“The Windows computing platform is in a genuine crisis. Windows computers are being attacked, every day, by an international army of digital criminals who seek to spy on users, turn their own computers against them and deface, corrupt or destroy their data.There have long been computer viruses, but until the past couple of years, they were mainly a nuisance. Now they have grown into a serious problem-by one account there were 5,000 new Windows viruses discovered in the first six months of 2004. And the virus plague has been trumped by a new type of malicious software, spyware, which can track your activities, bombard you with unwanted ads, even steal your identity,” Walter S. Mossberg writes for The Wall Street Journal.
“Spam has also grown exponentially, clogging e-mail boxes and carrying with it malicious software. For some people, e-mail has become a curse. And that’s not all. Every minute of every day, hackers using automated software scan the Internet looking for computers vulnerable enough to invade and, in some cases, to surreptitiously take over. Without your knowledge, they can turn your computer into a ‘zombie’ machine rigged to help them spread their nasty viruses, spam and spyware,” Mossberg writes.
“So for consumers and small businesses — everyone without a large IT department to manage security — the Windows computers they use have become huge burdens instead of helpful tools. If you do get a severe virus or spyware infestation, you may have to spend hundreds of dollars and many hours to wipe your hard disk clean and start fresh, quite possibly losing crucial data in the process,” Mossberg writes. “If you’re totally fed up with the security crisis but want to continue using your computer for common tasks, consider dumping Windows altogether and switching to Apple’s Macintosh, which uses its own operating system, called OS X. There has never been a successful virus reported on OS X, and there is little or no spyware for the Mac.”
Mossberg writes, “In my view, Macs have better hardware, a better operating system and better bundled software than Windows PCs. They are as good as, and often better than, Windows PCs at e-mail and Web surfing; at word processing and other productivity tasks; and at handling digital photos, videos and music. And most popular Windows file types open right up in Mac programs, without the need for any conversion or translation.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Windows patchers, there is a better way. For more information about smoothly adding a safe, secure, powerful, and fun Mac OS X machine to your computing arsenal, please click here. If we may be so forward, you might want to take a look at Apple’s new Mac Mini which starts at just US$499 — it just might be the perfect machine for you. And don’t forget to bump the RAM up to 512MB, you’ll want it. And please don’t forget to read Switching from Windows to Mac? Save money by asking to ‘crossgrade’ your software.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
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Security expert: Don’t use Microsoft Windows, Office, Outlook, Internet Explorer – December 09, 2004
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Microsoft: The safest way to run Windows is on your Mac – October 08, 2004
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Ballmer blames Windows users for not upgrading systems as Microsoft’s biggest security problem – October 22, 2004
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God, I really hope the tide is turning. I’d love to see the Mac with a true 15% market share in the next 2-3 years.
I’d love to see Apple sell 10MM Macs per year for the next five years.
Just curious as to when you quoted/installed this system, gimp, because MS didn’t acquire Giant until mid-December last year and did not release the public beta until January of this year.
Second, while I would agree with you that MS has become less prone to attack over the last four years, attacks and severity/impact/potential damages have increased.
For some people, Windows has become a hell of a lot more expensive to operate.
Mac II
Yeah spot on. I work in PC support but own a Mac. It just amazes me when I hear people at work talking about what they have to do ti their PCs to keep them running.
It’s ridiculous. You have to have a fair amount of expertise to keep a PC running smoothly. It just aint right. I don’t have to be a backyard mechanic to keep my car running, or an electronics tech to keep my TV, VCR, DVD and Stereo running.
Why do people take that sorta crap?? Why don’t they just get a Mac?
How many times you seen a Mac network setup and run by someone who knows little about computers? I was at a radiologist’s office yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to see Macs and Cinema Displays. When I enquired, she said one of the radiologists set it all up – and then the line you always hear – “And it never gives us any trouble”
Again, why don’t people just get a Mac?
Gimp,
Apparently your Wintel box can’t handle 5-digit numbers:
“16 Machines from Dell w/ Office 03 1200*16 $19200
1 Windows 2003 Server w/ SUS $2000
2 Days configuration 65*16 $1040
Sonic Wall Firewall / Router $2000
Total $20,640 over 8 months”
19,200 + 2,000 + 1,040 + 2,000 = $24,240
Also, no anti-spam or anti-virus utilities? I bet you ride motorcycles in shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops, too.
