Tuesday, August 16, 2005

With OS X you spend time working

I've been thinking about how one has to devote their time to a Windows based system versus OS X and a Mac. We all know that Windows systems are prone to virus infection, spyware, malware, and unpatched systems are begging to be exploited. In fact, Windows is the most attacked, least secure operating system around. A Windows system is unsecure out-of-the-box and keeping a Windows system safe demands a high degree of vigilance. After purchasing a new Windows computer, it's vital to run Windows Update to download the numerous "critcal fixes" that if unpatched "could allow an attacker to remotely compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it". Now that's a scary quote from Microsoft. They admit in thier security bulletins that an attacker can gain control over your computer thanks to holes in Windows! In fact, it's highly likely that an unpatched Windows system will be exploited within minutes if connected to the Internet.

Attacks by viruses, worms, spyware and browser hijackers can be reduced but you have to put in time and effort on an almost daily basis to secure your Windows system. For one you have to install anti-virus software and a better firewall than the one that ships with Windows. Installing anti-virus software isn't enough, it's critically important that you keep your virus definitions up-to-date. You should also install a Spyware and Malware cleaner to clean your Windows system of those malicious programs that found their way onto the hard drive.

Prior to Microsoft's Monthly Update (where they release patches for vulnerabilities) it wasn't uncommon to find a new patch every few days or weeks. I've been on a Mac since September 2004 and can count on my hands the number of security patches that have been released to address vulnerabilities. The thing I've noticed is that Microsoft releases a patch after a vulnerability has been identified whereas Apple releases a patch well in advance of the public learning of the vulnerability.

I have a background in Enterprise Hosting but on the UNIX side. I've seen so many examples where sites must go down in order to apply a patch to a Windows machine and often, that can cause problems to an application and/or site. Futhermore, when a problem is faced a common workaround is to reboot the Windows machine which in turn causes a site to go down. This is very serious when a customer's business relies on the uptime of their site. In addition, many customers decide to hold off on a patch until they can test the patch in a staging environment. This delay in patching a production environment exposes that site and it's customers to the vulnerability.

The point I'd like to make is that Windows based systems require that you spend a lot of time and effort to keep them secure and operational. With Macs and OS X, you spend your time working which in turn leads to productivity. This is the case with UNIX based systems. Less time is spent securing and protecting the Operating System and server, your time is focused on the issues that matter most work, productivity, and uptime.

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12 Comments:

At 7:32 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes but are Macintoshes computers? Will they do all the stuff my Dell does. Aren't they more like toys for children or grade school?

If they are really serious computers, I'd be interested in switching. I've heard of them several times but I've never seen one or known anybody who has one.

 
At 8:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Though I agree that OS X is better than XP, I wouldn't attribute it to the number of vulnerabilities, patched or unpatched. OS X's security model in general is superior.

Shameless plug: Mac OS X vs. Windows XP @ XvsXP.com.

 
At 9:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

[quote]
Yes but are Macintoshes computers? Will they do all the stuff my Dell does. Aren't they more like toys for children or grade school?
[\quote]

Are you kidding? or are you really that clueless?

 
At 9:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

[quote]
Yes but are Macintoshes computers? Will they do all the stuff my Dell does. Aren't they more like toys for children or grade school?
[\quote]

Yes, Macintosh computers can do anything Windows computers can do and more. It is also generally easier to do most things, without resorting to childish Wizzards and such.

 
At 11:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

[quote]
Yes but are Macintoshes computers? Will they do all the stuff my Dell does. Aren't they more like toys for children or grade school?

If they are really serious computers, I'd be interested in switching. I've heard of them several times but I've never seen one or known anybody who has one.
--------

Try these web pages for more info...

www.apple.com/macosx
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/
http://www.apple.com/macosx/applications/

Happy reading...

 
At 12:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes but are Macintoshes computers? Will they do all the stuff my Dell does. Aren't they more like toys for children or grade school?

