Re: Apple Computer sides with Satan

David Nakamoto wrote:
> I thought OS X was based on Unix, which is pretty stable, but also is
> not that secure.

Where on earth did you hear that it's not that secure? Compared to what?

You speak of Unix as though it were one OS. It isn't; it's many OS's.
OS X is built on FreeBSD. That's distinct from, say, Linux or all of
the other different Unices.

Granted, FreeBSD isn't a hardened OS, but it's reasonably secure. It
has an open development community. That doesn't inherently guarantee
greater security, but it does mean that you've got more eyes looking
at it that are not as homogeneous as they are at, say, Microsoft.

> I believe the "resistance to security breaches" is due mainly to the
> fact that most hackers are targeting Windows system because 90% of
> the computers out there are running them.

That is certainly a factor, but it is hardly *mainly* due to that. I
think another significant factor is that many attackers out there equate
Microsoft with The Man. Even if FreeBSD were to gain an equal market
share with XP (without resorting to what are seen as Microsoft's unfair
business practices), there would still be fewer attempts to compromise
FreeBSD systems, because they aren't seen as the bad guys.

XP security is reasonably good, though. A great improvement over Win2k
and earlier.

Brian Tung <brian@xxxxxxx>
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt
.

Relevant Pages

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