Dvorak blames obsessive compulsive disorder, not Microsoft for virus problems
Wednesday, April 28, 2004 - 01:37 PM EST"An estimated 3.3 million Americans alone have obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD, and more attention is being paid to the problem than ever before. At least two hit TV shows have main characters who exhibit the problem (Monk and Law & Order: Criminal Intent). The latest iterations of e-mail–based viruses exploit people in the office who have OCD and that's why there is no way that client-based initiatives to stop virus spreading can ever work. Ever. In fact, the virus problem will just get worse," John C. Dvorak writes for PC Magazine.
"No amount of public education will end the virus threat, with millions of compulsive people out there getting messages that say things like 'Open the important attachment!' Apparently you don't need anything more than that simple demand to propagate a virus. You don't need spoofing, or tricks, or passwords or anything else. All you need is an attached virus or Trojan horse program and a note that says, 'Open me!' Millions of poor souls with OCD will open it,' Dvorak spews.
"It's ridiculous. What do you think can be done to end this cycle? I think that until the end user is taken out of the loop, we're stuck," Dvorak concludes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Sorry to ask the obvious question, but since John neglected to address the rather large Panther in the room - why not just give the end users Macintosh computers running Mac OS X and be done with it, John? Oh yeah, then you'd have to write about people accomplishing positive things, increasing productivity, and having fun computing, instead of making up things to whine about. It's everybody's fault except Microsoft, the maker of the Windows family of operating systems that allow the problems, right?
This is posted from a Mac OS X machine where, for a test, we just clicked 10 email attachments (already automatically and conveniently placed in Junk by Mac OS X Mail) that scream "Important document - OPEN NOW!" and absolutely nothing at all happened to the Mac. Problem solved, cycle ended, all with the end user still firmly in the loop.
= 
. Asking for something you know is not available is a defense mechanism. Pull the trigger, buddy:
Hey MDN, lol, this is also one of the things I show my switchers: opening email attachments with Windows viruses and watching them sweat. It is required in that most do not believe the virus could not ruin the Mac has it happens on the PC.
One commented: "I though it was just BS from Mac zealots"