[Messiahtosh]

I know this is childish, but I got into it with a bunch of PC people at a band-related forum. In an outsider type forum they were talking about viruses, I chimed in (and politely), about there not being any virus problems on the Mac. It got some people to make wild claims and defensive arguments for the Windows platform, all while bashing Apple and spouting off complete falsehoods.

I posted very nicely, methodically, and I think accurately about the Mac and why it is better and not as virus ridden. I missed out on pointing a few things out.

Would people here, smarter than I, give me reasons for why the Mac is not as virus prone, other than it being such a small percentage of the market?

The forums are located http://www.azpeacemakers.com/wholebb...=304420#304420 there if you want to actually post. I'll do the talking if you would give me the accurate information, with sources if at all possible.

You see, many people say these "fights" are futile, but I dont think so. I'm still young and idealistic enough to believe that if you keep fighting, eventually you will win.

[SKMDC]

what would andy kaufman do?

[Mr Beardsley]

Dude its not worth it. I am the "IT Guy" at work and I see quite often how hard it is to change a person's preconceived notions. My users will come in to my office all the time asking how to get the porn pop-ups to stop on their home machine, or how to deal with all sorts of other fun PC problems. Sometimes I'll mention how the easiest way is to just get a Mac. They'll grumble something about an Apple IIe they had 20 years ago and how much Apple stuff sucks. You can have all the facts in the world for them, they just won't care.

[Luca]

Originally Posted by Messiahtosh You see, many people say these "fights" are futile, but I dont think so. I'm still young and idealistic enough to believe that if you keep fighting, eventually you will win.

[dfj225]

Well, I think that one of the largest reasons that Apple doesn't have many viruses today (other than market share, which I feel plays very much into the motives or virus writers) is the fact that OS X is based on unix. Because of this, there is a very well defined priviliges system (only certain apps and users have the right to do anything) and that the firewall is turned on by default. One of the things I am very happy to see in Windows XP SP2 is that there will be a firewall turned on by default. This pretty much stops almost all of the worms in existence today (unless of course the ports they attack are opened up, which they really shouldn't be for a home machine). Other than that, there really isn't any reason why there are no viruses for Mac OS X. For instance, just this past week there was a vulnerability in the libpng library. It would have probably been pretty easy to write some code that created a virus for OS X (and linux or any other unix for that matter) that could spread simply by having someone open an image in email. However, there has already been a patch posted to fix this. Perhaps another thing that keeps viruses off of OS X is that most users do patch their systems which, unfortunatly, is not always the case for Windows users.

~doug

[Mac+]

Originally Posted by superkaratemonkeydeathcar what would andy kaufman do?

subtle

[Luca]

I think I'll go register there and call you a troll.

[SKMDC]

Originally Posted by Luca I think I'll go register there and call you a troll.

i was thinking that he had the whole thing set up so that when we went to the site, everyone would take a piss on us.
well that's what andy kaufman would.

WWAKD?

[Mr Beardsley]

Doug,

A couple points of clarification. I do not believe OS X ships with the firewall "on" by default. A default install of OS X doesn't listen on any ports, so there is no need for a firewall. That is in fact a better way to do things. Things will improve with XP firewall on, but they could have just defaulted the OS to stop listening on all those ports out of the box. (I think XP listened on 14 or so ports after a basic install. Its been a while since I checked though, so that's not 100%.)

[Quagmire]

Messiahtosh,

How could you let that person who posted prices for the mac vs. the vaio go by. He clearly BTO'd the Mac and didn't BTO the vaio making it look like the vaio is way cheaper then the mac. You didn't mention how Gates stole the Mac OS.

EDIT: you didn't even address the person who said stuff how apple gets there parts from different companies. All of the pc maker has to outsource for there parts. Dell doesn't make there HD's, processors, cd drives, and motherboards. They buy them from different comapnies.

[Luca]

Originally Posted by Undertaker Messiahtosh, How could you let that person who posted prices for the mac vs. the vaio go by. He clearly BTO'd the Mac and didn't BTO the vaio making it look like the vaio is way cheaper then the mac. You didn't mention how Gates stole the Mac OS.

You might be right on some of those points, but please try to refrain from feeding the troll.

[Quagmire]

Originally Posted by Luca You might be right on some of those points, but please try to refrain from feeding the troll.

Sorry, I was so angry at him for letting those go by.

[murbot]

I was go there and battle it out, but then I realized I wasn't into doing stupid things that are a waste of time.

*ponders above statement*

*ponders the clicking of the Submit Reply button*

*clicks anyway and cracks beer*

*bookmarks band board page to read hilarity later tonight*

*realizes that hitting Shift-8 this many times in a post is annoying*

*promises to stop*

*another hit of beer*

[murbot]

Just read the rest of that thread.

