Quote:
Originally Posted by TriggerFinger
Tis true ... Macs aren't targeted anywhere near as much for viruses as PC's are, but as Macs become more popular, that will change. I understand it's already starting to happen. I've read recently that there are over twice as many Mac viruses out there, as there were only just a 6 months ago. 
I may be a PC'er at heart, but I don't really hate Macs. It would be a real shame if those *&^%$#@! virus jerks made it as bad for Macs as they have made it for PC's.  |
Yeah. It takes a certain panache to write a virus for the Mac, partly due to the low number of them worldwide, but also due to the fact that MacOS X is essentially made up of a fancy GUI over a BSD core (I *think* they based it on FreeBSD, but I can't go to bat for that info).
Honestly tossing out the entire OS and starting again for MacOS X was the best thing they could have done. It's the most stable mass-market OS available right now, and anyone who has any experience with a UNIX/BSD/Linux command-line can do all the same stuff on the Mac.
I'm not a high-octane user by any stretch, but every now and again I dive into the command line for something arcane or security-based.
For a guy who switched to the Mac during the dark days before MacOS X, the current incarnation of Apple's machines are still like a beath of fresh air. In the last days of MacOS 9, a first-time computer buyer had the choice of a lacklustre Windows or a *digusting* Mac OS. windows is still lacklustre as hell, but XP at least works. I just finished editing a book on Vista and find it to be unforgivable. I have high hopes for Windows 7.
What was said above about the comparative pricing is only partly true. The pro-level towers get dizzyingly pricey fast, but the iMacs are about the same (or, at least within the ballpark) of similar-level PCs. It's just that Apple doesn't offer rock-bottom machines. So for working in Office and maybe a little surfing, you can go cheaper on the PC side.
On the software side, it almost doesn't matter which platform you use these days. Aside from specialised apps, you can get the same apps on both. I have XP on my system specifically for Quickbooks, but I also game on Windows and am trying out Google's Chrome browser. I think that dual-booting like that gives me the best of both worlds. For anything mission-critical, I use the Mac (aside from the afore-mentioned accounting app). For toys and giggles, I use Windows -- or my PS3.
A side effect of Apple's recent-ish change from PowerPC to Intel is that Mac customers get the new chips before PC users (like the Core Duo and Core 2 Duo, for instance). It doesn't mean anything for the buyer. It's just an interesting byproduct of the deal between Apple and Intel.
Anyway, I'm not trying to sway you to the Mac side. I just haven't had a chance to talk computers in a while, but I used to be in tech (first retail and repairs, then GUI design, and finally a department head at a network security company), and not everything being said here, vis-a-vis the Mac/PC fence is still true to-day.