And, 20 hours of training to show people how to use Office on OS X? C’mon. I moved my seriously non-technical mom from Windows to Mac OS 9 with about two hours of orientation, then from OS 9 to OS X with another two.
It’s obvious which side your bread is buttered on. If you’re dead-set on selling someone a Wintel “solution”, it’s not hard to cook up some numbers that’ll make the fish bite.
…and another thing – which $1,400 Macs did you have in mind? If you’re selling an Office solution, a bunch of $800 eMacs would do just fine. Or, if you need big displays, how about a Mac mini with keyboard, mouse, 512MB RAM and a Dell 20″ LCD for a grand total of $1,200?
Hey Gimp!
You forgot to factor in all the windows downtime due to viruses, spyware, etc. etc.
Also, Apple hardware can be had for a lot cheaper than you quoted. If all they are running is Office then a Mac mini each would be more than enough.
Troll
Gimp
40 hours downtime each person per year with Microsoft makes:
15*40*40=24000$ and this is only the first year…
3*24000=72000$ in those three years
So the Apple looks very good.. or what?
Windows $ 96240 + support personel +lost data +extra headache
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compared to $ 48023 with Mac without any headache.
(Though that amount of training makes those people Mac Pros
I chose 2 macs for my family because I haven’t got time to ‘service’ a windows box.
I chose Apples Macs because I want my wife and 2 kids to learn and not be frustrated with near constant OS troubles.
My 4 year old love useing the mac.
He can turn it on, log in to his own account, click on the safari icon in the dock, surf the web (safely!) because of the restrictions you can customise in OS X and have fun.
We tried windows XP and within 3 months the machine went back.
Doing anything on XP is 200 times less intuitive than on the mac – the mac just works!
Simple as that.
What I would say is if there are any windows users out there looking at a mac then they should buy one! The OS is so easy to use even my 1.5 year old girl can use it!
Forget windows – it aint going anywhere.
Thanks
Pete B + Family
RE: A NEW MAC USER
Welcome to the Mac community!
I use my mac for work and pleasure and it has no problems what-so-ever.
I would recommend getting a .mac account though – as this adds a whole new dimension to using mac.
You can find info here: http://www.apple.com/mac
Thanks S-FLARE!
I am gonna get Tiger too when it comes out as my boy has an eye sight problem and the voice over OS is gonna really help him get more from the macs.
I have my own company and will be discussing with Apple the best way for us to adopt macs throughout the company and have a meeting at their UK Head Office next week to finalise installation.
“Macs without any headache” – Isnt that an Oxymoron?
Try loading 10,000 fonts on a Mac.
Then come back to me.
RE: GIMP
“”Macs without any headache” – Isnt that an Oxymoron?
Try loading 10,000 fonts on a Mac.
Then come back to me.”
YOU TRY AND INSTALL ‘ANYTHING’ ON WINDOWS!!
THEN COME BACK TO ME!
ps – I have over 25,000 fonts on my mac – and I installed them all in one go.
“YOU TRY AND INSTALL ‘ANYTHING’ ON WINDOWS”
No wonder you switched to Mac.
“I have over 25,000 fonts on my mac – and I installed them all in one go.”
Yeah and tell me how long THAT took.
I can only speak for myself as a small bussiness owner. I used macs in college, switched to Wintel afterwards as it was much easier to go along with what was ubiquitous in my industry. I don’t remember enjoying or not enjoying wintel stuff, it was just what you had to use. A couple of years ago I went into business for myself, and I investigated macs, having heard some good things about OS X.
I have to say that since the switch I am, thrilled, almost estatic. I have not had a single system crash on 3 machines I run in my business for over two years. My productivity is up (how do I know? – I make more money). Apple hardware and software is excellent, stable and a pleasure to use. I enjoy using my machine, and since it’s so easy to do the basics, I have had the time to advance my competency way beyond what it was on wintel.
Yes, I spent more than I would have on a PC, but I definitely feel I got what I paid for and more. (I spend so little time maintaining my machines that I seek out doing additional stuff to keep them extra squeaky clean – my windows experience haunting me, as I can’t believe the boxes just sit there, just working, month after month. But they do.)
As my company grows, I will stick with macs, it’s just hard to convey how much smoother and more efficiently everything runs in my business with them.
