Note to Apple: Keep the Mac expensive!.
I
was pondering the Mac's security and the fact that, compared to
Windows, it's largely virus and spyware free. Why should that be?
Some answers which spring readily to mind might be:
- the Mac's low market share compared to Windows
- dislike of Microsoft making it an easy target
- MacOSX's Unix underpinnings
however I wondered if there wasn't something else to it as well.
I have a (possibly naive) stereotype of the virus/spyware author as
a 14 year old kid using an el-cheapo x86 box and a pirate copy of
Windows. Not having the pocket money for a a Mac this kid is only using
(and hence targetting) Windows.
If there is even a grain of truth in this then I think it's
imperative that Apple ensure that MacOSX never runs on commodity PC
hardware. Indeed the very pricing which makes a Mac a luxury can be
seen as a not having to install Norton Anti-Virus tax and I'm willing to pay it for that alone.
I never thought i'd hear myself say this, but, Keep Mac's expensive! [Curiouser and curiouser!]