Mossberg: 'The single most effective way to avoid viruses and spyware is to simply chuck Windows altogether and buy an Apple Macintosh' 




"If you use a Windows personal computer to access the Internet, your personal files, your privacy and your security are all in jeopardy. An international criminal class of virus writers, hackers, digital vandals and sleazy businesspeople wakes up every day planning to attack your PC," Walter S. Mossberg writes for The Wall Street Journal. "And the company that controls the Windows platform, Microsoft, has made this too easy to do by carelessly opening numerous security holes in the operating system and its Web browser. Even if you install the recent Service Pack 2 update to Windows XP, you will still be vulnerable."

Mossberg writes, "The single most effective way to avoid viruses and spyware is to simply chuck Windows altogether and buy an Apple Macintosh. Apple's operating system, Mac OS X, is harder for the criminals to infect, and the Mac's market share is so small that hackers, virus writers and spies get little thrill, financial gain or publicity from attacking the platform. There has never been a successful virus written for Mac OS X, and there is almost no spyware that targets the Mac. Plus, the Mac is invulnerable to viruses and spyware written for Windows. Not only is it more secure, but the Mac operating system is more capable, more modern and more attractive than Windows XP, and just as stable."

"Macs are as good as, and often better than, Windows PCs at doing the most common computing tasks: Web browsing, e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, photos, music and video. The Mac version of Microsoft Office can handle Windows Office files with ease, and it produces files that Office for Windows handles effortlessly. Apple's computers are also gorgeous," Mossberg writes.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: One question looms: will the world's richest man now cancel his Wall Street Journal subscription? Mossberg, a highly respected reviewer and tech writer known for his straight, truthful articles, has really done it this time! The storm clouds have been brewing for awhile, as you can see from our related articles below, but Mossberg's article turns a sun shower into a category 5 hurricane headed straight for Redmond. Even though Mossberg concedes that "switching platforms is expensive and scary to people" and proceeds to give advice for those afraid to pitch to Windows in the dumpster, Apple will sell more Macintosh computers to switchers/adders because Mossberg dared to write the truth. For our Windows-only friends, information about how to smoothly add a secure Mac OS X machine to your computing arsenal can be found here.

Newsweek magazine calls Mr. Mossberg "the most powerful arbiter of consumer tastes in the computer world today." Time magazine calls him "the most influential computer journalist." Rolling Stone calls him "the most powerful columnist in technology." The Washington Post declared Mr. Mossberg "one of the most powerful men in the high-tech world" and "a one-man media empire whose prose can launch a new product." And the New York Times calls him a "protean critic of the new economy's tools and toys."

If you'd like to send Mr. Mossberg an email, his address is: mossberg@wsj.com

Related MacDailyNews articles:
Is Mac OS X really inherently more secure than Windows? - August 26, 2003
BusinessWeek's Haddad gets it wrong; thinks low market share spares Macs from viruses - August 28, 2003
Shattering the Mac OS X 'security through obscurity' myth - August 28, 2003
Fortune columnist: 'get a Mac' to thwart viruses; right answer for the wrong reasons - September 02, 2003
Wall Street Journal's Mossberg on making the switch from Windows to Mac - September 18, 2003
New York Times: Mac OS X 'much more secure than Windows XP' - September 18, 2003
Columnist tries the 'security through obscurity' myth to defend Windows vs. Macs on virus front - October 1, 2003
Gates: Windows 'by far the most secure' system; tries to use 'Mac OS X secure through obscurity' myth - January 27, 2004
Mac OS X has no viruses; what's wrong with Windows? - February 11, 2004
SmartMoney: Long-suffering Windows users can only dare to dream of Mac's ease-of-use - February 12, 2004
Spyware, adware plague Windows users online; Mac OS X users surf freely - April 19, 2004
Gartner: Worms jack up the total cost of Microsoft Windows - May 07, 2004
Windows 'Scob' virus designed to steal financial data, passwords; Macintosh unaffected - June 26, 2004
Tired of patching patches to patch Windows patches? Writer suggests getting a Mac - August 03, 2004
Mossberg: Dump your Windows machine and get an Apple Macintosh to free yourself of spyware - August 25, 2004
Millions of Windows PC's hijacked by hackers, turned into zombies; Macintosh unaffected - September 08, 2004
Security is top priority in Apple's Mac OS X - September 12, 2004
Windows XP worm speaks to users as it deletes their files; Macintosh unaffected - September 13, 2004
University of Chicago recommends all students patch Windows at least once a day - September 14, 2004
USA Today columinst angry about Windows viruses, adware, spyware - September 15, 2004
 

Posted: Thu - September 16, 2004 at 06:56 PM        

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