"Expert" gives view on why Macs aren't commonly adopted by Universities

Well i guess if the viruses did come to us the Mac OS would handle it a lot better then Windows, as for the cost i guess they prefer to get cheap boxes and then pay a lotta money when ever a virus or trojan comes out

Also i like this:

"it's becoming harder and harder (and hence more and more expensive) to find qualified Mac technicians and support staff"

I wonder why

these types of articles are interesting. people are obviously misinformed. i think mac users should get past the zeal of promotion, and sometimes just sit back and revel in the sheer simplicity and reliability of our machines.

each time a new virus, or security breach happens on windows i can keep cruising along working uninterrupted without updating software, without having patches break my server software, etc.

winning is knowing you're right. best of luck to windows users, there's always another patch just around the corner.

This guy has M$ so far up his tail, he can't see through the "windows"

Read his response re: open source such as Red Hat and Open Office...F'in hilarious.

What really troubles me is the position this guy is in, and he has no idea what kind of network montoring is in place.

I wish the person who asked the Mac question would have asked "Name One" following his response. Or better ask him why most corporations us UNIX based systems (BSD, Solaris, AIX, etc...) for mission-critical applications. Stability comes to mind.

It's not unusual for the executives to have no clue as to what's really happening. They often read too much about the state of things and expound about them in meetings with no real understanding. I've been in meetings where there were buzzword contests, which served no useful purpose.

I'm kinda wishing someone would release a virus for OS X. I think someone should put a reward for making an OSX virus.

Darwin said:

"it's becoming harder and harder (and hence more and more expensive) to find qualified Mac technicians and support staff"

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Right here! Pick me! I'll do it!

Wow. Talk about uninformed. Those security releases were for potential security risks in specific applications and such. There are few, if any at all, recorded attempts at exploiting them, unless it was for testing it. And considering a successful attack on a broadly spread UNIX vulnerability would actually cause more problems than a similar one on Windows, you know, with UNIX being the backbone of the internet and all...

I love how he uses the logic that if apple is releasing security patches there must be viruses, trojan horses, etc. Thats like saying if I change my locks it means I must have gotten robbed. Bad logic, and from an educator no less. So sad.

Maybe virus makers don't make viruses for OS X becacause Apple isn't a greedy and doesn't have the ruthless bisness ethic Microsoft does. Most importantly why would virus makers make a virus to attack the OS that use, (OS X, UNIX, LINUX.) I doubt many major virus makers use PC's to make them, just for testing.

I wonder if Apple and UNIX programers ever try to make their own viruses? I have heard from a few people that a UNIX virus can't be made. How can this be true?

My school has lots of Macs. Granted the dorm labs have iMacs from 99 and the "Multimedia Lab" is full of dual 450s. They all at least run 10.2 and the Adobe stuff before CS. They recently got a 12" for the presentation computer and back before Xmas break they got a G5 for the library. I haven't checked that out yet though... prolly because I'm an art major ;P no need for libraries man ;D

7on said:

I'm kinda wishing someone would release a virus for OS X. I think someone should put a reward for making an OSX virus.

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The world is full of Mac haters. Rabid, fanatical Mac haters. It's very hard for me to believe that nobody in the hacking community has tried to create and release a virus for OS X. Imaging the badge of honor that would go along with it, even if it just affected a handful of Macs.

If OS X is as vulnerable as Windows, where are they?

Flowbee said:

The world is full of Mac haters. Rabid, fanatical Mac haters. It's very hard for me to believe that nobody in the hacking community has tried to create and release a virus for OS X. Imaging the badge of honor that would go along with it, even if it just affected a handful of Macs.

If OS X is as vulnerable as Windows, where are they?

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secretly they all have g5s at home they dont want to risk

coopdog said:

Maybe virus makers don't make viruses for OS X becacause Apple isn't a greedy and doesn't have the ruthless bisness ethic Microsoft does. Most importantly why would virus makers make a virus to attack the OS that use, (OS X, UNIX, LINUX.) I doubt many major virus makers use PC's to make them, just for testing.

I wonder if Apple and UNIX programers ever try to make their own viruses? I have heard from a few people that a UNIX virus can't be made. How can this be true?

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I'm not sure why anyone would say that a virus can't be made, on any platform. That is utter nonsense. I could do it. Why would I want to do that? There's no good reason. I've been the security person at most places where I've worked. I don't care to cause problems.

"it's becoming harder and harder (and hence more and more expensive) to find qualified Mac technicians and support staff"
That is a lot of BS, in any major town or city you can find a Mac technician, usually one who is reasonably priced. Yes you can find hundreds of PC techs who work on hundreds of different brands, but most of the time if they are cheap they are usually not that good, and the advantage with a Mac tech is that they only have one brand to deal with. A Mac tech will probably be able to recognize the problem quickly and fix it the first time, unlike a mass store like CompUSA(no offense) which charges you $50 just to look at the machine and that is before they charge you another $200 for actually doing work.

