Steve Daniels wrote:
> >I am certain that these messages contain and/or are the result of viruses
> > they do come with attachments. Naturally, since I'm on a
> >Macintosh, the viruses can't bother me. I believe I've established
> >that fact to some critical acclaim before the list populous.
>
> This may come as a shock, but it is possible to write a virus for
> a Mac. It's just that they have such poor market penetration it
> isn't worth a virus writer's time to mess with it.
Actually I'm pretty sure that Microsoft spent a fair amount of time
writing a virus for the Mac. MS Office, I think it's was called. <g>
We should all be grateful for the UNIX systems this list surely
runs on, which along with Mark's able listserve administration have
kept us PC and MAC users mostly safe.
But seriously, you're both horribly wrong. :-P According to the stale
FAQ linked below, "[t]here are around 40 Mac-specific viruses
and related threats." Compared to the rich choice of viruses for the
PC, Mac-specific viruses *are* hard to come by. Pete, viruses can
bother you. Really.
Where I disagree with you the most, Steve, is that virus writers don't
bother with the Mac because of poor market share. I'd say instead
that it's because Windows is so easy to write viruses for (there are
automated tools for gosh sakes) and virus writers are lazy, mean
bastards. OTOH when folks like Pete cartwheel around
challenging the virus-writing community -- this community is a
quiet gated neighborhood in Rhode Island with tidy lawns BTW --
it's only a matter of time before someone writes a good one.
Since Mac OS X is UNIX based, there should be a rich opportunity
for the elderly UNIX-based virus writers in Rhode Island to come out
of retirement. I do think Steve is on target though, in that the few
Mac-specific viruses have had almost no impact on the world
economy -- due to poor market penetration. Figures from Computer
Economics (link below) show that Windows viruses cost the global
economy well over $17B in 2000, while the cost of Mac viruses was
$327.92 in the seven firms still using a Mac somewhere in their
basements so a graphic designer can pull up old graphic files.
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/macintosh-faq/
http://www.computerecon.com/bogusstats/macs-no-impact/index.html
--
Steven Newell
Littleton, CO
'62 TR4, still with starter trouble, otherwise I'd be driving instead
of churning out this baloney <g>
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