“Apple Computer’s switch to Intel chips is no reason to raise the security alarm, experts say,” Joris Evers reports for CNET News. “Yes, Macs will have the same hardware at their core as Windows PCs, but it is the operating system, not the hardware, that has made those Microsoft-based computers vulnerable to attacks, analysts and security researchers said.”
Some analysts and others quoted in the article theorize about potential security issues that the switch to Intel could portend for the Mac platform, but they seem tenuous at best. Others think the switch to Intel processors could even make the Mac more secure.
Full article here.
Mac {Daily} News is right that the OS is more important than the chip. The chip IS a factor–ask Linux users about their viruses–just not a really big one compared to OS X itself.
{} = MW
This articles is for people who buy eMachines… time to wake up and realize spyware/viruses is not a side effect of using a computer. It’s a symptom of using Windows.
Aww, dang, I really wanted to be able to create a post that is the first in the comments feild on an article published on a mac news site. Unfortunately for me Fieldhand Luke has demolished my hopes and asperations by typing a deafening ‘First post’ followed up by a powerful ‘beeeaaaayyyaaaahhhhtttccchhh!!!!!!!’ to drive home his superior abilities to tell others he is the first idiot to stuble across a new article and feel the need to waste space.
I’m glad this is appearing more and more as a smooth transition, with no real losses, unless Classic is a must have for you, I’ll probably update my system in about four years, so I’ll have plenty of time to make sure things are good and well in post transition.
Our Intel Macs WILL STILL BE MACS the CPU has nothing to do with functionality of the Mac. OSX will still be secure….
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I tell u another thing Intel will have a whole new breed of chip for us Mac users not the old X86 P4 stuff that PC’s have now.
Intel wants to be able to create a new advanced CPU so Apple is the ticket.
Can’t wait to see the the first Intel based Mac roll of the line.
Apple forever !!!!!!!!!!!
is switch to intel means:
> we should buy different software like when we switch from classic?
> buy antivirus software
> we can play pc games
Some analysts and others quoted in the article theorize about potential security issues that the switch to Intel could portend for the Mac platform, but they seem tenuous at best. Others think the switch to Intel processors could even make the Mac more secure.
How could switching to Intel make the Mac more secure? Isn’t it the x86 with the buffer overflow issue, a critical flaw that crackers can use to their advantage to break into a PC??
Big-Mike the development kit Apple sells now has an x86 processor. Apple has also confirmed that users could install Windows because there is nothing done to the motherboard that would prevent the OS to work.
it is to wonder why people should believe that the intel chip could make the OS more vulnerable than on a ppc. windows would be insecure running on toasted bread!
how does a PC game (dos based, which XP still is, under the hood) run on a processor, or a virus on it for that matter??
it is the middleman, the OS, which makes all that pixel magic, and the hacking voodoo, possible.
move along, nothing to see here.
(sometimes i wonder about common sense, and why it is so uncommon)
Yes Sol at first X86 but that will change, thats why Apple wants them back at the end of 2006.
And the developers get there deposit back $999.00.
Isn’t it the x86 with the buffer overflow issue, a critical flaw that crackers can use to their advantage to break into a PC??
i don’t like the sound of that..
Running windows on an Intel Mac will make the Mac insecure.
mike (and others). OS X is secure because it is essentially BSDUnix, not because it uses PowerPC. The buffer overflows is a sw condition exploited with Windows API. OS X as well has buffer overflows – for your information – but OS X API does not allow to exploit them.
The CPU used has nothing, nada, zilch, to do with a virus. BSDUnix run on Intel and AMD and it is BSDUnix that makes OS X basically secure, not PowerPC. LOL.
Put this FUD to rest already. A virus is technically possible on OS X, it does not spread only because OS X is BSDUnix.
If Microsoft was to release Windows for PowerPC, that machine would be infected in matter of minutes after first connection.
A virus is as computer program, usually written in C or C++, that exploits the OPERATING SYSTEM API security weaknesses, not the CPU architecture. Oh my.