"it's becoming harder and harder (and hence more and more expensive) to find qualified Mac technicians and support staff"

I guess he's not looking very hard then! I've been looking for a technician position for about a year now while I work this little part time job and I can't seem to find anything without needed to have 4 to 5 years of experience.

As to him saying Macs are more expensive, well they are but they will pay for them selves in the long run. You don't need as many technicians like you do with PCs. That being said you save at least $30,000 to $40,000 per technician per year. So him saying Macs are more expensive is a bunch of BS. Obviously he doesn't know **** about them. I see his is the VP of a University well then shame on him for not keeping up to date on technology. Maybe its not his job to keep up with the technology but he should keep his damn mouth shut if he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Macmaniac said:

...A Mac tech will probably be able to recognize the problem quickly and fix it the first time, unlike a mass store like CompUSA(no offense) which charges you $50 just to look at the machine and that is before they charge you another $200 for actually doing work.

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CompUSA in this area uses certified Apple technicians to do their work.

send your opinion to George

gjackson@uchicago.edu*

usually people that hate macs are people that hate creativity and style also. geeks with pocket protectors that like to use dos prompts and edit the windoze registry. to me windows computing is like using a mac os with all the parts that are worth anything taken out since microsoft try so hard to copy it.

The statement regarding "Mac tech are hard to find" is a blantant lie. I hire them myself, and in my little town there are DOZENS that applied for a recent position. Guess what? I hired a PC-centric person NOT becasue I'll ever get serious about replacing anything. Rather I wanted a new set of talents. And guess what? She learned all about Macs in a month, and is almost Apple certified. I am also good friends with tech directors all around this country, and let me tell you, there is no shortage. So I have to ask myself the question "Why did he say that?". I'll tell you why: He's full of himself, and has bought into the idea of a "meme", or a "mind virus".
As for the Mac Trojan or Worm actually existing, another lie. He says that they are not a target becasue there arent as many users (true) THEN says there are indeed worms and such. So why are there worms and trojans when you just said there's no interest in the target? Were they developed and shelved, waiting for the right time? Again, he's full of ****.
They are indded more expensive at first glance, until you compare features. And NO mention of TOC. I have one tech taking care of almost 700 Macs. Do that in the WinWorld!
He also assumes Apple will make you pay for security updates. How stupid. Yes, paying for 10.3.3 is kind of dumb, but minor, in-cycle updates will always be free.
Oh, and it has been surmised that the ACTUAL Mac installed base is anywhere from 15 to 23% of the US of A. No kidding.
Bottom line? He loves the sound of his voice, sounds smart, and folks fall in behind him. Much like Bill O'Reilly and other assorted ClearChannel mouthpieces.
The real fact is he's just another idiot in a complicated world. Put me in the same room with this guy and I'll rip him another butt-hole.

Krizoitz said:

I love how he uses the logic that if apple is releasing security patches there must be viruses, trojan horses, etc. Thats like saying if I change my locks it means I must have gotten robbed. Bad logic, and from an educator no less. So sad.

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From an educator no less? I'd say, from an educator and no more...This person's profession precedes his incompetence and it is in the field of education that I am least surprised to find logical fallacies, misinformation, and simple foolishness.

where would one go within canada to become apple certified? I have a friend who I helped switch almost 2 years ago and they are into the idea.

blue&whiteman said:

where would one go within canada to become apple certified? I have a friend who I helped switch almost 2 years ago and they are into the idea.

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They hold courses in Markham, Ontario and Vancouver, BC. You can go to http://www.apple.com/ca/training/ to find out more.

There's where your friend would go. Check out the prices for some of those courses! I wish I could take all of them however. Need to win the Super 7.



Hope that helps.

Flowbee said:

The world is full of Mac haters. Rabid, fanatical Mac haters. It's very hard for me to believe that nobody in the hacking community has tried to create and release a virus for OS X. Imaging the badge of honor that would go along with it, even if it just affected a handful of Macs.

If OS X is as vulnerable as Windows, where are they?

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Good point. You'd think at least one of the little script kiddies would get the urge to bring down the Mac.

The problem is, without VB, they're screwed. Theyd have to learn something else, like the <sarcasm>incredibly complex</sarcasm> AppleScript. And there isn't a good chance they Mac they land on will be using an MS mail program, so again they're screwed - and if it does use one, it's likely Entourage, which works a bit differently than Outlook. So they'd need to think a bit differently. Not a script kiddie trait, that.

So, yeah, it's easy to write an app that, if run, could crash a Mac. Real easy (I mean, just execute a Terminal script). But it's a lot harder to write one that'll go crash other Macs. It requires at least some thought. And Mac users don't normally click on executables anyway - we're used to them being for PCs.