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Market share plays a role. A big role.
You are mostly right, except that it does have something to do with market share. I don't think the hackers have a problem creating the viruses in the 1st place, it's more a question of how are you going to succeed in spreading the virus? Since for every system you can "reach" from an infected system, you have a less than 1 in 20 chance that it is going to be a Mac, so it stands to reason that it would be much harder to spread the Mac virus in the 1st place. Look at a real biological virus to see this same effect. There is a reason a computer virus is called what it is: because it mimics a real virus pretty closely. And this has been the Mac's saving grace all this time. Not that it is "more secure". Simply that it does not have "critical mass" to spread a virus in the 1st place. Hackers are smart and know where they would get most return on a certain amount of effort. In fact 20 times* more return, and you see why Mac viruses just doesn't make any sense at all.

* Personally I think it is MUCH more than 20 times return if you spend the effort coding a Windows virus as opposed to a Mac virus. It is not a linear curve solely based on market share. Factor in much more spreadibility (reachable nodes are likely to be of the same host type) AND much higher market share, and I believe that factor of 20 jumps to something quite a bit higher. I think these two factors are compounded. It is just a theory I have but of course this cannot be proven easily. I am sure it can be modeled though, just like the spread of biological viruses can be modeled...

But the rest of your post I agree with...
Posted by: Qbt   Posted on: 02/21/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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OSX  bd048 | 02/21/06
Did you RTFA?  Jeff the god of biscuits | 02/21/06
i agree.......  waylander | 02/21/06
i Agree  pjones | 02/21/06
as previously stated  glocks out | 02/21/06
Are you serious?  ajole | 02/21/06
Oh ye of the low IQ  Rick_K | 02/22/06
Actually, um, you are wrong  NonZealot | 02/22/06
I wonder how it is...  A_Pickle | 02/22/06
A sad day....  IT Scion | 02/21/06
Rude awakening for Mac users  aetherjoy | 02/21/06
Oh yeah - "several" "vulnerability"  metavurt | 02/21/06
Welcome to our world.  A_Pickle | 02/22/06
Two is 'several? (nt)  s_gamgee | 02/22/06
Mac v Microsoft  Sonoma54 | 03/18/06
Heh.  A_Pickle | 02/21/06
Then you will be pleased to know...  Fred Fredrickson | 02/22/06
Stupid follower  whats the point | 02/23/06
Two is a barrage? (nt)  s_gamgee | 02/22/06
Don't underestimate how easy this is  NonZealot | 02/21/06
I expect only a few people have the required feature enabled on Safari tho  hipparchus2001 | 02/21/06
huh?  toadlife | 02/21/06
I thought a bunch of people said it wasn't  hipparchus2001 | 02/21/06
Read the advisory (diary) at SANS  toadlife | 02/21/06
THE ONE REAL COMPLAINT! (NT)  s_gamgee | 02/22/06
yes and no...  doh123 | 02/22/06
Mac's are easy to atack  IceTheNet@... | 02/21/06
Yes, it's a snap  Fred Fredrickson | 02/22/06
No big deal  NonZealot | 02/22/06
You Missed It  Nick_Gravelyn | 02/22/06
Vital System Files  dragosani | 02/22/06
You understood, he didn't (NT)  NonZealot | 02/22/06
impossible  corticus | 02/21/06
Take your troll elsewhere  tic swayback | 02/21/06
Don't you recognize a joke?  jrbeaman | 02/21/06
Even so...  evanwood | 02/21/06
well as a mac and pc user he sounds triumphant to me  hipparchus2001 | 02/21/06
Immune to viruses  alcedes | 02/21/06
Even if they don't gain market share  IceTheNet@... | 02/21/06
Market share plays a role. A big role.  Qbt | 02/21/06
Wake up!  TheCrow_z | 02/21/06
Hello!  Qbt | 02/22/06
Nice troll  Jeff the god of biscuits | 02/21/06
Impossible Indeed.  metavurt | 02/21/06
how is this an OS X flaw?  doh123 | 02/21/06
why its a MAC flaw  waylander | 02/21/06
Microsoft disagrees with you  tic swayback | 02/21/06
OOF! Score one for you!  ajole | 02/21/06
I don't understand how his post was wrong  NonZealot | 02/21/06
You have to ask yourself who made safari  IceTheNet@... | 02/21/06
Re-read for meaning  tic swayback | 02/22/06
Sure you did...  brichter | 02/21/06
It is an OSX flaw  tic swayback | 02/21/06
it's an oSX Flaw  pjones | 02/21/06
yep, it is an OSX flaw  doh123 | 02/21/06
Deafult settings are decided by idiots.  jrbeaman | 02/21/06
It's off  j.m.galvin | 02/21/06
Yeah kind of like firefox (NT)  ju1ce | 02/21/06
