Mac viruses VS. PC viruses

[dziner]

I'm curious to see what people have to say about this. My co-worker is an ex-mac-user turned PC extremist. We argue daily about the whole PC/Mac thing and I'm extremely angry that I have no option but to work on a PC.

I was updating my Windows OS this morning and complaining. He said that nobody writes viruses for the Mac because nobody cares to take down an art server or anything like. And that most of the world uses Windows and hence do more damage.

I understand the point. But I'm sure there's tons of companies out there who use Unix/Linux/OSX. Can anyone give me some examples?

As an added note: The company I work for got hit by a virus an hour ago and everyone had to restart their computers. What a hassle! I hate working on a PC!

I tend to post comments and thoughts about my computing experiences on my blog (there won't be many about my mac at home since I never have any problems with my trusrty beige G3 300).

http://www.greencracker.com/mt/weblog/

 

[Murlyn]

Sure people can write viruses for the mac and sure they don't because they can hit more people by writing for a PC.. so that makes working on a PC better? How? He has an interesting arguement there. Now it sounds like he used to work on a pre OS X machine, which I agree, it was mainly an art machine and I had to use both a PC and a mac, but with OS X, which it doesnt sound like he has used or even knows much about it I only need my mac, if he knows anything about *nix he would know that this is most definitely NOT just an art machine anymore.

 

[Emrys]

I only need my mac, if he knows anything about *nix he would know that this is most definitely NOT just an art machine anymore.

Nice

 

[Graphite]

No one owning a macintosh would sabotage one of their own.. its like punching your own child in the face. Why nock down your own kind? Mac is a single type, PC is a type broken into a lot of others, and they all fight amongst themselves. How often do you see a iBook owner fighting with a Powerbook owner on what is better? Ah well.

As for companies that are based off of something other than a winbox, name pretty much any of the fortune 500 companies, and i bet 90% use an OS other than windows. Linux and Unix being the most used. Windows is far to unstable to be used in a important company. Like you said you just contracted a virus on your PC at work. Our school just got a worm (i can get online but thats just me and the other mac users), its mostly served on a UNIX box, but the networked machines are all winboxes. So with the interfaced machines caught up, it catches the whole system off guard and sends it down hill.

Just tell him, you being a mac users and arguing with a PC user, is like Einstein arguing with a deeply mentally challenged first grader. Theres no point, Einstein can't convince or explain in any way to the first grader anything about physics and you can't show a PC user the light.

 

[Murlyn]

*rofl* hear hear! *claps hands* Way too funny and entertaining!

 

[dziner]

Now it sounds like he used to work on a pre OS X machine, which I agree, it was mainly an art machine and I had to use both a PC and a mac, but with OS X, which it doesnt sound like he has used or even knows much about it I only need my mac, if he knows anything about *nix he would know that this is most definitely NOT just an art machine anymore.

You are correct. The last time he was on the Mac was probably pre OS 9 actually. He said that the Mac let him down then and he's never going back. Yet the art department is right next door (about 6 feet away) and they are all using OS X. So I'm sure he's seen OS X, but never used it.

We are web designers and I would like to see us doing our corporate site with php and MySQL but that's just not going to happen. Although php can do everything asp can, and MySQL can take care of lots of dynamic data. He won't listen. To him it's all about asp and Access (which I LOATHE!). Besides, we have asp running on our insecure windows server.

Meanwhile, I'll be trying to teach myself php and mysql at home and maybe even looking for another job where my oppinion matters.

 

[Murlyn]

I am a PHP/MySQL developer and oh yes.. php can most definitely do everything that asp can, both on the PC/Mac/*nix. While ASP is only limited to the windows platform, although they do have an apache module.. it's most definitely not the same though. Even if you were going to stay at your place of work I would still learn PHP/MySQL.. when you can program their website and show that it is 10x faster then the proof is in the product and they don't have to listen to you all they want, but when proof is right in front of their face.. they would be stupid not to listen. My production server is my mac, then I upload it to either xservers or other *nix based systems.. it works beautifully!

 

[dziner]

Thanks Murlyn. I think I needed a boost of esteem. Tonight I'm searching for deals on either a new G5 or dual 1.25 G4 to replace this 300 G3. I think that a new Mac will allow me to be more productive. And I need to research some good books to teach myself php and MySQL. Seems like the only way to learn is to read. Macromedia tutorials are rather poor.

 

[Murlyn]

Oh yes.. get some great books, that's how I learned for the first couple of years.. make sure you join the php-general mailing list also.. just reading those messages can sometimes be overwhelming, but you can learn a lot and whenever you have a quick question you can send it to the mailing list and get a reply.. usually.. within 10 minutes. Plus you have us here who knows a thing or two about php and mysql