The "me against the board" thing must really excite our strange cowboy friend. They are having a field day with you over there man, they're making you look like a flaming retard.

Yet... you seem to like it. Very strange.

[dfj225]

Originally Posted by Mr Beardsley Doug, A couple points of clarification. I do not believe OS X ships with the firewall "on" by default. A default install of OS X doesn't listen on any ports, so there is no need for a firewall. That is in fact a better way to do things. Things will improve with XP firewall on, but they could have just defaulted the OS to stop listening on all those ports out of the box. (I think XP listened on 14 or so ports after a basic install. Its been a while since I checked though, so that's not 100%.)

Ah, you are right about the firewall being off. While having the ports closed is a good idea, I still think a firewall is necessary for any computer connected to a broadband connection.

[Messiahtosh]

Well, I think I took care of a good bit of their misconceptions. Check out page 8...the long post.

[Xaqtly]

Nah. Their responses are basically "I don't want to read a lot so I'm going to ignore it". I registered there but an admin has to manually approve me before I can post there.

[DMBand0026]

Originally Posted by Messiahtosh Well, I think I took care of a good bit of their misconceptions. Check out page 8...the long post.

I'm glad that you do what you do sometimes, it's very cool to see someone as enthused about Macs as you are. However, your first post should have stopped with "I know this is childish, but..." Again, I've got no problems with you, and I think you're pretty darn cool most of the time, but the fact is, you're 18, and you should know by now that arguing on the internet is like the special olympics, even if you win, you're still retarded. It's even worse trying to argue with Wintell/AMD fanboys. Save yourself the trouble dude, fight for the rainforests or something, Macs are doin just fine

[LoCash]

The problem with attempting to "educate" these PC folk is that they don't much want your education. People that do this, no matter how good the intentions in their hearts are, are no better than Christian missionaries that go to strange and foreign lands to "convert" the local "savages".

The PC people bitching about viruses don't want to switch. They don't want to hear your arguments for why the Mac is great. All they want to do is yell at you and tell you to go home so they can get back to bitching about their platform of choice.

You know, in the other thread you said, "It's just an internet message board." I think it may be appropriate to remind you that "It's just a computer platform; a pretty plastic box with a bunch of whizzy electronics inside."

[_Ω_]

I make a point of only trying to convert people who come to me first.

If they are interested, I will talk about the product. If not, I shut up.

They all know my computer preference of choice. When expletives fly out of my mouth when I use my crappy Dull at work, they realise I am not satisfied with my PC experience.

[Xaqtly]

Well, I posted.

[alcimedes]

U R hte l4m3.

[Messiahtosh]

Originally Posted by DMBand0026 I'm glad that you do what you do sometimes, it's very cool to see someone as enthused about Macs as you are. However, your first post should have stopped with "I know this is childish, but..." Again, I've got no problems with you, and I think you're pretty darn cool most of the time, but the fact is, you're 18, and you should know by now that arguing on the internet is like the special olympics, even if you win, you're still retarded. It's even worse trying to argue with Wintell/AMD fanboys. Save yourself the trouble dude, fight for the rainforests or something, Macs are doin just fine

I love you.

[Messiahtosh]

Originally Posted by LoCash The problem with attempting to "educate" these PC folk is that they don't much want your education. People that do this, no matter how good the intentions in their hearts are, are no better than Christian missionaries that go to strange and foreign lands to "convert" the local "savages". The PC people bitching about viruses don't want to switch. They don't want to hear your arguments for why the Mac is great. All they want to do is yell at you and tell you to go home so they can get back to bitching about their platform of choice. You know, in the other thread you said, "It's just an internet message board." I think it may be appropriate to remind you that "It's just a computer platform; a pretty plastic box with a bunch of whizzy electronics inside."

You make a great point, I should state that the only time I have actually converted people is when they know how much I love the Mac, then are themselves looking for something to buy, then come to me to ask my opinion. They know I have a love for the Mac so they remember that, and when it comes to buying time, it has stuck in their head that there's this kid who likes this Mac thing, then I've got them.

Closing the deal isnt the hard part, getting people to consider it is.

[murbot]

Now you're just copying and pasting in other people's posts over there? I see LoCash's post word for word in that thread.

I think you need another hobby.

[Messiahtosh]

Originally Posted by murbot Now you're just copying and pasting in other people's posts over there? I see LoCash's post word for word in that thread. I think you need another hobby.

Not quite word for word. Look I just got out of summer school at PSU and am going on an internet binge. Sorry.

Sometimes I think I may be what is wrong with the mac platform.

[alcimedes]

I'm sorry, this is too lame. If someone wants they can unlock it later. Just please wait until I'm not around to see it.