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Dell Intel Quad Core w/monitor for $679

Posted By: Frank Berger
Date: Monday, 19 May 2008, at 9:04 p.m.

In Response To: Dell Intel Quad Core w/monitor for $679 (Keene)

First of all, I'm not very interested in a flame war.

When a Mac goes down. It Really Goes: http://www.osxbook.com/book/bonus/chapter5/panic/>

Well I really don't get the difference to a BOD. Both are dead. And yes all Unices (AFAIK) have a panic system call, but what does that prove? That OS X can crash? Sure it can. Try a logitech driver (their OS X drivers are notorioulsy crappy) and you'll experience one sooner or later. But this is not different to any other operating system for desktops when you install a crappy driver.

That and the varying degrees of networking availability to windows networks (Still the primary network core globally).
I have Mac, Windows XP/Vista, Ubuntu and PCBSD on my desk. All run smb and no problems at all. I admit I have a pretty simple environment, there maybe problems with AD, no idea.

Oh, and whereas a windows BSOD can be tracked back to a specific driver etc, try and do it on a mac...
I had crashes with earlier releases with a ISDN driver. It was as difficult as following the stack trace in an text file.

Until recently (Intel chips), you couldnt run windows based software on a mac, the conversion was horrific. Also, as a note, when the intel based macs did come out, Adobe (Biggest developer for Mac's) refused to support their apps on intel machines - until they did a new version of that software. Google it. (Creative Suite etc)
What does that prove? That some guys are stressing the specs? does all W98 or even XP SW run on Vista? So where is the point? And I feel supporting two HW platforms is a challenging task and I think they made a pretty good job.

Malware, AV, etc. When do people realize that the spyware and viruses were written for windows because it was the dominant OS.
At this point I really don't care why my Macs are safe, I just care that they are safe (the same as my Linux or PCBSD boxes).

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/num.nsf/docid/2000013111070911 to see what you have to do to update your Mac security software. Automatic by default on a PC.
Would you agree, that there is much more reason to have a polished AV product with automatic updates on WIndows than on OS X? AV software on a Mac is pretty much like snake oil currently (unless you want to catch Windows-malware for obvious resons)

Now that macs are more mainstream, you will start to see alot more problems and risks.
That might be the case, time will tell.

As for basic security? Use a firewall router with NAT at the very least.
This helps against open ports and is advisable, agreed. But this is IIRC not the predominant malware today. Besides the celebrity_of-your_choice_naked.exe where active cooperation is needed (and OS X would be exactly as vulnerable, if there would come up the matching programs) you have a lot of drive-by-downloads and in the last time not only on dubios sites but on serious sites too (cross-site-scripting). You're probably not fluent in German, otherwise I recommend the latest issue of the IT-magazine c't (it is something in Germany what the Byte earlier was in the US).

None of your "I just plug my mac in, and im safe on the internet" crap please.
I would prefer a more relaxed mode of discussion, otherwise I think I can spend my time with more useful things. AFAIK no single malware is in the wild for OS X. There has been two cases with roughly 50 boxes infected in the recent years. That's the current state of reality so currently I'm absolutely safe with a Mac. Not in theory, there are vulnerabilities, but in practise I'm safe. If you regard this as "crap" I would be very interested which real threats I overlook.

Security alone, macs are nightmares. I manage a PC and Mac infrastructure from the ground up (300 machines), trust me, I know what I am talking about here.
One of my friends manages a network of OS X machines in a bank. He tells me different things, but he might face a different situation. From my personal experience: OS X is the system where I have to spend the least time greasing the fittings and this experience is shared by a couple of switchers I know personally. This ranges from people having no ideas at all about computers to IT professionals. Your experience might be different and your demands are probably very different, therefore I'm interested in things I overlook.