Apple enlists David Puddy to take on the Laptop Hunters
By Ross Miller 
posted August 24th 2009 10:09PM
posted August 24th 2009 10:09PM
[Thanks, Travis]
See more video at our hub!
posted August 24th 2009 10:09PM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
So let me get this straight, the apple apologists (and the add) are suggesting that personal computers are bad/worse than a mac because 1. you "have" to buy an antivirus software to keep your install clean and 2. macintosh computers do not, nay cannot, nay SHALL NOT, get viruses.
1. AV software is not at all required. Either run without it and reformat occasionally (say, once every 12 months) and pretend to be a mac person who has to buy minor upgrades or use a lockdown system such as deep freeze or have an imaged computer on your network. Problem solved. Boy that's hard.
2. Does anyone actually believe this? The "macs dont get viruses" claim was death panels before we even knew what death panels were. It's utterly ridiculous and ignorant to the fact that human beings write viruses and there is nothing to stop them from writing one that affects macs. OSX has vulnerabilities just like a windows OS does.
And there is one small issue apple doesnt want to talk about; you could just put unix on your pc and thats like having a grown up version of OSX plus you have better hardware.
@ Red
That's right big boy. Viruses for OS X do not exist.
1) Symantec Product Manager Mike Romo says about OS X viruses and what Mac A/V is really about:
"I’m not going to advertise that we protect against stuff that doesn’t exist [viruses].
We do protect against vulnerabilities now, though."
http://community.norton.com/norton/blog/article?blog.id=npb1&message.id=54&jump=true#M54
2) Mike once again confirms no OS X viruses:
"nothing, really, for Mac OS X so far"
http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=other&thread.id=45&view=by_date_ascending&page=2
3) In this video Mike Romo once again states that "Norton AntiVirus for Mac" is actually an anti-vulnerability program not really an anti-virus program.
It also once again confirms no viruses on OS X:
"no real malware or spyware on the mac"
"[OS X is a] pretty strong, very good OS with some great security features built in"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4qn_sxTsE0
So maybe you can tell us what software security company you work for and what you think you know that Symantec does not.
@ Red
It's been 9 years since OS X came out. Where are the viruses big boy? That's right, there are none. Go ahead and continue wagging your finger saying "one of these days..." I find it amusing. Meanwhile the Windows viruses keep getting pumped year after year.
forgot to mention the luxury of driving down the street to my local apple retail store vs. the inability for in person help if something goes wrong with my pc.
so what if osx can get viruses just as easily? the point is there is no need to even worry about them in the first place, not that they are just as susceptible.
No in-person help? Let's see. You have an Apple Store, while I have 1. every single other store that sells computers, 2. independent people, 3. friends and family who mostly own PC's since the Mac market share is many times less. I'm sure I've forgotten tons.
thats sad... wow... "headaces and viruses".... thats an act of desperation. i wouldn't expect this from apple. again wow
The difference betweenthe apple spots and MS's laptop hunter is simple.. Apple is taking shots that are comical, and hire boneheads from shitty movies to do their commercials.. while MS is merely spitting out the fact with their ads.
Also, Apple will say.. we are better and we can prove it! just buy one of our computers for $2K...
while the PC guy buys 3 of them for his family.
End.Of.Story.
the only computers in their line that hit $2k are the higher end laptops and the mac pro. the rest of their laptops, mac mini, and imac's are all under $2k.
if money is a serious issue, then of course you should not opt for a mac. but if you want the best computing experience and can afford it, given my experience with pc's and macs, i'd for sure recommend a mac.
ha you guys are funny, i haven't used anti virus software on either of my pc's since 2005, yet i am strangely virus free...
or there is a underground Columbian drug lord who has assumed my identity and is running a multi billion dollar buisness that is just out of reach of the local athorities since the identity he is using is unknown to them.
YAWN...... So viruses huh? Microsoft Security Essentials..... nuff said.
Oh and all the "software" that the Mac comes preloaded with, with a quick search on download.com, you could find free extremely good equivalents up for download.
As one should realize viruses don't autorun unless the user does something to initialize it on the system. For windows users it happens to be double clicking and inserting USB storage (not much of a problem with Win 7 thou)
Macs fall prey to viruses as well once properly engineered, however the blackhats are acknowledging the market share of Apple and are taking advantage of the numerous security flaws in this 9 year old OS. Its not that Mac's are better, its that not enough people use them for them to be targets.... but thats changing, slowly but surely.
Is is just me, or does the Big PC guy look and feel like Mitt Romney?
as long as apple only has such a small market share, people won't bother to create viruses.
http://gizmodo.com/5345382/snow-leopard-has-hidden-antivirus-talents
im getting pissed now, macs get viruses to collage kids broke that code too, so.........LETS GO GET DUAL BOOTING WIN7 / UNBUNTU systems yay! really tho macs are far to overpriced for old hardware im tired of hearing about them.
