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Windows worms and viruses cost companies average of $2 million per incident

Thursday, July 8, 2004 · 8:10 am · 13 Comments

“Internet-based business disruptions triggered by worms and viruses are costing companies an average of nearly $2-million in lost revenue per incident, market researcher Aberdeen said on Tuesday,” CNET reports.

“Out of 162 companies contacted, 84 per cent said their business operations have been disrupted and disabled by Internet security events during the last three years. Though the average rate of business operations disruption was one incident per year, about 15 per cent of the surveyed companies said their operations had been halted and disabled more than seven times over a three-year period,” CNET reports.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Hey, IT guys and gals, mix in some Mac OS X machines and your workforce will be able keep on doing business while you clean Windows machines ad infinitum. Think of it as migrating to ‘Longhorn’ (except better) today, if that helps. For more information about adding Mac OS X seamlessly to your Windows network, please click here.

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Comment Feed

13 Comments

One guy from Finland

Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 9:39 am · Reply

Yeah PC�s are so cheap indeed
Charlie

Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 9:40 am · Reply

What’s it going to take before people wake up to the fact that Windoze is bad for your corporate health? Maybe a few people need to bitchslap M$ with a class action lawsuit or two.

Meanwhile, switch to OS X – you know it makes sense
iggyb

Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 10:19 am · Reply

You know those IT folk in the corporate big houses. They’re afraid of radical change, and they certainly like the job security.

I do recognize that some companies need Windows machines because the software they use is Windows-only. That’s where the small marketshare hurts the Mac. Not enough software. Hopefully, that will change. Of course, I’ve been hoping that for a decade now…

And that doesn’t affect the XServe. I’m rooting for infiltration of those across the enterprise market.
BuriedCaesar

Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 11:14 am · Reply

If only they’d realize that they’d have more time for UT and Halo if they made the switch… sigh… yes, I know there are some who actually do “real” work, but there is that element out there…
Less is More

Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 11:15 am · Reply

Step on a rake once and you’re careless. Step on it twice and you’re stooopid. Step on it seven times in three years and you’re what? A windoze customer.
Jayplus

Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 12:10 pm · Reply

I need urgent help!!! My company is thinking about putting in some MACs and I’d like some websites I can refer him to, such as the number of virii affecting Windows versus MAC OS X. I’m going to point him to apple.com, but any other sites that can make a good point/argument, please, can you give me the link? Thanks….
Aryugaetu

Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 12:15 pm · Reply

Are they taking bets in Las Vegas on how long it will take for someone to make and spread a virus for Longhorn once it is released?

If Longhorn should ever find its way into reality, a good Apple ad campaign would be…

Transition time:
XP to Longhorn – 5 hours – install Longhorn, install new anti-vitus programs, transfer files, begin working.
XP to Mac – 30 minutes – set up a new Mac, transfer files, begin working.

~ A True Story ~

Yesterday, my neighbor/landlord was on his new Dell (w/ XP) for his business and all he wanted to do was get files from a floppy (which someone gave him) to his hard drive. Knowing I had a computer, he asked for my help.

We both wrestled with it, clicking on just about everything we thought MIGHT be right, but after 10 minutes I had to go to work. We couldn’t find the floppy anywhere!

He said “I thought you knew computers.”

“I have a Mac. I don’t have these problems. If I had a floppy, it would pop up on my desktop. I double click it to open it. I double click on my hard drive and open that. Then I just drag from one window to the other. Done.”

He said, “That makes sense!”

“Yep.”

I don’t know if he ever was able to do it that night without calling someone. I am very serious. This REALLY happened!! I know there is an easy way to do it, somehow, but XP doesn’t make it obvious.
Nobody

Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 12:45 pm · Reply

Jayplus,
Here is a site for you. CIAC no longer maintains virus database, but you can follow the links to other vendors that do. I couldn’t find my link to a site that maintains virus statistics on different OSes. You may want to google it if other MDN members couldn’t give you the links.

