“Ten years ago, 26-year-old Barry Jones wasn’t such a fanatic. Back then, programmers wouldn’t be caught dead using a Mac. It was a ‘PC or bust’ mentality,” Justin Chappell writes for The Greenville News. “Jones, a Web architect, has worked and played PC for life, but he bought his first Mac in May. It’s a love story not easily chronicled, but let’s put it this way: Jones went from being a PC powerhouse to a Mac advocate in three months flat, and he’ll do his best to make you one, too. ‘I understand why people call people Mac zealots now,’ he says.”
Chappell lists a number of very stale “PC vs. Mac” comparisons and gets a number of things wrong in the process. He buys into the “Security via Obscurity” myth, hook, line, and sinker. Macs aren’t more secure because “only” 20 million people use them. Macs are more secure, period. Macs account for roughly 10% of the world’s personal computer users — (some say as much as 16%) — so the first half of the myth doesn’t even stand up to scrutiny. Macs aren’t “obscure” at all. Therefore, the Apple Mac platform’s ironclad security simply cannot logically be attributed to obscurity. There are zero-percent (0%) of viruses for the Mac OS X platform that should, logically, have some 10-16% of the world’s viruses if platforms’ install bases dictate the numbers of viruses. The fact that Mac OS X has zero (0) viruses totally discounts “security via obscurity.” There should be at least some Mac OS X viruses. There are none. The reason for this fact is not attributable solely to “obscurity,” it’s attributable to superior security design.
Chappell also thinks “PCs” (Windows) run more software. Someone needs to tell him that Macs run more software because only Macs can run Mac OS X and Windows and Linux. Windows PCs are the ones with a limited range of software nowadays, Justin.
There’s more goofiness — trying to justify the Windows PC when it’s increasingly impossible to do so — in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Macs are more secure. Macs run more software. Macs work better. Macs are price competitive when you spec out similar systems. Macs look better. Macs last longer. So, why waste money a OS-limited Windows PC?
Related articles:
Gartner analyst tries to propagate discounted Mac OS X ‘security via obscurity’ myth via BBC – July 06, 2006
Dude, you got a Dell? What are you, stupid? Only Apple Macs run both Mac OS X and Windows! – April 05, 2006