Windows wishing, aided by virus vendors

When your publishing platform gets pushed around in the press, unfairly, you might begin to see the mainstream prejudice against thinking different. Macs have far fewer virus problems than PCs running Windows. But it only takes one exploit to pull the Mac down to the Windows security level, apparently.

Despire dire stories in the press — especially in places like India and Australia, far from the North American media markets — nobody has any evidence of a security breach like Windows users suffer. Not yet. But the bone-headed mainstream press, as well as the Windows users already battered by exploits, equate these new leaks to water pouring across a spillway.

Typical is a brainless headline like "First virus seen targeting Apple computers." Wrong; not the first virus, just the first serious security hole in years. It also needs a specific browser, set to a default state that Apple needs to fix. You can fix it as a Mac user with two clicks. But it is an exploit, now further exposed by security vendors.

Meanwhile, those security vendors, bless 'em, have their sights set on a new market, relatively untapped: Mac users. We've secured our terminals here, logged away from our admin accounts. But our vendor Intego has posted an update, too.

So where's the stories of millions of desktops infected or vandalized by a virus? Oh yeah — over in the Windows marketplace. You'd think the level of dread over there would be enough to float the virus vendors' boats. But we continue to be warned, not by folks who have no-cost solutions, but by the companies who stand to profit from our need to secure our publishing platforms.