FWIW – the two people I “re-trained” on macs cost me about 6 hours total. They are now far more heavily into Apple gear than I am, and teach me things. And they were hardcore skeptics when they started.
This is one person’s anecdotal experience, but I guess I feel strongly enough about it to waste time arguing on the net, where no one ever get convinced of anything, it seems.
GIMP – I think you’ve got about $17,000 of “hot air” numbers in your comparison. I put the Apple systems and the wintel systems about $5000 apart. I am convinced there’s easily $5000 worth of productivity gains in the switch. Really, I think you’re a pro who’s making a solid case, but I think it’s a lot closer than you make it. For my money, a mac is a BMW vs a Hyundai. Sure, they’re both cars, and have almost all the same features, but drive the two side by side… Better value isn’t always lower price.
Nicely put Majikthize. And welcome to the New Mac User!
For the numbers Gimp quoted, we should be able to supply some really high end Apple platforms. And as Lord Blorf points out, the (re-)training on a Mac is much less than required on other platforms (e.g. Windows).
It’s the interface stupid! It may not be perfect but amongst the 25+ operating systems I’ve used in the past 25 years, it comes pretty close!
Hey Gimp, judging from the responses, looks like you’ve been owned … but I guess that don’t bother you none, you being a Windows user and all should be used to that! 😎
Hey Gimp, they (MW) are coming to get you … ha ha … ha ha
A mac is a BMW vs a Hyundai? Thanks for the laugh, best joke I’ve heard in a long while.
Apple’s desktop presence is clings solely upon a small, fractional group of fanatics either too prejudiced (for philosophical reasons against Microsoft or Intel) or too lazy (and in cases like New Mac user, too stupid) to properly utilize a windows machine to its true potential.
I’ve repeated this in another thread, Apple is behind the computer technology curve and rapidly falling behind. They have offered nothing of note to the computer industry for the last 10 years (except firewire LOL), and copies and licenses all the innovations furthering the PC industry.
I would take an AMD FX-55, 6800GT PCI express SLI, Nforce 4 Ultra chipset over a dual G5 any damn day of the week (which couldnt keep up in any of my graphics and video editing applications anyway).
Is Windows XP perfect? No. But the operating system is transparent, its the applications that matter.
If Apple wants to do something truly innovative, it should bring OSX over to the PC world as an alternate operating system.
BMW? LOL. Yes, there are Hyundais of the PC world. There are also AMG’s and Lamborghini’s of the PC world as well. You get what you pay for, and most mac zealots like to point out cheaply made PC parts/sytems to further their flawed, ignorant assessments.
Viruses/trojans? Use Norton Antivirus stupid.
Internet explorer exploits? Use Mozilla stupid.
Now what’s left for the mac zealots to harp on?
Hey Sammy, why are your trolling a mac board if you’re so convinced of the superiority of your solution?
Why look at a mac board at all? Why does this “fractional group” take even a moment of your important and valuable time?
Even so, we’re all so grateful you could spare some of your vital and unique brainpower to say the same stupid crap PC tossers ALWAYS SAY. And thanks, too, for confirming the stereotype, it’s so reassuring to see that in this crazy world, some things never, ever, change.
It’s so great, so comforting, that anytime I report my real experience as my own opinion I get a press release from Bill Gate’s cabin boy.
But seriously, what’s wrong with you? Don’t you have some um, “important benchmarks”, to wank to? Blaze on down the road, Mr. Independent Thinker, you’ve obviously got it all figured out.
We of the fanatical fringe salute you, Sammy, and heartily repent using a better computer and OS. But next time, just write – “I am a wintel clone.” It’ll save even more of your precious, valuable, erudite time, Sammy, and we’ll all know just what you meant, anyway.
—-
PC video editing apps – to quote you – “LOL”.
“We of the fanatical fringe salute you, Sammy, and heartily repent using a better computer and OS.”
And please, continue to believe the misguided hype perpetuated by Apple’s marketing machine and the mac zealot cult itself. In your own words, the same stupid crap Mac tossers “ALWAYS say”.
Sammy, you got run. Go home now.
“Got run”? No Mac zealot wants to speak up? Of course not, any technology issues discussed would only place Apple at the bottom of the barrel…all the mac zealots would have to harp on is the usual “Windows, Intel, Bill Gates sucks..etc” garbage.
There’s a reason why Apple only has 3% of the markeshare for practically the last two decades.
Correction Sammy, Its only 2%