Collected: Apple threat level hits new high

Computerworld ^ | February 18, 2011 - 10:07 A.M. | By Jonny Evans

[Swordmaker]

Facts are meeting speculation. With Mac, iPad and iPhone sales on the up and up, this has been a fascinating week for Apple [AAPL] rumor. All the disparate claims seem headed into the final steps of their strange dance, unfolding like Lotus flowers, suggesting Apple is set to deliver the world's most efficient connected device-agnostic global mobile platform.

Look at the evidence: Apple's selling more Macs than ever -- Mac sales growth has outpaced the market for 19 consecutive quarters; analysts predict smartphone sales will climb 50 percent this year and the iPad-dominated tablet market is growing faster than that of any previous consumer electronics product.

Ready for business

A report at All Things D confirms December 2010 saw Apple's 19th consecutive quarter of Mac marketshare growth, up 23.5 percent for the month. The PC industry saw overall growth of 3.4 percent that month.

All Things D confirms Apple's consumer market success is transforming its non-traditional markets: business market shipments of Macs grew 65.4 percent in the period (against a 9.7 percent industry average). Government Mac sales were stratospheric -- up 549.5 percent.

What's driving this? The OS X, iOS, iPad, iPhone and iPod halo, of course. And also Microsoft's decade-long failure to mount anything approaching an effective market strategy to keep its customers loyal. Perhaps this is why Apple has repeatedly claimed 50 percent of Mac sales in its retail outlets are to people "new to the platform".

As I've reported previously, the iPad has won the enterprise, and now business is also turning to Mac. The iPad has been deployed or piloted in 80 percent of the Fortune 100 companies. 

[Scoutmaster]

If Apple needs to mark the ports with pretty little pictures that tells you something about their customers.

Yeah, that whole Apple idea about using icons on computers was such a loser.

That's why Microsoft never started to use icons in its operating systems and you won't see icons on any smart phones. Just like the idea of using a mouse instead of typing line commands. A mouse! Those smart-*ss Apple kids. And graphical windows. Now that's an idea that's just never going to catch on. *grumble* *grumble* Those stupid Apple customers. Now hand me a 5-1/4" floppy. I need to boot-up and type some line commands into DOS.

[Tribune7]

"Never" is a big word.

"Never has" and "never will" are different things. While the latter is not something to be forgotten, the former is not something to be ignored.

I've never had a malware issue on an OSX machine despite running naked on the web. I can't say the same for XP. I've never given Vista or 7 a fair shot so I won't comment on them.

[PissAndVinegar]

“Pure unadulterated BS! Name them, Omedalus! NAME THOSE MAC VIRUSES! You can't because there are none!”

Seriously? That Apple koolaid must be pretty tasty! With 1 minute of googling I found:

Mac.Simpson Virus
A mass-mailing email worm affecting only Macintosh OS9.0 and above, Mac.Simpson directs users to an online archive of The Simpsons episodes.

Melissa.W
Possibly arriving in the attachment, Anniv.doc, Melissa.W can only be detected by antivirus software supporting Macintosh Office 2001.

Mac OS X Virus: Inqtana.A Worm
OSX/Inqtana.A is a Java-based worm that exploits the directory traversal vulnerability in the Bluetooth file and object exchange services in Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger).

Leap.A aka Oompa-Loompa virus
The Leap.A (aka Oompa-Loompa) infects applications in Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) running on PowerPC processors.

[Yet_Again]

The Macintosh has been around for 30 years. You’ve cited four viruses, all of which run on outdated operating systems.

Meanwhile: “There are more MS-DOS/Windows viruses than all other types of viruses combined (by a large margin). Estimates of exactly how many there are vary widely and the number is constantly growing.
In 1990, estimates ranged from 200 to 500; then in 1991 estimates ranged from 600 to 1,000 different viruses. In late 1992, estimates were ranging from 1,000 to 2,300 viruses. In mid-1994, the numbers vary from 4,500 to over 7,500 viruses. In 1996 the number climbed over 10,000. 1998 saw 20,000 and 2000 topped 50,000. It’s easy to say there are more now. Indeed, in April 2008, the BBC reported that Symantec now claims “that the security firm’s anti-virus programs detect to 1,122,311” viruses and that “almost two thirds of all malicious code threats currently detected were created during 2007.”

So, the count is 1,122,311 to 4.

[AdamBomb]

I’ve been a Microsoft supporter for years. The iPad has made a believer out of me. We r developing a corporate application for the iPad and we r moving users to it.

I never thought I’d be saying this. iPad is the most disruptive technology since the internet. No more having to buy expensive operating systems or $500 versions of Microsoft office. I can convert my users who have $4000 fujitsu tablet pcs fully loaded with Microsoft for less than a thousand iPad and that includes accessories.

[BunnySlippers]

And Bill Gates is a Conservative?

FAIL

[AdamBomb]

Btw there r all kinds of companies emerging that have software to “harden” the iPads and to keep them secure in a corporate environment

MobileIron
zenprise
good technologies
Sybase
Etc

[AdamBomb]

Cloud computing and the iPad will completely change the way IT shops think in the coming years. Microsoft is dead. Licensing model for the desktop and many server applications is just too expensive

Again, I was a Microsoft “evangelist” for the past 15 years. I manage a large IT department. For the first time, we r looking for ways to get away from the high price of Microsoft.

[tacticalogic]

The IT guys are laughing less and less as I bitch to them about how this never happens to an OS X machine

So why aren't you in charge of the IT department, HMMMM?

I work in IT. We get don't laugh beacuse we're really tired of hearing that from people who don't have any idea what would be involved in doing what it is they're asking for.

