Warning...

"John Steinberg" wrote in message
...
Jon Isaacs wrote:

Here's a nice link:

http://antivirus.about.com/cs/macintoshthreats/

What's nice about it? There are no Mac OS X threats (other than
clueless PC users, careless programmers and a behemoth in Redmond that
can spend many months creating a single critical patch.) None, Jon. No
malware of any consequence for OS X.

You can put me on that list as well. Lots of reasons to stick with
Windows.
For me, I still run DOS and Win 3.1 programs under XP. Besides that
fact that
these programs never existed for the Mac, it is nice that they still
run 10 or
15 years later.

I'll blow some sunshine your way. Here we agree. Indeed, I still run
apps on my Mac that are older than Britney Spears.

(For those of you who don't believe that PC programs exist that will
do things
Macs cannot, try this one: Read Nicolet 4094 data off the Nicolet
5.25in 720K
disks with that proprietary Nicolet format. Its a plus that it got
the bar
dispersion correction built in.....)

Haven't tried to do that (doesn't sound like a particularly mainstream
issue) but I can and do run Virtual PC on my Macs for just about any PC
program that I need, and I would submit that would be true for
most/many. Good that the bar dispersion correction is built in,
though. Hate to imagine a world where bars were not dispersed. Can
you run *any* OS X apps on your Win PC? Nope. Can I run WinXP apps on
my Mac? Yup.

Frankly, your comment above is tantamount to my saying I can run a
Mac-only program and you can't. So what? How fatuous. Surely you can
drum up a more cogent argument?

Of course, all of this simply glosses over and/or ignores the issue
here, and that's the unassailable fact that the Windows PC remains the
single greatest threat to the computing universe. Happy you're happy
being a part of that particular group, but I know I wouldn't be too
quick to crow about it, and I own Windows PCs as well. One, thankfully,
running Linux and the other two hobbled by the hideous, balky,
virus-prone, bugly, OSes from MS.

Just say no, to Windows!

--
-John Steinberg
email: lid

If you do real work on computers then try SolidWorks, Cosmos and Working
Model for starters. It wouldn't be too hard to come up with other reasons
.... $$$$$ again for starters.

I have only had trouble once with viruses and the like and that was years
ago (~1989?) before I knew better on how to deal with them. I quickly
wised up. Keep your anti-virus software up-to-date, don't open suspicious
looking attachments and use a firewall and you'll eliminate 99.9% of the
problem. I haven't had that .01% crop up yet in probably 15 years.

Paul Schlyter:
The reason there are relatively few threats to OS X is that it has
fairly few users. If it should become a mainstream OS, then it
would be just as intensely targeted by virus authors as Windows is
today.

This is a myth. Are you saying that hackers and virus authors have no
interest in attacking people like these
http://www.annapolisappleslice.com/who.html?

As for "mainstream, I think that Unix is in sufficiently wide use to be
considered a mainstream OS. In its various guises it is certainly the
target of more attacks than MS OS's.

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig *dawt* com

On Tue, 04 May 2004 20:16:34 GMT, John Steinberg
wrote:

...but like a US president who believes in the
literal word of the bible, that dog just won't hunt.

No worse than a user that behaves like an evangelical about his
computer choice. In fact, some might find the former more tolerable.
;-)

---
Michael McCulloch

Jon Isaacs wrote:

You recommended that we XP users switch to OS-X. I am just pointing out that
for me to do so would be foolish, I couldn't run the apps I need to run.

Jon

Hi Jon--What apps do you need? Perhaps I can help.

Paul Schlyter wrote:

In article ,
John Steinberg wrote:
Jon Isaacs wrote:

Here's a nice link:

http://antivirus.about.com/cs/macintoshthreats/

What's nice about it? There are no Mac OS X threats (other than
clueless PC users, careless programmers and a behemoth in Redmond that
can spend many months creating a single critical patch.) None, Jon. No
malware of any consequence for OS X.