Are you all suddenly Windows users? You are showing the same degree of knowledge here.
This said, computer viruses DO NOT EXIST. What do exist are viruses for Windows. They need Windows, could not care less the hardware Windows runs on.
There are no Intel viruses, or AMD ones, or PowerPC ones. A CPU is a piece of electronics and silica (ie stone). It needs an Operating System.
Why do you think people say “Microsoft fix your security flaws!”
Have you ever heard any sensible informed person crying “Intel, fix your security flaws!” ROFLMAO, he would be creamed by everyone and get the Oscar for stupidity.
“The buffer overflows is a sw condition ” meaning “created by sw condition” and yes, you may create buffer overflows on PowerPC too.
After watching the webcast of the Keynote … I was left a little dumbfounded as to why Steve-o would even consider a switch to Intel …
Does anyone remember the fiasco Intel had on their hands when it was leaked (somewhere) that their Pentiums contained an ID …. referred to as a “fingerprint” !! ??
A quick check around the net and you’ll find articles like this … or that
in which we find Intel denying that they are placing a DRM technology into their chips …
I would question their motives and incentives to even consider such a move …
Now, I dont profess to understand the hows and whys of the inner workings of such things … but thats precisely my point !! …. I believe there are many others out there in the same situation … They dont know, and would like some answers and assurances from His Steveness ….
Do I want a Mac that sports a processor that “Phones Home” ?? …. No, I do not…
Do I know for sure that any Intel chips used in Macs will have this capability ?? …. No, I do not ..
Do I want a Mac with a processor that has a DRM built in ?? …. No, I do not …
Now, I’m quite sure there are some regular MDN posters out there who would be happy to point out that my fears are baseless … but, I have a feeling that … at least initially, Intel-Mac sales might tank …. unless Mr. Jobs goes on a media blitz and assures the general Mac Public that such percieved Intel nastiness won’t affect the Mac …
But will he give us these assurances ?? .. Who knows ?
Sol, yes, the Macintel demoed at the keynote is a Pentium 3.6 GHz, single core, 32-bit.
Yohna, Meron et al, (64-bit MP processors) are the rumors of the day.
And Phil Schiller explicitly said that indeed if people wanted to buy a Macintel and install Windows they could do it, Apple will not put blocks for that (hint: get Windows users buy Apple hardware. Direct competition)
BUT, if you want to run OS X then you HAVE TO buy Apple hardware.
Just because a PC has Intel inside will not mean you will be able to install OS X on it. A CPU is not all there is in a computer.
And – for any with silly doubts there – it is nothing to be cracked in software. ROFLMAO, some posts these days make me really laugh.
I also have seen people here posting “That’s it, I am going to buy a VAIO, run Windows XP” – good luck Forrest – “and then install Leopard”.
It really shows computers are commodities: the average people knows how they work at the same level they could explain how could a microwave oven cooks their food and stay cool, and why water molecular angle between the Oxygen and the two Hydrogens play a role there.
You have the same chances to install Leopard on a VAIO as you have TODAY to install OS 9 on a latest dual G5: ZERO
mac dood: if the Intel chip the Macs are going to use contain those features than it is up to OS X to activate. The chip is dead: repeat this. The chip is a dead piece of stone.
Without the Operating System it has no life by itself. So it is not really “the CPU will call home” it is OS X will use the chip capabilities to call home. It would not be Intel to blame but Apple in that case.
These are all fears because one does not be to be in the know to use a computer nowadays. There is no magic, fellas, involved in a computer.
An Intel chip will not have a life of its own in a Mac, will not get viruses, or the flu, will not call home, will not do anything the Operating System will NOT tell it to do.
Maybe SJ did not think he needed to give these assurances and believes that people KNOWS the difference is in the Operating System, Windows vs OS X (BSDUnix), not the dead hardware they use and exploits.
