iPod virus clash signals Microsoft fear of Apple

18 years ago

“The heated interchange between Apple and Microsoft over a Windows virus that shipped with some iPods since mid-September has provided the marketplace with a clear sign that Apple’s star is on the rise and that Microsoft knows it,” Stan Beer writes for iTWire.

Beer writes, “As has been widely reported, the virus that shipped with some video iPods was a Windows virus. Apple was not backward in coming forward to remind everyone of that fact on its website and in the process set the blogosphere alight. Indignant Windows users (and vendors) chided Apple for not taking full responsibility for the incident as the iPod was the virus vector. However, for every pro-Windows blog poster there was at least as many Mac fanatics ready to hit back in true Jobsian fashion to remind everyone that there have been no major virus outbreaks on the Mac platform.”

Beer notes, “Here at iTWire, Alex Zaharov-Reutt received a monstrous tongue lashing and I as editor copped almost as much abuse for daring to run his article.” More on Zaharov-Reutt’s article here.

“…The facts are that Mac OS X has been virus free for years, while the score count on Windows just keeps piling up. The suggestion that this is because virus writers are not targeting Macs is ludicrous,” Beer writes. “Regardless of the relatively small but once again growing Mac marketshare, there are tens of millions of Macs in use and every virus writer in town would love to be the first to break the bank at Monte Carlo so to speak.”

“The software company actually publicly responded to Apple’s website remarks about Windows security by suggesting that there was a problem with Apple’s quality control,” Beer writes. “The fact that Microsoft has allowed itself to be lured into a war of words with Apple demonstrates that the Cupertino company has succeeded in getting under the Redmond company’s skin.”

Full article here.