Could someone explain to me what a troll is?

 
At 2:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The article is a bit ho-hum because the diagnose/repair vs productive work ratio was nearly just as good even under pre-OSX versions. That is one reason creative professionals who run computers 24/7 choose Macs. Even juggling extensions in the old days wasn't as bad as Windows. When something went wrong it was easier to figure out and get running again. Macs wer, and still are 10 times less drudge work than Windows.

As to the poster who wondered whether Macs are toys (hey, be kind we don't know what country he is from) suffice to say I have NEVER used or owned a Windows computer and have used Macs consistently since 1988 (outside of the occasional SGI/SUN box) to do high level illustration, CAD and 3D work.

 
At 5:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

>>Yes but are Macintoshes computers? Will they do all the stuff my Dell does. Aren't they more like toys for children or grade school?<<


The 1980's called you. They want their archaic vision back.

http://guide.apple.com/

And, for over thirty years, the UNIX operating system that Mac OS X runs on has NEVER been considered "a toy":

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/unix/

Try to keep up with the times.

 
At 6:40 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So what you're teling me is that when I turned on my Mac for the first time, I didn't see "Software Updates" bounce around on the Dock telling me to download updates that were needed to fix dozens of flaws... (or that one of the updates that were there yesterday was pulled and released because it originally broke what little 64bit capability the OS had...)

A dissenting opinion from a faithful mac user.

 
At 10:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Spend time working"....what a glorious concept and the reason I am switching! My 17 inch Powerbook arrives Monday and I can't wait!! The straw that finally broke this annoymous PC user is that my Hp zd7000 laptop was acting up, CTR/Alt/Shift shortcut keys used daily in Illustrator and Photoshop were sticking, which is related to the volume control which is now not working so I can't watch movies, and my touchpad is worn to the circuitry. To repair these problems costs over $1,000 and 3 weeks in either the Geek Squad shop or HP (note: laptop is only a year and half old!!).

These are just minor problems compared to the fact that I have to turn off Norton Antivirus and Firewall everytime I launch Adobe Bridge and Illustrator. I endure these two daily tasks, because it took me over 2 days working with an Adobe staff and reading Adobe forums just to get Photohop and Bridge CS2 installed. Loading CS2 was no problem on my PC, but I laughingly tell my friends that I thank God I have both a PC and a laptop, because I have something to work on while figuring out the latest problem on the other machine. I consider myself fairly proficient with both hardware and software, having developed software, built and torn down several computers and helped family and friends with their computers problems. Why you ask me don't I just fix these problems....why should I? Plus I am writing this comment while in bed recovering from a car accident and can't take my laptop to get repaired or crawl under a desk to take apart a CPU. I just want to "spend time working" or watching a movie or living a digital life!!!!

Uuuuugh!!!Thanks for letting me vent, thanks for the informative site which has helped me with the decision to switch and I look forward to "just spending time working"

 
At 6:07 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Greetings.

The first computer that I used was an Altair 8800 running CP/M with a Hazeltine terminal (with no arrow keys); I used the computer to write my senior honors English thesis at Vanderbilt. (I guess I just gave you some idea of my age!) ;-)

I started using a Mac on 27 February 1986; it was my first exposure the the Mac. (Yes, I can remember the exact date.) I had no manuals, the software that came with the Mac Plus, and a copy of PageMaker (with no documentation) that my company had "borrowed." By the end of the day, I had created a trifold brochure with PageMaker for my company's marketing department, all without any documentation.

I bought the first release of Mac OS X the day that it was released, but it was not until I got "Jaguar" that I felt Mac OS X had "come into its own."

In 2000, I returned to the technical-writing field and the corporation was "Windows centric." Despite all of the corporate IT security, we got slammed by Sircam. Because many Windows users had my e-mail address in their Internet temporary folder, I got messages from them, with a random attachment, on my Mac at home. I did not have to worry about Sircam hurting my Mac, but I had a dial-up connection at the time and it was an inconvenience.

