14 DAY TRIAL // Consumer Reports has published a "Windows or Macintosh?" detailed comparison that is intended to help the consumer choose the product that would suit them best.
"More home and entertainment software is available for Windows computers than for Macs. Apple's computers, however, have attractions of their own. The brand repeatedly scores at or near the top in tech support and has been reliable. Our most recent survey of desktop computer users, in fact, rated Apple more than 20 points ahead of all the other computer manufacturers for technical support. Viruses and spyware are also far less likely to target Macs than Windows PCs, judging by the number of viruses estimated to target each computing platform--a ratio of about 1,000-to-1," Consumer Reports reports.
Strangely enough, Consumer Reports does not offer any detailed information, limiting themselves to a general statement that is highly interpretable. The problem of 'viruses' targeting Macs is more than just pure semantics. At this moment there are no known OS X viruses freely roaming the Internet. There are pre OS X Mac OS viruses, a number that stops around 30 (thirty) but Consumer reports does not make any mention of the version of OS employed by the participants in the survey. If any of the participants are using Classic Mac OS, the report itself would be confounded due to the fact that on September 10, 2002, Apple announced that "starting in January 2003, all new Mac models will only boot into Mac OS X as the start-up operating system". Thus, if participants in the survey were using computers more than three years old, how can the information submitted by them be used in a report that is supposed to help consumers choose between Mac and Windows solutions available today?
Furthermore, the words 'virus' and 'target' are thrown carelessly into the report. Were these viruses or Microsoft Word Macros? Or where they e-mail viruses that replicate and propagate from non Mac machines, and are detected by Mac anti-viral software as a service for the community at large? These viruses cannot, under any circumstances, affect Mac users, just like Windows programs cannot be run under OS X. The only reason Mac virus scanners pick them up is so that you do not send them to other PCs.
Also there is a major difference between OS X being targeted, and OS X being infected. Mac computers cannot be infected by Windows viruses, and while these viruses can reside on Mac computers, and be unwittingly transmitted, they do not affect Macs in any way. The difference is significant, but not to the average user, which is why the report is at best obscure.
Consumer Reports continues, "Viruses and spyware are far more likely to target Windows PCs than Macs. It's too soon, to know, however, whether new Macs will be more vulnerable to attack once Apple begins its switch to Intel processors, the type used in Windows PCs, next year."
This is a clear indication of the level of professionalism that went into the writing of this report. The lack of Mac viruses has nothing to do with the processor. Apple can change to any processors from any hardware manufacturer, as long as the operating system is still OS X, viruses will be just as shut out as they are now.