The Mac Professional's Resource
I am not one of the people who thinks that Mac OS X is so inherently secure that people using Macs will never have to worry about a virus. Apple, like every other computer manufacturer, has security issues, but I do think Apple does as good a job as any at identifying these vulnerabilities and taking care of them. However, it is annoying to read about how every new malware threat demonstrates how you have to be careful even if you are running Mac OS X. And more importantly, how you should think about buying some security software to make sure you are safe.
The latest report comes from Sophos, which takes things up a notch by stating that cybercriminals are finally starting to target Mac OS X. And we all know that one a cybercriminal gets involved, things are 10.736 times as dangerous because they are looking to steal your money, not just make life annoying for you. And it’s not just your Mac that could be vulnerable, but your iPhone and iPod Touch! And if you think Linux makes you safe, think again! The criminals are catching on!
Like we’ve stated before, you should take computer security seriously, especially with identify theft becoming such a huge problem. However, the same rules apply to most any computer user out there. Be careful with your names, passwords, credit card information, and anything you download from the internet. We do want to thank Sophos for being so concerned, but the next time they want to warn people about cybercriminals, they should quote some people besides their own software engineers.
— Joe Fahs
For many years, Apple’s growth has come on the shoulders of the iPod, which has dominated the portable music player market almost since its inception. This was great for Apple as a company, but Apple’s success at bringing people to the iPod did not always translate into success for Apple hardware. iPod and iTunes ruled music, but Apple was still kicking along at less than 5% market share, even as other computer companies were enjoying record sales. Now, at least one company is saying that Apple’s computer market share is making a comeback as well.
ComputerWeek reports that Net Applications, which tracks web statistics for over 40,000 companies, reports that Apple’s browsing market share finshed at just over 8% in 2007, which represents an increase of 28% for the year. Browsing statistics are not a perfect measure of how popular computers are, especially among businesses, but the numbers seem to mirror what Apple had to say in its 4th Quarter Financial Results. Still, this is good news for Apple fans, as many have wondered if the focus on the iPod and iPhone has hurt Apple’s innovation in computer hardware by spreading its engineers too thin.
— Joe Fahs
Mac OS X 10.5, known as Leopard to some, and “unholy piece of crap interface experiment” to others was released less than three months ago, but is already getting its second update. AppleInsider reports that recent seeds asked developers to test “iCal, iChat, Mail, Parental Controls, Quick Look, Rosetta, Safari, Time Machine, and Airport”. For those of you that have beta-tested Apple OS releases before (i.e. installed it before the first two bug fixes were available), you know this is par for the course.
A more interesting note comes from a source at Macenstein which reports that Stacks feature will be getting a number of interface improvements, most noticeably adding list view, but also providing an option to display your stack as icon, making it much easier to tell what your stack is all about in the first place. Now if they would only do something more about that damned dock.
— Joe Fahs