Aryugaetu,
Shouldn’t the floppy appear in Drive A: (or whatever letter the drive was assigned to)? If the floppy doesn’t show up in Drive A:, the floppy may be bad (not a surprise, really–I had stacks of them). If there is no Drive A:, then the computer has a serious problem. Either way, I agree with you… it’s stupid to wrestle with computer for 10 minutes to read floppies.
Aryugaetu

Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 1:09 pm · Reply

Jayplus, there are TONS of information on the internet about this topic (XP vs OSX). Search for terms like “OSX XP TCO”.

TCO is Total Cost of Ownership. This takes into account for initial equipment cost, training time, number or IT personnel, hardware life span, hardware downtime, software downtime (90,000 XP viruses!), etc. In short, most of the articles agree that it is silly to save $200 in initial cost if your staff is spending 25% of their time away from being productive while spending time maintaining their computer.

There are also other Costs of Ownership that are more hidden. These are the tiny slowdowns that each worker must do to understand what the computer wants and then to decide upon the right action. More time is wasted if it is a wrong decision. A poor OS is like an anchor upon your productivity, as in my “A True Story” example above. Another very good example is here… http://www.xvsxp.com/dialogs/

A sample of what I found using Teoma and Google…

OS Shootout: Mac OS X vs. Windows XP
http://www.xvsxp.com/

Apple Myths
http://www.apple.com/myths/

MAC – vs – PC Issues, Kern Trembath, Ph.D.
http://www.usfca.edu/~trembath/smon/macpc.html

Cost of PCs and Macs (updated June 2004)
http://corourke.customer.netspace.net.au/Mac/cost.html

PCs are Cheaper?
http://forgetcomputers.com/~jdroz/pages/03.html
Undercover (Mac) Brother

Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 1:57 pm · Reply

Those numbers seem conservative based on my experience at a tech giant that makes computer parts.

I would waste 15 minutes at the beginning of EVERY DAY reading the latest virus alert which was posted in red at the top of the company intranet.
Cost: $2,300 for the year.

Once a week I had to install a patch that not only interupted my work, because the annoying message wouldn’t go away, but forced me to close all my applications and files and RESTART the damn machine. It’s hard to calcalulate how much that cost because I would never get right back to work and would surf the web, check email, get a snack, go to the bathroom and chat with coworkers during this time. Plus it took time to lauch everything again, open all the files and get back into the flow.
Cost: Approx. $5,200 for the year

Three times there were major outages (2 due to viruses and 1 due to hardware issues). The virus issues had my machine down about 1/2 day total and the hardware malfunction (bad motherboard) had we sitting around for a week surfing the net on a loaner machine that had no applications except office and explorer.
Cost: $1920 for the year

Multiply my experience by 7,000 employees and what do ya get? A number too damn big to even report. So much for being cheaper than a Mac in Total Cost of Ownership.
Having a virus free Mac that just works: Cost: Priceless
no floppy?

Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 1:58 pm · Reply

Aryugaetu,

The floppy didn’t appear in Windows Explorer under the A: drive? Maybe it couldn’t read it? Who knows. I’ve seen problems with Windows that defy explanation as well. My friend who often calls me for help is so fed up with his PC that he’s re-installing Windows just to get rid of all the malware/popup/viruses on his PC. Poor sap. At least he finally confessed that his next computer will be a Mac. By the way, how many of us Mac users have PC using friends that turn to us for answers to their problems? Perhaps we seem like experts since we never have any problems!
MacBuddy

Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 2:57 pm · Reply

(By the way, how many of us Mac users have PC using friends that turn to us for answers to their problems?)

Former Free Tech Guy to around 14-15 PeeCeers. Yes, former. I no longer do this. It’s completely thankless and soul-draining.

Does it make me a jerk, if I NEVER suggest that they buy a Mac? Is it Schadenfraude to let them continue with their ‘Real business computer that has more games than that Mac toy’?

Oh well
treadlightly

Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 3:08 pm · Reply

I maintain our small office network of win98′s and an nt4 server. Since I’ve got no formal training in computers, I have to call in an outsider at least once a month at $80/hour (the non-profit discounted rate). Also take care of in-laws computer (lost my entire Labor Day weekend last year on that one). At least the in-laws are looking Macward for their next computer buy.