[PissAndVinegar]

4 is all I found in 1 minute...

4 > none (the statement I was commenting on)

I couldn’t find any viruses for BeOS with a quick googling so by your logic BeOS is superior to both Win and Mac OSs?

You talk about “outdated operating systems” then start quoting numbers from MSDOS and the 90s?

MacBots crack me up....enjoy paying for your overpriced propitiatory hardware,non-user replaceable batteries and putting $$ into Al Gore’s pocket.

[tacticalogic]

Cloud computing and the iPad will completely change the way IT shops think in the coming years.

I work in IT for a company that handles financial transactions. We aren't moving to "the cloud" because we don't trust any third party to securely hold that data, or insure that it will be available in the event of a disaster or DOS attack aimed at disrupting the infrastructure.

Good or bad?

[Yet_Again]

MacBots crack me up....enjoy paying for your overpriced propitiatory hardware,non-user replaceable batteries and putting $$ into Al Gore’s pocket.

I'm hardly a "Mac bot." My major was computer science. I've built all of my non-laptop computers except for a few, including the tower on which I currently run Snow Leopard. My Macbook Pro is a Thinkpad. The bottom line is that I'm tired of being the computer janitor that Windows forces me to be on a weekly basis to maintain a safe and secure system. Both my "macs" took some work to get going, including terminal editing of "drivers" to match hardware specs - a process that a real Mac owner does not have to go through. Now that they're running, they work flawlessly. Snow Leopard is simply a better operating system than Windows.

[Omedalus]

I’m not going to argue about which OS is “better” than others. What I will tell you, though, is that Mac vulnerabilities are quite prolific. Look at the last three CanSecWest conferences; the majority of their Top Ten exploits are for the Mac and related Apple platforms.

Besides, a vulnerability doesn’t have to be in the OS in order to break into your box. If you’re running third-party software of any kind, you increase your vulnerability cross-section. If you’re running Adobe PDF Viewer, for example, you can pretty much kiss all your data goodbye.

Remember, I don’t have to root your box in order to make it do my bidding. A Mac is typically a single-user machine, so anything of value is associated with only one user account. Everything a hacker might want from your machine, he can get by compromising that account alone.

[ccmay]

“Mac has no immune system. Zero. Every single virus to infect Mac OS X encounters zero resistance.”

What garbage. OS X is BSD Unix, the most secure general purpose OS ever made. Everything but the shiny windowing interface is open source. The best minds in computer science have been hardening it for thirty years. Windows is proprietary crapware that is destined for the ash heap.

[zeugma]

Cloud computing and the iPad will completely change the way IT shops think in the coming years. Microsoft is dead. Licensing model for the desktop and many server applications is just too expensive

You'd think that, but corporate culture is weird. I've personally heard our CIO bitching about the fact that Redhat Enterprise Server isn't free, yet he doesn't bat an eye at throwing tens of millions of dollars to microsoft for what is essentially buggy, bloated, proprietary crap.

Again, I was a Microsoft “evangelist” for the past 15 years. I manage a large IT department. For the first time, we r looking for ways to get away from the high price of Microsoft.

Good luck. There are lots of zombies out there that can't do anything but point and click.

[Omedalus]

That would be an excellent argument if it were based on reality in any way. Meanwhile, back in the real world, things like this happen: http://www.h-i-r.net/2008/03/mac-os-x-pwned-in-two-minutes-flat.html

[Mr. Jeeves]

I dumped Microsoft and moved to Apple two years ago after twenty years as a developer. I do keep a Windows 7 partition using Boot Camp on one of my Macs. To play a couple of older games I still like. :)

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

A tipping point is coming. The time is not far off, perhaps two to four years, when business as a whole will decide that they are through with Microsoft’s insecure, costly crapware.

A tipping point is coming. The time is not far off, perhaps two to four years, when those who write these viruses and malware will turn their attentions to the Mac OS if it starts to take serious chunks of market share from Microslop.

[GOPJ]

The time is not far off, perhaps two to four years, when business as a whole will decide that they are through with Microsoft’s insecure, costly crapware.

I don't understand what happened to Microsoft... Did Bill Gates get sooooo puffed up about being a philanthropist that he forgot his biggest gift to the world was Microsoft?

Has 'liberal elite' gone to his brain - rotted out his genius? Dump the Foundation work, Bill - Leave it to Melinda and Paul... walk away - walk back to reality.

[SamAdams76]

If Apple needs to mark the ports with pretty little pictures that tells you something about their customers (or what they think about their customers).

Your statement is indicative of the arrogant attitude that is allowing Apple to make huge gains against Microsoft in the marketplace.

While the PC platform still holds a commanding lead in overall market share, there are many warning signs that Microsoft would be wise to take heed of including the fact that many younger people are purchasing an iMac or MacBook Pro as their first computer and may never consider a Windows system. Also, Apple products are now showing up in the corporate environment. For example, the IT department at my company now supports Macs, iPhones and iPads, a notion that would have been laughable of just a few years ago.

I remember a business meeting in the late 1990s when somebody brought an Apple laptop and he was the subject of (good-natured) derision. Now executives come to business meetings with a MacBook and an iPhone and nobody bats an eye anymore.

The tide is shifting and there are some major cracks in the Microsoft dam. Soon an irreversible tipping point will be reached and it will be too late for Microsoft to recover. If you are holding stock in Microsoft today, might be a good idea to consider dumping it soon and I say that as a big fan of Windows 7. As good as Windows 7 is however, it is blown away by Snow Leopard.