and potentially dangerous changes by the user or by unauthorized software, Microsoft says."

And I thought I was going to have an easier time dealing with Windows machines...

[winmacguy]

disclosure - this was submitted a few days ago, and I passed it by because I was sure I had already approved it. When it was resubmitted today, I went back and checked just to be sure, and it wasn't listed.

to the previous submitter - my apologies.
At least it is posted now Mudbug. It is scary what some people still think about Apple:(

[iSaint]

"Over months and years, Windows tends to get crankier and crankier, and performance degrades. I have not seen similar problems with OS X."

That's interesting to know. As someone who doesn't fully comprehend all of computers insides, I've often wondered why I had to do a fresh OS install with any Windows version I had. Now I know it just loads up with all this junk, and OS X doesn't, and continues its efficiency over time!

[Analog Kid]

"Over months and years, Windows tends to get crankier and crankier, and performance degrades. I have not seen similar problems with OS X."

That's interesting to know. As someone who doesn't fully comprehend all of computers insides, I've often wondered why I had to do a fresh OS install with any Windows version I had. Now I know it just loads up with all this junk, and OS X doesn't, and continues its efficiency over time!
OS X gets cluttered too (look through your Library folder sometime)-- the key is that OS X keeps the junk from getting in the way of what's important. Windows keeps everything in one big file that all applications try to access.

[zap2]

"But many problems remain and will persist at least until Vista, the next version of Windows, is introduced late next year."

Ya ok Vista going to be safe! make me smile and laugh then cry for all those people who will be let down

[dukeblue91]

What did this article have to do with the headline?
I still say that there has to be some hackers or code writers interested in being the first to introduce a virus or some other form of malware.

I don't buy this crap about being to small of a user base to make it worthwhile, especially right now were the Mac and Apple is getting so much publicity on a daily basis.
So my conclusion is that Mac OS X is just to tight, or all hackers and malware writers are using a Mac :D

[winmacguy]

What did this article have to do with the headline?
I still say that there has to be some hackers or code writers interested in being the first to introduce a virus or some other form of malware.

I don't buy this crap about being to small of a user base to make it worthwhile, especially right now were the Mac and Apple is getting so much publicity on a daily basis.
So my conclusion is that Mac OS X is just to tight, or all hackers and malware writers are using a Mac :D
Because as EVERYBODY knows, Windows is a BIGGER target for hackers and viruses so it gets more attention unlike little old Apple:rolleyes: ( Hmmm I think NOT!)

[Chef Medeski]

So, thats why my senile, old Dell sits in the corner like a flaaby piece of junk while my brand new Powerbook sits in my lap like a good little boy. But, reall the registry thing is interesting I never knew this. I always swore that a Windows was like a car in that even with perfect care they start to slow down and the interior deteroriates after a couple years. Now, of course some people who just don't know how to take care of things can junk them in a ocuple months time, but no one can keep the gradual decline away. I wonder if there is anyway to empty the Registry?

[nagromme]

Absolutely Macs are a target. A BIG one, an ATTRACTIVE one, and a PROFITABLE one, and they have been for years.

OS X has been around for years, now--and it's partly based on technologies and OS's familiar to techies for even longer. Crackers (of a certain type) have sought challenges and prestige for years. Macs have been worth extra points in cracking contests for years. Users of other platforms have long felt jealousy toward Macs, and would love to take them down a peg. More so now than ever before, with Apple finally being seen as the success that it is. And some high-profile TARGETS, like universities, media companies, and the US Army, use Mac OS X. Then throw in the specific challenges and prizes that have been offered on and off for a real-world, succesful Mac OS X virus.

The incentives ARE there, in a big way.

And there are a LOT of unethical programmers in the world... some with a desire to do more than be a "script kiddie."

So I am CERTAIN that at least SOME people have been trying to make OS X viruses for quite some time. They've never managed it yet, but they WILL.

Then we'll have one virus instead of zero... I'll still feel safer :)

And I predict that Apple will be better able to keep on top of the flaws than MS has been, EVEN once those flaws start to be exploited. Result: very little harm to Mac users. NOTHING remotely like the risks of using Windows.

