Is this a joke? Have people never heard of this?
Posted on 11/09/2005 4:18:59 PM PST by Vermonter
Windows users are getting sick of computer viruses and are increasingly switching to Macs, according to a research note issued on Monday by New York-based investment firm Needham & Co.
The report downgrades Apple's stock from a buy to a hold based on the high price of the computer company's shares. But it cautions that "the frenetic pace of innovation at Apple could present new opportunities," which might merit a higher share valuation.
Much of that innovation of late has involved the iPod, specifically the company's video-capable fifth generation iPod and its iPod Nano.
On October 11, Apple reported the highest revenue and earnings in its history. The company shipped 1.2 million Macintosh computers and 6.5 million iPods during its fiscal 2005 fourth quarter, a 48% increase in Mac sales and a 220% increase in iPod sales compared to the same quarter a year earlier.
In his report, Needham & Co. analyst Charles Wolf observes that cumulative iPod sales have reached 28 million since 2001 and that the momentum of the iPod, in conjunction with the ubiquity of malware on the PC, has created a halo effect that benefits the Mac platform. "Windows users are buying Macs in increasing numbers," he wrote. "We estimate in the first three quarters of calendar 2005, over one million of them have purchased a Mac compared to our estimate of 500,000 for the entire calendar year."
Wolf's assessment jibes with at least one person's experience. When news of the report reached University of Pennsylvania computer science professor David Farber's Interesting People E-mail list, subscriber Robert Raisch, CTO of Financial Media Holdings Group, Inc., volunteered his experience switching platforms.
"I've recently switched my laptop from a Toshiba Portege running Windows XP to an Apple Macintosh Powerbook G4, and I must say I am impressed," Raisch wrote in an E-mail. "A number of factors contributed to this change, not the least of which was the soul-crushing weariness I've felt hunting down and eradicating each new Window's-borne virus or other malware."
Another reader was less impressed, noting that while Mac OS X had much to recommend it, he found the operating system to be extremely slow. Such concerns may diminish when Apple rolls out its Intel-based notebooks next year.
Please ping the usual suspects
There is an alarming lack of Windows apologists on this thread thus far. I wonder why?
I'm a former Macintosh user now using a Dell and Windows XP and taking note.
I'm virus-free. I use AVG 7.0 (free version), and also scan my computer once a week with "Housecall"(free) at TrendMicro, and also scan at Panda Software (free). It's all free, and it has worked for me.
"It's all free, and it has worked for me."
Wow, how many scans per week does this make? Three, at least?
I download new virus defs once a month from NAV for my Macs. Never had a problem on any of them. My two PCs, on the other hand ...
I"ve never used a virus program on a Mac. I've been a Mac user since they first came out. How many hours have I saved over 20 years by not doing virus scans?
I'm not an apologist, but it seems to me that if Mac became the dominant system, then the virus writing people would start writing Mac viruses. It's not a matter of Mac vs Windows. It's a matter of which one can the deviants write a virus for to create the most damage. Right now, that would be Windows.
" How many hours have I saved over 20 years by not doing virus scans?"
I couldn't begin to say. I run Norton Antivirus to be on the safe side, doing live update once a month to keep the definitions up to date, and have only found a trojan horse on three occasions in the eleven years that I've been connected to the internet.
" It's a matter of which one can the deviants write a virus for to create the most damage."
Should Mac become the dominant platform, and we're a ways away from that being a possibility, there are far fewer potential exploits in OSX than there are in Windows.
I'm a Windows user, and I haven't had a virus in 5 years, nor a piece of spyware or adware for that matter.
Virus protection is not that friggin difficult.
Be patient.... I got here by post 12.
Is this a joke? Have people never heard of this?
Ummm... I've never spent a moment scanning. You don't have to manually sit and scan it... the program does that.... in the background, or a 2 in the morning. It updates itself as it needs to, I don't have to do a thing or even know about it.
"Virus protection is not that friggin difficult."
You apparently have a rare ability to deal with a problem that daunts nearly every other PC user.
You need to get yourself an infomercial and get it now. There's millions to be made, millions I say! You'll be the next Carleton Sheets, the next Thighmaster!
I don't buy Sony CDs so I don't have to worry about infections. My A/V chugs away disinfecting the normal crap.
Never owned it, never used it, never needed it. ;-}
I don't think it's just viruses, but the whole user experience.
I have friends that are pulling out their hair because of popups, system freezes, you name it. They're not educated computer users, they just want something that works when they want to use it.
So basically, people too stupid to protect their systems from viruses are migrating to Macs. Figures. I have nothing against Macs but I have been using Windows since 3.1 and have never been infected.
Opening attachments from people you don't know is like taking food from a bum on the street and eating it.
I don't think it's a rare ability. It's quite easy for people who don't mind buying legitimate commercial software and keeping their machines up to date.
All the people who have trouble are trying to get by on the cheap. Unlicensed and horribly out of date pirated software, and free antivirus crapware some kid made in his basement.
You need to get yourself an infomercial and get it now.
I don't mind endorsing good products. Trend Micro's PC-Cillan. Good product, always up to date, never let me down. PC-cillin Internet Security 2006 - Trend Micro, Inc :~D
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