MacHamman said:
Use logic for a second, if Apple and Microsoft switched places, it would the Mac OS that is getting targeted by malicious hackers, not the other way around.
This is not logic. This is logical fallacy, and I'll explain why.
I've heard this argument many times, and I've shot it down many times as well. Basically, you are implying that Mac OS X is not in any way superior to Windows security wise and that only because Windows is dominant is the only reason why it has so many problems.
Thus you argue that the Mac would be in the same position if it were dominant. It is a logical fallacy because you can't possibly make that conclusion because the situation NEVER has occurred, and is 100% hypothetical.
A lot of people use this argument to discount Mac OS X's security, while in reality, at a fundamental design level, it is simply done better than Windows... a huge part is because Apple based the core of their OS on the battle harded BSD, and other open unix variants... Microsoft's is by all accounts all proprietary and made at Microsoft. This speaks worlds about the advantages of an open system rather than a closed one. Closed systems, due to their secrecy, ironically, invite malicious parties much more than open ones.
The current situation speaks more about Microsoft's overall strategy for software development more than it does the effects of having a popular system. Microsoft is VERY guilty of pushing feature after feature without any thought into the ramifications of those features. Microsoft introduced ActiveX , opening a world of functionality that can happen through Internet Explorer, and allowing it to interface with the OS, and do cool stuff. That was YEARS ago... ActiveX and other features that Microsoft bluntly pushed out in previous OS releases have come and bite them in the butt... Spyware, Adware, viruses, trojans. It's a jungle, and Microsoft is responsible. Microsoft's approach is to push out potentially vulnerable features first, and then pick up the pieces later. Patch after patch after patch... Most Windows users still don't update their patches, so there are TONS of computers out there that hackers turn into zombies.
Apple has made similar mistakes in the past, but in my opinion, not as badly as Microsoft has.
