RSSWindows Security Site Shows Mac User
By Nate Mook | Published August 16, 2006, 1:14 PM
Much ado has been made about security in Mac OS X as compared to Windows, with numerous technology pundits recommending Apple's systems for their relative safety. Microsoft accidentally did the same this week, publishing clipart of a user on a PowerBook to its Security Web site under the headline "You're clean."
"If you're going to pretend to be serious about security, shouldn't you use a picture of a Dell or HP or something instead of reminding people about the truly secure Apple Macintosh?" asked MacDailyNews, which first reported the snafu. Microsoft has since corrected the mistake, replacing the image with a mother and child checking a laptop, which suspiciously looks like a 12-inch PowerBook sans Apple logo.
for the time being, you can still see a copy of the page/image in question by searching google under "Microsoft security" and clicking on the cached link. Probably won't last long til the spider spins again, though. I'm not entirely sure the laptop is a Powerbook, but I guess it's close enough...
Score: 0
|Did it ever occur to any of you that the PowerBook could have been running Windows XP at the time!!! LMAO ;-)
Score: 0
|What's even funnier, is how few people are actually using MacOS, less than 2.5% of all personal computers are MacOS.
There are more Windows 98 users than MacOS and MacOSX combined! That's why there is no software available for macs.
Score: 0
|"That's why there is no software available for macs."
That meme is so old and worn-out I can't tell if you're being serious.
Score: 0
|I've noticed a lot of marketing company advertise using Mac laptops even for PC stuff.
It's good to see Microsoft waking up... :)
Score: 0
|HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA THIS IS THE MOST FUNNY THING EVER!
(+Sarcasm)
Score: 0
|LOL
Score: 0
|"truly secure Apple Macintosh"
lol
Score: 0
|This debate over the theoretical aspects of computer security has become a very tired and quite strained rant!
Likewise, we could waste our time arguing that Al Queda isn't a major terrorist threat due to the fact that the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers could Potentially attack the US as well.
But the fact remains, in terms of the relative likelihood of occurrence, the Windows platform (for the myriad reasons that I am sure you know by heart!) has a higher incidence of attack than OSX.
Period.
In the future that may change. Of course, I may also win the lottery. When either happens, we can talk about it then!
PS And why MS doesn't simply employ sudo is a mystery to me and most obviously one to MS!
Score: 0
|I just wish the Mac Daily News website would stop spreading lies that Macs are significantly more secure than Windows PC's. For one thing, Mac OS X uses an inferior version of the UAC feature that is found in Windows Vista. If you do something in Mac OS X that requires administrative privileges, the operating system only asks you for the root password once unless you reboot the computer.
This means once you've entered the root password if prompted then Mac OS X is not much more secure than Windows XP.
Score: 0
|Ummm... that feature on Macs is a heck of a lot better than the default Windows XP install: "Let's make them a full admin with no password whatsoever!"
And Vista isn't out yet. Mac OS X, on the other hand, ...is.
Score: 0
|> For one thing, Mac OS X uses an inferior
> version of the UAC feature that is found in
> Windows Vista.
Sorry, Charlie, but there's no such thing as Vista yet. You can't compare a UAC from a forthcoming product to one that's been out for 5 years now.
> If you do something in Mac OS X that requires
> administrative privileges, the operating
> system only asks you for the root password
> once unless you reboot the computer.
Um... no. The Mac authentication system is based on sudo, not a "root password." And it doesn't open up the system for complete unrestricted access. And even more, you need to enter it every so often, it doesn't just "unlock" the entire system until shutdown. If you wait too long, you'll need to reauthenticate.
Score: 0
|> For one thing, Mac OS X uses an inferior
> version of the UAC feature that is found in
> Windows Vista.
> ... [T]he operating
> system only asks you for the root password
> once unless you reboot the computer.
Try this.
1) Open System Preferences.
2) Open the Accounts panel (or any panel that requires authentication to make changes).
3) Click the lock icon to make changes, and enter your credentials.
4) Close System Preferences.
5) Re-open System Preferences. Return to said panel.
6) Notice how you will need to enter your credentials again.
Of course, you probably can't do this, since you probably don't own a Mac and are just bashing them based on what you think you know.
And while we're talking about Vista UAC, at least OS X doesn't ask me for my password when I create a new folder in a "protected" area and prompt me for it AGAIN when I give that folder a name, as if I was going to keep it called "New Folder." I've heard Microsoft is working out annoyances such as these, so I remain optimistic that UAC will prove useful and not annoying in the future. (And, yes, I have tried the publicly available Vista beta.)
Score: 0
|You are wrong about the root password and how many times you are required to type it. You can optionally leave items unlocked after you have typed the password, but that is a choice. I wish that MS zealots would quit acting like they know a lot about Mac OS X. Face it, Mac folks usually know a lot more about Windows than Windows folks know about Macs (because the Mac users are typically forced to use Windows somewhere).
By the way, I am a Mac user who has been a government Windows Server administrator for the last 7 years. My wife manages a department that supports 5000 desktops for the for the government (and she too prefers her Mac).
Score: 0
|You are ingnorant, wrong and ,considering your alias, must be very stupid
Score: 0
|They ARE significantly more secure!
Score: 0
|and ,considering your alias, must be very stupid
...so that would make you stupider than stupid? =p
(yes I know "stupider" is not a word)
Score: 0
|Oh please...
It was just a photo snafu. The guy in charge of Microsoft's marketing should be embarrassed, but that's all.
They've probably got a bazillion pictures of people using all sorts of laptops that are used at random for any new site that needs to be published.
Look at the picture in the link below (thanks onemorechance). You really have to look close to tell it's an Apple. Kinda pathetic that this is considered news...
It's not like Microsoft specifically advised using Mac over Windows.
It's kinda funny, though. ...I guess...
Score: 0
|Meh..
I'm pretty sure someone got fired. ;)
Score: 0
|They say the pics are fixed but I just went to the site and they still have the dude in the hammock with the Mac.
LOL.
**If you view the page in IE you get the lady and the kid. If you view in Opera or Firefox you get the dude in the hammock.
***Ok, now it's switched everywhere. LOL. Took 'em till 2:18PM EST to fix it?
Score: 0
|Look at me, i'm running Vista Beta 2 on iPod yey...
Score: 0
|Anyone with a picture of that pre-correction, could you stick up a link, please.
Score: 0
|Should be a picture here:
http://macdailynews.com/...p/weblog/comments/10546/
Score: 0
|Top man.
Score: 0
|