Lame ad. Makes the Seinfeld + Gates ones look like Academy Award material.
Once the first Apple Macbook gets a virus, their entire ad campaign is going to go kablooey. Man, talk about milking the cow dry.
There are many Mac viruses, but not close to as many as there are for PC. The disparity is their fetish. Or...something.
This ad is just silly. Big screen? Check. Fast processor? Check. Viruses? LOLOLOLOLOLOLDID U KNO THAT PCS GET VIRUSES AND MACS DONT LOLOLOLOLOL THEY JUST WORK LOLZ AND WE'LL TELL YOU THAT AGAIN IN A WEEK
Not a single Mac ad has even tried to touch the price issue, since they know it's: a. issue #1 for about 90% of computer buyers and b. their worst weakness. At least with PCs the weaknesses are easily fixable. Go ahead, flame me.
anyone who pays a dime for anti-virus software is wasting their money. I have literally used avg free since it came out, and before that i had zone alarm which is also free. Guess what, zero viruses, zero malware, all because when i install a program, i click the "custom install" and see waht they are trying to install instead of letting them add on tool bars and other crap at the same time by clicking "typical install". That is how 90% of people get viruses, when they download free programs off the internet they just click through the install instead of seeing what it is goin to install if you click custom. I don't know a single anti-virus that costs $100 that a home user would use and have never had an anti-malware, phishing, whatever program installed on my computers, I have been using the beta of microsoft security essentials for a few months now and it works flawlessly, updates daily at 5 am when i'm asleep, and i haven't had it slow down anything on my computer, and that program will be free here a few months down the road to all windows users who have a legite copy of windows.
Wait what is this nonsense im hearing about no Mac viruses? They may be rare but they are out there. Does anyone remember OSX/Leap-A? If not heres the article to refresh everyone's memory.
http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2006/02/macosxleap.html
Here's my idea of a much fairer commercial.
Mac: Hello. I'm a Mac.
PC: And I'm a PC.
Mom: And I'm looking to buy a great computer.
PC: Well, allow me to introduce the top-of-the-line PC. It offers much greater customization possibilities and is also cheaper than a comparable Mac.
Mom: Well, I want a computer with a big screen.
Man: With me, you can get as large of a screen as you want. With a Mac, you're limited to two sizes of monitor,
Mom: And I want a really fast processor.
Man: No problem. I can use any processor you want. When you think I need a new one, you can do it easily yourself. Not so much with a Mac.
Mom: And I want one that just... works, without thousands of viruses and tons of headaches.
Man: While it is possible for me to get viruses, if you just set up a free virus scanner to run at night, when you're not using your computer, you'll be fine.
Mac: I don't get any viruses though. There have only been a few cases of infection.
Man: That would be because nobody cares about you, Mac.
Mom: I think I like this PC.
Man: You should leave right about now, Mac.
Again and again, maybe people will start to understand:
1. You get viruses if you browse no-no websites;
2. You get viruses if you lack the common sense to avoid the "I'm a hottie and I live in the same remote town as you, let's hook up and have mucho sex" banners;
3. Viruses are not just floating around the interwebs, waiting for a new sucker to plug in his PC. Getting a virus is based on one's behaviour. Daily normal browsing does not get you infected. On the other hand, if you fancy visiting adult websites and other such places, you must be aware that you risk getting your PC infected. Rogue browsing without an antivirus is not healthy, we all know that.
What Apple want to sell to the customers is a sense of security that doesn't care how stupid or irresponsible you are. "Hey, future Apple client, trust us! Download all the porn and warez in the world and you will not get a virus!"
If you can actually achieve that with a Mac, then bravo! It either means the Mac is impenetrable, or the people who develop viruses really don't care for Macs since there are so few of them on the market. Either way, it just looks like Apple's target customer is a 30-40 yr old factory worked that's just heard about this thing called a comp.. comptererrr... wants to have one, but doesn't really want to know the most basic things about it, regardless of price and common sense. Way to go, cool Apple customers!
Well, hello: http://blog.intego.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-contains-an-antivirus/
Does anyone who actually with half a brain that maintains their computer really have a problem with viruses anymore???
I mean its 2009.......set your AV program to scan every night and update every day.....POOF! No virus problems.
I have moved to Macs but still use a PC for high end gaming now (quad core 8GB, 1gig vid card) but I'm really getting sick of scaring people into buying Macs that the ads do... come one, there are viruses on Macs as well... and if there are not as many it's because fewer 'bad' people thing they are worth bothering writing them for a Mac. If Macs get even close to 33% market saturation, be sure there will be plenty of malware for them as well...
Talk about clean interface, loads of included free software, better hardware, etc... don't talk about things that Apple has nothing to do with (number of viruses) in the ads!!!