Yes, this is true. Macs don't have some special virus force field. But what IS true is that nobody has really spent a lot of time developing a virus for them (yet). When they do, it'll be a disaster... but the point is that nobody really HAS yet.
So for an average computer user to say "my computer is a mac so it doesn't have any viruses"... well, right NOW that's accurate to say. Not sure why you felt the need to correct the person that said that because there was nothing to correct.
Macs, like Linux, can in theory get viruses - it's just much harder to do given the unix underpinnings - especially process management - of those operating systems.
For a short while, Apple distributed the best 3rd party anti-virus program it could find, free, to all .Mac (now called MobileMe) users.
Like any anti-virus program, it tried to become an executive monitor - and in its attempt to override the normal system mechanisms, it quickly became virus-like in the widespread instabilities it caused. It was pulled down, we all dropped it and haven't looked back.
Much as the Windows community and virus/anti-virus industries like to proclaim that it's the small numbers non-win machines that have allowed them to escape the wrath of hackers, the plain and simple truth is that every jerk would love to be the one to proclaim to his haxoz buddies that he cracked OS X.
The other plain and simple truth is that unix systems are simply much, much tougher to infect.
The whole by-the-numbers argument applied to the classic OS (bye bye almost a decade ago), so guys, get with the program.
The best thing that Redmond could ever do would be to do what Apple did - admit that the whole infrastructure is just freaking wrong, gut it completely, and replace it with unix.
The roots of the Darwin/unix underpinning OS X is a combination of:
- modified Mach microkernel
- OpenBSD - the security standard in the industry
- NetBSD - the part of BSD upon which the internet was founded
- FreeBSD - the part of BSD that formed the basis for interoperability
There are security exploits to be found for OS X - plenty of them. You have to actually know what you're doing and how a system works to get to them - something lacking in the skill set of most virus writers - and users typically have to be using their system in some wide-open fashion to suffer from them.
Macs aren't protected by a virus force field - they're simply naturally immune. Windows machines, on the other hand, are naturally weak and the whole meme that Macs will somehow fall prey should their numbers ever get large enough is part of the Redmond reality distortion field (and yes, both sides have them).
As for it being a
disaster waiting to happen - yeah, fine, whatever you guys want to believe.
While MS has taken over the server market for the web (just a short time back, that was all unix), I'd wager the best and most important sites are not invested in that technology.
By the time that OS X is overtaken with viruses, so too will large parts of the internet that you care most about - that will be the disaster.
Opinions do not equal facts and neither can facts be out-voted.
Given the vitriolic anti-Mac people in this forum, I'll just say in advance: flame away, I'll only answer intelligent remarks on the subject, not invective. I simply don't have time for it.
But before you reply - make sure your anti-virus stuff is up to date, mmmk?
Because the virus authors will always love to pick the low-hanging fruit.
PS - Throwing rocks at OS X is like throwing rocks at Linux - it's not even wrong.