how do you figure  IceTheNet@... | 02/21/06
Because  baggins_z | 02/22/06
Not True  joeyp770 | 02/23/06
Who cares?  d1@... | 02/21/06
people with OSX should.  glocks out | 02/21/06
You need to grow up.  jrbeaman | 02/21/06
and yours is any better?  IceTheNet@... | 02/21/06
Those who don't want to see it become a trend  Boot_Agnostic | 02/24/06
Better Fix  tic swayback | 02/21/06
And what's to stop the exploit from running a different app  Lfraz | 02/22/06
Deny or not  Boot_Agnostic | 02/21/06
Wisdom in Star Trek  ITTech001 | 02/21/06
but but but  IT Scion | 02/21/06
Ha  ITTech001 | 02/21/06
Why "transparent"?  jrbeaman | 02/21/06
are you speaking of anoying the user to death  IceTheNet@... | 02/21/06
RE: Wisdom in Star Trek  richdave | 02/21/06
Simple  IT Scion | 02/21/06
So's Windows 3.1  Rodney Davis | 02/21/06
no viruses for my Altair 8800 either  hipparchus2001 | 02/21/06
And totally unsupported.  jrbeaman | 02/21/06
hate to burst your bubble  IceTheNet@... | 02/21/06
How so?  toadlife | 02/21/06
And how would they enter?  toadlife | 02/21/06
re: Wisdom in Star Trek  strawbrn | 02/21/06
If it exists in Linux or BSD  richdave | 02/21/06
Confusing kernel with OS  NonZealot | 02/21/06
I would tend to agree  IceTheNet@... | 02/21/06
I hope the corporation gave Apple time to fix the flaw before publicising  hipparchus2001 | 02/21/06
Give them time, since when?  ajole | 02/21/06
what?  doh123 | 02/21/06
it's twice as slow as current technology  glocks out | 02/21/06
Think again  IceTheNet@... | 02/21/06
Actually  IT Scion | 02/21/06
You must be...  A_Pickle | 02/21/06
or, "you must be..."  glocks out | 02/21/06
Not necessarily  j.m.galvin | 02/21/06
that's true  glocks out | 02/21/06
not correct Core Duo speeds check intel.com  hipparchus2001 | 02/21/06
Hah.  A_Pickle | 02/21/06
yeah...  doh123 | 02/23/06
As far as I understand it the Intel Core Duo is new tech, and 2.0Ghz is it  hipparchus2001 | 02/21/06
intel.com  glocks out | 02/21/06
The fastest core duo on intel.com is 2.16GHz  hipparchus2001 | 02/21/06
2 Ghz is fast.  jrbeaman | 02/21/06
OS X flaw exposes Macs  Loverock Davidson | 02/21/06
Me too.  A_Pickle | 02/21/06
Nothing is perfect.  jrbeaman | 02/21/06
Wake Up  Richard Flude | 02/21/06
Exactly...  ju1ce | 02/21/06
Do you eat pablum too?  jrbeaman | 02/21/06
Remember the IBM PC?  dgari | 02/22/06
The mighty Tiger is meowwing...  TrueSpeak | 02/21/06
They're getting bored...  TonyMcS | 02/21/06
Wait a minute....  IT Scion | 02/21/06
Here we go again...  Jeff the god of biscuits | 02/21/06
My TRICORDER is HACK PROOF  Jeff the god of biscuits | 02/21/06
I hacked your tricorder  IceTheNet@... | 02/21/06
It is only a matter of time folks  Jeff the god of biscuits | 02/21/06
But right now  hipparchus2001 | 02/21/06
Really??  Kid Icarus-21097050858087920245213802267493 | 02/21/06
If .net is heavily used in writing vista  hipparchus2001 | 02/21/06
Not that exposed  fingal | 02/21/06
You are right  NonZealot | 02/21/06
Who's not a zealot?  fingal | 02/21/06
Dunno. You certainly are one.  A_Pickle | 02/21/06
You are just so right!  NonZealot | 02/22/06
Annoy hardly...happy for ya! However like it or not guys  Laff | 02/22/06
Why did you reply?  NonZealot | 02/22/06
Noted and I will keep this in mind in out future exchanges.  Laff | 02/22/06
You underestimate how serious this is  Richard Flude | 02/21/06
THE FIX -- stop worrying  kray_z | 02/21/06
Too bad...  brichter | 02/21/06
Not Important  plokoonpma | 02/21/06
Guess Firefox is the best bet for mac too  DarthRidiculous | 02/21/06
Two weeks ago, there was a serious flaw with Firefox on OS X  george_ou | 02/21/06
Windows 3.1 security  dickrichard | 02/21/06
All talk...NO ACTION...  Anon_ymous | 02/21/06
Well I guess on the BRIGHT side now the Mac and OSX  Laff | 02/21/06
Action  brichter | 02/21/06
A more mature response!!!!  Anon_ymous | 02/22/06
Allow me to inject my ignorant observations  JCitizen | 02/21/06
JC... Just another c-unit  hackmeifyoucan | 02/22/06
Safari  s_gamgee | 02/22/06
Ha ! Ha ! So OS suX isn't Perfect??  jpr75_z | 02/22/06
My Left Shoe  Nick_Gravelyn | 02/22/06
Hmmm.....  IT Scion | 02/22/06
If I can change my homepage  s_gamgee | 02/22/06
FINALLY.....!  Hard Cider | 02/22/06
All that bragging about how good your os is  zmud | 02/22/06
INVINCIBLE!  Anon_ymous | 02/22/06
Good one!  zmud | 02/22/06
Bring them on  minardi | 02/22/06
Here we go again.  papatator | 02/22/06

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