Or you employ these
security steps. I have been using Mac OS X since 2004 and only used AV software for one month. It never found anything, only Windows malware (what do I care?) and I tried to visit all the "shady" sites one normally can get infected on. Nothing, but then again, common sense is gladly thrown aside when there is a software, that can do that for you. Off to Friendface, where I can play with my TweeTwee.
Most of the time, yes. Sometimes they fail to detect malware that a prudent user could avoid.
No one is suggesting that you shouldn't run a 3rd party antivirus app on your Mac if you choose to; only that it's not required to keep your Mac malware-free. All forms of Mac OS X malware that have ever existed in the wild can be completely avoided without antivirus apps by practicing safe computing, as described in the FAQ I posted earlier.
This is true. You're not "exposed" in the same way as you are on a Windows-machine.
However, then you can't really download anything unless you are 100% sure it's safe, and even then, the website could have been hacked and the file you're downloading from XX, which you trust to 100%, is actually some form of malware.
On top of that, I'm not sure how you use your Mac, obviously everyone uses their computers differently, but I tend to download certain programs, freeware, etc, because I want to try out new things or because I require something. For instance, I had some movies I wanted to transfer to my iPad. So I needed a converter to make the .avi files to .mov files, thus making them compatible with my iPad. I read some reviews of the converter I ended up downloading but from a strictly "safety" -perspective, I should never have downloaded that converter.
Safe computing is good and all, but that's honestly something I would teach my grandparents to use. Kids like myself(okay, I'm probably not counted as a kid anymore with my 23rd birthday coming up at the end of the year) tend to think that safe computing isn't that much fun since you can't really download anything.
My point is that you never know what you're downloading unless you ONLY download from the App Store. And when you don't know what you're downloading, or when you're downloading a lot of stuff, then having something to fend off malware is extremely important.
With all that said, I understand your point and sure enough, if you practice safe computing you're considerably more safe on a Mac than a Windows-based PC.