People who are religious zealots about their favourite computers are
amusing -- up to a point....

The reason there are relatively few threats to OS X is that it has
fairly few users. If it should become a mainstream OS, then it
would be just as intensely targeted by virus authors as Windows is
today.

--
----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Schlyter, Grev Turegatan 40, SE-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
e-mail: pausch at stockholm dot bostream dot se
WWW: http://www.stjarnhimlen.se/
http://home.tiscali.se/pausch/


Hi Paul--There is the implied assumption that Linux, Unix and Mac OS X
have just as many vulnerabilities as NT and Windows.... I'm not sure that
that is the case. Granted all operating systems have vulnerabilities,
but I'd like to see some statistics that show the others are no
better than Microsoft.

I've been in the UNIX/Linux/OS X environment since 1989... have been
part of the cyber wars... I seem much more secure than my Microsoft
colleagues and friends.

-Sam

"John Steinberg" wrote

BTW, very Marty here in NY today as well.

Here, it's Marty and hot. The forecast is for hot, hot, and more hot... with
gradual cooling sometime in October. GET ME OUT OF HERE!

And for H. X. Lester the Eldest, may I suggest you update your
antivirus software, do a complete HD reformatting and then contact me
for an excellent locale to purchase your new Mac computer.

Phhft! 'sides, my McAfee auntie-software 'checked' it.

(McAfee: the Leader in Anti-Virus since eighteen-eighty one.)

"John Steinberg" wrote...

[quite a bit]

Whoa! Take a pill and chill, John. I am NOT anti-Mac, nor
pro-Windows for that matter. I frankly don't give a damn which
OS anyone else uses!!! I was simply pointing out to Sam that
getting a Mac does not necessarily mean getting away from
Bill Gates, that is all. It's good to hear there are better Apple
alternatives. I have no dog in this fight.

Oh yeah, one more thing: I don't run any of that software I listed,
and nor do I endorse any of it, save for IE. Using Windows does
not make me a fan of Microsoft or Bill Gates. You got that, John???

"John Steinberg" wrote

Ho Chi Minh Lester wrote:

Ahhhh!

Here, it's Marty and hot. The forecast is for hot, hot, and more hot...
with
gradual cooling sometime in October. GET ME OUT OF HERE!

I've already contacted several northeast state agencies - you've been
banished from all. SORRY!

HEY! Tell them I'll bring Martyshine and good seeing!

I do have a nice little cottage in Death Valley available,

Beautyful...

Is it worse than So. Cal. there? Good grief. My sympathies to you and
anyone else caught up in that hellish mess.

95 here now, 10% humidity. Dry heat my ass.

It's about 60 F. right now and tonight it's going down to 40 F. Good
thing you sent me those flannel Ed Kranepool pajamas last year.

You're welcome. I forget - where is the numeral 7 plastered on those
things - the back flap of the pants, or the front flap? I have the Little Al
Jackson jammies -- made in Waco, Texas on Christmas Day.

Howard "Batter Up!" Lester

In article ,
John Steinberg wrote:


No doubt, but as H. L. Mencken suggested "nobody ever went broke
underestimating the intelligence of the American public" either.

At least with the Commander in Chief (Shrub not Cheney - allegedly) I
can still maintain some hope that come November he'll be gone. Unlike
MS, alas.



John,

You know you're one of my favorite personalities on SAA, maybe even my
VERY favorite. Even when you occasionally get off-topic, such as your
articulate defense (rants, even) of the Mac, I find myself saying
'Grrrr.... you go, John!'

But, if you want to see George W. Bush gone in November, I figure you
got about another month to find a viable candidate. John Kerry ain't
it, coming across as both arrogant and aloof. And mark my words, his
Vietnam experience is gonna come back and bite him in the ass.

A real shame, too, because the Dems had a couple of men in the running
that certainly might have gotten my vote.

Starry Skies,
Rich