Add to that the benefit of smaller installed base (it is SOME benefit, just not the whole story). We're going to have the smaller base for a long, long time, so that advantage is here to stay too.

[SummerBreeze]

The writing in this article seems to connotate negatively. For one thing, the title is "Why Worms Shun Apple" instead of "Why Apple's are Safer" or the like. Plus, the way it reads is that Windows has issues but it's not really Microsoft's fault and everything will be just dandy as soon as Vista comes out and stuff.

[SPUY767]

OS X gets cluttered too (look through your Library folder sometime)-- the key is that OS X keeps the junk from getting in the way of what's important. Windows keeps everything in one big file that all applications try to access.


Yes, X's Library file gest cluttered, there is one very HUGE difference between the way that the two operate with applications, however. in windows, almost every application that is more comlicated than Freecell makes changes to the registry. Every application has access to the entire registry, and some applications overwrite certain things that were crucial to the running of other applications. I've read somewhere that this accounts for about 40% of softwqare failures. Applications in windows also reference dynamic link libraries that are strewn all about the OS. Again, so applicaitons overwrite or modify DLLs that other applications depend on, and therefore cause software failures. In OS X, on the other hand, Applications are corralled into their own folders. They do not place files, other than a basic preference file, elsewhere in the operating system. This is one of the reasons that runinstalling a file on X is about a trillion times easier than attempting to uninstall a file on a windows machine. There are other thing, in fact a list that I would be loathe to try and mention here, but you can take my word for it that Vista will be scarcely better because of the concept of backward compatibility. Windows has this illusion of it. They try and purport to be the worlds most compatible operating system, and in doing so, deprive themselves of security.

[Nermal]

Ya ok Vista going to be safe! make me smile and laugh then cry for all those people who will be let down

I can't wait for Vista, it'll be great! Why? Because I will honestly be able to use the "I don't know how to use Windows" excuse when people try to get me to fix their computers :D

[macnulty]

I can't wait for Vista, it'll be great! Why? Because I will honestly be able to use the "I don't know how to use Windows" excuse when people try to get me to fix their computers :D

Are you implying you lie about it now? ;)

[Nermal]

No comment.

[slooksterPSV]

HA HA HA HA HA! That is so funny, but true. Windows' registry is what's killing them. Know what OS X uses? plist files, why? XML? So? XML has a better range of what you can and can't do.

[iMeowbot]

HA HA HA HA HA! That is so funny, but true. Windows' registry is what's killing them. Know what OS X uses? plist files, why? XML? So? XML has a better range of what you can and can't do.
Bah, OS X is following in Windows' footsteps on that now :( Apple are falling in love with binary plists, which look way too much like the binary version of .ini files that started showing up in OS/2 and then metastasized into the Windows registry.


STANDARDS
The plutil command obeys no one's rules but its own.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

[PlaceofDis]

No comment.

don't worry, i do the same thing, lying about things like this are sometimes neccissary ;)

[sjk]

Applications in windows also reference dynamic link libraries that are strewn all about the OS.And don't many of them still use cryptic 8.3 DOS filenames? In general, last time I poked around in some Windows systems directories they were full of incomprehensibly named files. As I recall, the registry is human-reader-unfriendly, too. What a nightmare compared to the far more meaningful filenames for OS X system files. Will Vista be any better?

[winmacguy]

I can't wait for Vista, it'll be great! Why? Because I will honestly be able to use the "I don't know how to use Windows" excuse when people try to get me to fix their computers :D
LMAO!!!:p :) :D

[winmacguy]

I can't wait for Vista, it'll be great! Why? Because I will honestly be able to use the "I don't know how to use Windows" excuse when people try to get me to fix their computers :D
Hey people ask me all the time regarding more non technical stuff about Windows, most of which I have now forgotten:D :rolleyes: I just tell them it has been so long since I had to do THAT:eek: on a PC I can't remember how.

[IJ Reilly]

What did this article have to do with the headline?

Yeah, that was my question too. He poses a question and then fails to answer it. Nice work. Oddly enough, a commenter on the article got it in one: Windows gives everyone root access. Aside from the ghastly Registry, this is Windows' biggest security flaw. Seems the writer didn't know that -- which I guess is why he gets paid the big bucks.