OS X was running on Intel since 5 years: do you think networking was never tested? do you think they had to fight viruses because they were had an Inter CPU in the motherboard? LOL, they were running OS X. CPU is a non factor.
Concerning why move: because the scenario in late 2006 and 2007 was that Apple would have had essentially the same G5 (no 3.0 GHz), the same G4 in mobile computing, and be TOASTED by the new multicore 64-bit Intel processors. GOOD BUY APPLE.
SJ saved Apple ass a second time!
sry for spelling and weird phrases: kids playing around and wife screaming
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The Intel chip that the Mac is to be based upon is the Pentium D. It is a whole new chip still in development though almost finished and ready for the mass production line.
No buffer overflow and the Pentium D has hardware based Digital Rights Management (DRM) something that is a must if Hollywood is to be won over to allow legal movie downloads over the Internet.
At the WWDC Steve Jobs showed off a Pentium 4 3.6Ghz Mac just to show how indifferent OS X – the OS – is going to function on an Intel based CPU.
When it comes to gaming and if the Pentium D shares the same graphical algorithms – or recognise the glut of graphic cards out there via the BIOS, then yes as all that will be needed is for Apple to provide the drivers for all ATI / Nvidia cards for OS X or vice versa.
Once you own an Intel based, Pentium D, Mac you’ll be able to buy from pretty much anywhere your hardware like cards through to even memory sticks and no longer have to ensure from either the store or the manufacturer that it will work in your Mac. Of course as time goes by as with current PC’s that will change.
Yes Apple are likely to go PCI Express as well, although this has yet to be confirmed by Cupertino.
Rest assured in IMO this is a good move for Apple and the DRM Pentium D chip will allow Apple to claim the majority of legal paid for movie downloads via a similar service to iTunes, rumor has it this is called iFlicks, personally I prefer iTheater (Internet Theater for your home theater).
A bit more about the BIOS…
I hope that during startup I won’t see the BIOS setup screen that currently plagues both Windows and Linux!
This is just so unprofessional!
It is still possible that the Pentium D will have buffer overflow and my comments should not be taken as final, I don’t work for either Apple nor Intel.
Here’s a greatly simplified explanation of why OS X will be more secure than Windows even on Intel CPUs. Memory overflow conditions are what can be exploited on a current Pentium CPU running Windows. Under Windows when one process runs out of memory it invades the memory being used by another process (application) and there is a system error (crash). This situation can be expoited by viruses and malware to modify the OS.
Because OS X (Unix) sets hard RAM boundaries for processes, when a process runs out of memory on OS X, even on an Intel chip, only that process crashes, other processes continue to run, and the system is not open to modification and hijacking. I repeat, “It’s the OS, Stupid!”, not the CPU.
Seahawk …
Thanx for explaining this in laymans terms… it does make me feel better … but I still wonder about those “other” Mac Heads out there who arent as eloquent about the subject as you… and remember some of shady things (such as the fingerprint Pentium) associated with Intel .. and who have some mistrust of the Company because of that ..
I still think Steve-o should reach out to those Mac Heads and alleviate their concerns …
Macjammer: I seriously do not think Apple will make use of BIOS
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The move to Intel has nothing to do with opening the door to clone marked. Going BIOS would mean Apple losing the tight integration control it currently has on the hw that can go into a Mac. This is not going to change. LOL, no drivers to load from Apple to support every crap you may get at Frey.
Macjammer: PowerPC has buffer overflows as well… but you would need Windows installed to exploit those and have a virus exploit them.
A PowerPC computer with Windows installed will be no more no less vulnerable than a PC with Windows installed.
A PC running BSDUnix is as safe as OS X (BSDUnix).
OS X a bit more safe for inherent OS X characteristics but the bulk of its security comes from BSDUnix guts.
MacDood
Everytime I set up a new Apple computer it registers the machine via any available Internet connection. If Microsoft, or Apple, want to, they can make their OS phone home.
The automatic software update does something similar, I think.
Whom do you trust more? Apple or Microsoft?
John