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Douglas Schweitzer's picture
Douglas Schweitzer

The Security Sector

Let the Mac ads begin!

The holiday season is upon us and already a slew of new Mac ads are drawing smiles from me and other Mac aficionados whenever we see them. The hour I spent removing the ransomware at work last week is a fresh reminder of why I love my Mac. Funny thing, the person who downloaded the sound bite and got the pesky malware was a Mac user at home and he’d never experienced that type of infection. He was totally shocked at how quickly and easily the Windows machine was infected even with up-to-date AV running.

As we get closer to the gift-giving season we're likely to see an escalation of these types of Mac ads. While they are entertaining and funny, they really don't tell the whole Mac story. Macs may not be everybody's cup of tea but they surely are mine. The OS X interface is elegant and the operating system runs as smooth as silk. I'm not saying that Macs are without problems, nor are they immune from Malware. What I'm saying is that for me and countless others, the Mac represents freedom of choice and for the time being, freedom from the plethora of malware that plagues our Windows brethren. As I say, once you go Mac, you don't go back. So, this holiday season stop by your Apple store and take a bite...you won’t be sorry. An apple a day keeps the virus/malware doctor away.

What People Are Saying

Freedom of Choice & Mac = Fewer Features

You can run Windows and Windows Applications on HP, Dell, Toshiba,...custom-built, and self built computers.

With MacOSX and MacOSX Applications, your only hardware choices are Apple, Apple, and Apple.

In terms of features, Apple/Mac also limits freedom.

Want an optional built-in Blu-Ray drive? Sorry Mac users, Steve Jobs dictates that you are not allowed to have that choice.

With HP notebook computers, for example, you can also get things like a built in digital media card reader, more USB ports, HDMI ports, Firewire ports, eSATA ports -- even an optional built in HDTV tuners.

Macs are priced like luxury computers, but are feature poor.

Hello???? Uhmmmm...you can

Hello???? Uhmmmm...you can run Windows and Windows applications on the new Intel based Macs using Boot Camp.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bootcamp.html

The only question is why would anyone want to???

Macs have USB and Firewire and run all manner of hardware these days.

I can even record High Definition Digital TV via firewire right to my Mac by connecting it to my Verizon set top box. I can then watch it using VLC right on my Mac anytime or anywhere I want!

Yes,...

Yes, Microsoft allows Windows to be run on Macs.

In contrast, No-Freedom Apple, won't allow OSX to be run on any non-Apple computer.

When you buy a Mac Application, you are stuck with an application that only runs on one brand of computer.

No thanks. I'm not interested in being a member of Apple's Walled Garden.

Windows User - Never Had Malware

I've been using Microsoft operating systems since the pre-Windows days of DOS, and have never had a succesful virus, worm, trojan, or spyware attack against any of my computers. All it took was current anti-malware software, and a little common sense.

What???

Freedom of choice, you say? Let's compare the hundreds of thousands of software titles available to the Windows machines compared to the few that are available to the Mac. Oh, they have their widgets, but so does Windows. I turned most of my widgets off after I learned how much bandwidth they used...

Let's also compare the stranglehold that Apple keeps on developers compared to the same relationship with Windows developers. Oh well, no freedom there.

Let's now compare how one can get the job done with a Mac. Oh my. Very, very limited. Steve Jobs' way or the highway! You lose again!

About the only thing the Mac has going for it is its freedom from malware attack. Yeah, that's a real point in its favor, but as it begins to be identified with the established order, it will come under the scrutiny of those who wish to mess with our hardware, and that plus will melt away like sugar in the rain.

If you like working with Macs, that's okay by me, but do not tell me that its a better platform because you have freedom of choice. That's simply a lie. More likely its because you do not want to have to choose.

(Yeah, I don't like Macs.)

Well actually....

Freedom of choice = Open Source = Linux

End of story.

Mac is one of the most proprietary OS's out there.

Funny that you bring up

Funny that you bring up Linux. It is another choice for an OS but is it as good as OS X?

Hmmmm....no waaaaaay!

First off..it's still a bit tricky (at times) for the general public to use and configure. I can't imagine my 70+ year old Mom using it too easily.

My Ausus laptop has Linux pre-installed and I actually like it!!!

Yeah, I was talking about

Yeah, I was talking about freedom of choice for OPERATING SYSTEMS!

You talk about fewer Mac apps? For the record...there are a plethora of Mac apps available these days and most of the ones that the majority of people need and actually use are buit-right in!!!!

Need an "Office like" suite????

Uhmmmm...can you say Open Office???

You are right there are more Windows apps. However, we Mac users don't need all those anti-spyware or anti-virus apps that you Windows users require and for that I count my blessings.

Funny that you comment about Widgets? I see Gadgets (a rip-off of Widgets in my eyes) as part of Vista. Imitation is the sincerest form flattery. As far as getting the job done....none of my four Macs have ever had a single day of down time in five years.

As far as I'm concerned.....Macs are better platform.....heck, just ask the boys up in Redmond when they decided to "borrow" from OS X for Vista.