I got a PC for home use so that I could take work home from the office, and I bought Windows XP Professional as soon as it was released. I spend so much time each week taking care of the security of the PC's on my home network. I cannot call it a waste of time, because if I did not take these precautions, the results would be dire. (Otherwise, I'd say that the time was "wasted," because it takes away from using the computers to do actual work.)

In the early Mac days, Disinfectant was the only antiviral software Mac users needed, and it was free! Because of the lack of Mac viruses, the author eventually stopped updating the program.

Security is always a concern if you have a computer connected to the Internet, but I spent basically all of my time working on my G4 Power Mac tower, not worrying about security.

In addition, Microsoft shoves its much needed Windows XP security updates down your throat. If it's not convenient for you to download and install the updates, you have to put up with the nagging; Microsoft controls your computer, not you.

Updates for Mac OS X are infrequent and when they first become available, you receive an automatic prompt, but you can choose to install the updates later. Apple gives Mac users credit to be intelligent enough to apply the updates at their convenience.

I have to keep Windows around for work purposes; otherwise, I'd delete Windows from that computer and just leave Linux on it. (With Mac OS X, however, I am not that compelled to hack Linux, although I enjoy doing so at times.)

Apple is not perfect and no Mac hardware or software is perfect, but I'd use a Macintosh full time if external forces did not cause me to keep Windows around!

Cordially,

David

 
At 6:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ADVANTAGES OF MAC OS X (And the Macintosh)

Greetings.

The first computer that I used was an Altair 8800 running CP/M with a Hazeltine terminal (with no arrow keys); I used the computer to write my senior honors English thesis at Vanderbilt. (I guess I just gave you some idea of my age!) ;-)

I started using a Mac on 27 February 1986; it was my first exposure the the Mac. (Yes, I can remember the exact date.) I had no manuals, the software that came with the Mac Plus, and a copy of PageMaker (with no documentation) that my company had "borrowed." By the end of the day, I had created a trifold brochure with PageMaker for my company's marketing department, all without any documentation.

I bought the first release of Mac OS X the day that it was released, but it was not until I got "Jaguar" that I felt Mac OS X had "come into its own."

In 2000, I returned to the technical-writing field and the corporation was "Windows centric." Despite all of the corporate IT security, we got slammed by Sircam. Because many Windows users had my e-mail address in their Internet temporary folder, I got messages from them, with a random attachment, on my Mac at home. I did not have to worry about Sircam hurting my Mac, but I had a dial-up connection at the time and it was an inconvenience.

I got a PC for home use so that I could take work home from the office, and I bought Windows XP Professional as soon as it was released. I spend so much time each week taking care of the security of the PC's on my home network. I cannot call it a waste of time, because if I did not take these precautions, the results would be dire. (Otherwise, I'd say that the time was "wasted," because it takes away from using the computers to do actual work.)

In the early Mac days, Disinfectant was the only antiviral software Mac users needed, and it was free! Because of the lack of Mac viruses, the author eventually stopped updating the program.

Security is always a concern if you have a computer connected to the Internet, but I spent basically all of my time working on my G4 Power Mac tower, not worrying about security.

In addition, Microsoft shoves its much needed Windows XP security updates down your throat. If it's not convenient for you to download and install the updates, you have to put up with the nagging; Microsoft controls your computer, not you.

Updates for Mac OS X are infrequent and when they first become available, you receive an automatic prompt, but you can choose to install the updates later. Apple gives Mac users credit to be intelligent enough to apply the updates at their convenience.

I have to keep Windows around for work purposes; otherwise, I'd delete Windows from that computer and just leave Linux on it. (With Mac OS X, however, I am not that compelled to hack Linux, although I enjoy doing so at times.)

Apple is not perfect and no Mac hardware or software is perfect, but I'd use a Macintosh full time if external forces did not cause me to keep Windows around!

Cordially,

David

 

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