“Security experts issued fresh alerts over a new, file-deleting version of the MyDoom e-mail worm that was targeting computer users with greater ferocity on Wednesday. The new outbreak, known as MyDoom.F, emerged late last week and has been gathering steam since then,” Reuters reports.
“The virus is programmed to infect personal computers and use them to unleash a crippling digital barrage known as a denial-of-service attack on select Web sites belonging to Microsoft and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),” Reuters reports. “The attacks failed to bring down the sites, though access to the Web site for the RIAA was hampered slightly on Wednesday, security firms reported. The RIAA, a lobbying group for the music industry, has drawn the ire of computer users since it began suing American online song swappers last year.”
“But an early version of MyDoom did knock out the Web site of SCO Group, forcing the company to set up an alternative address,” Reuters reports. “While it was not spreading as fast as its MyDoom predecessors nor as rapidly as last week’s NetSky.b outbreak, MyDoom.F is considered a growing risk as it deletes random Microsoft Word and Excel files, plus photos and movies stored on an infected computer.”
Full article here.
I’ve done your calculations, and trust me I’m not trying to be a ‘wintroll’.. I do think that OS X is elegently executed and is indeed a better operating system (Yet Photoshop, Illustrator, Filemaker, Macromedia MX suite, et al are identical on both platforms; the OS only matters but so much, but I guess that’s another discussion)…
Computer (Athlon 64 2GHZ, 8x DVD-/+RW (that’s a ‘superdrive’ for those who don’t know, only the pioneer drive they have in the G5 is neutered to only write DVD-R) 1GB Mushkin DDR400 ram, 160GB Serial ATA harddrive (the same one used in the G5) Radeon 9600 Pro, Firewire 400 Card, obligatory anti-virus software, firewall (sygate, not the windows built in firewall)…$1120.
Time I’ve spent updating my software with patches…about 10 minutes, as the updates for both Windows and Antivirus software are both automatic and only require an ‘ok’ to confirm thier installation.
10 minutes includes rebooting time (if applicable) So, salary per hour (assuming there’s no such thing as downtime between projects/customers, or such things as lunch or bathroom breaks) divded appropriately comes out to about 10 dollars of “time wasted” per month.
Peace of mind? Well, considering that I have never been affected by a worm, virus, or 133t hax0r (because I am properly protected and don’t do stupid shit like install spyware/open attatchments claiming to have a great screensaver or naked picture of celebrity) I’ve got pretty good peace of mind (p.s. I’ve only seen a blue screen of death once (that’s like a kernel panic, kids) because of a faulty RAM module.
So…sytem plus AV software $1120. Money ‘lost’ updating sofware..a MAXIMUM of $10. Peace of mind..got that already so free I suppose.
$1130 vs Powermac G5 1.6 ghz (remember we’re searching for low cost options, though it has same relative specs 160gb SATA drive, 1GB Ram, Radeon 9600 Pro) 2199, after a $150 dollar promotion savings.
Over 1000 dollars for a bit more elegance (though I don’t see how a neat finder, brushed metal interface, and cool quartz extreme changes the functionality of photoshop in any way). You’ll say it’s like a BMW compared to a Ford…yes a BMW 3 series compared to a Ford Mustang Convertable only pretend the ford mustang costs about 23,000…not quite a BMW, but faster, and less expensive.
Somebody, where did you price that at? I usually start at Dell, and they can’t even begin to compete at that price point ($1044 gets a stripped down 2.8 ghz P4 with nothing added, forget the 64 bit processor).
Somebody.
Nice to hear that worms and viruses are both automatic and do not need “ok” to confirm their installation.
For me updating is much more trickier because my Mac insists that I supply my password before installing anything.
Was your car. I mean was your computer used? You can get a new one with that price. Not even from Dell. Oh I forget Dell does not use AMD. Well never mind. Big Brother starts so got to go.
I build my own from newegg.com, they’re fast, trustworthy, and cheap.
But Dell? Shit, I’m with you guys…if I ever buy a premade computer, I’m buying an apple…everybody else preloads all this crap onto the systems, and nobody gives you an install CD (like apple does with OS X) they just give you a restore disk, that erases all your data. Dell even preloads spyware onto your system, and won’t let thier techs tell you how to remove it.
“My question is this: How much time have you spent patching machines and finding ways to avoid or extinguish viruses over the past month? “
Hee hee…He will never give you an honest answer to that question.
Joe is in denial just like all the other Windows users out there. Better to just assume that the Mac costs more and leave it at that. An erroneous assumption without any basis in fact.
As someone said to JM a few months back…
He knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing. ;o)
Wow, R.V. So you’re saying that even if he told the truth, you wouldn’t believe him, even if he did give an honest answer, if it didn’t gel with perception of a ‘windoze luser’. That sounds alot like you in previous posts when you claim that ‘even when PC users see benchmarks that show Macs scoring higher than Pentiums, they don’t believe them, or try to explain them away.’
Guess denial works both ways.