Re: help me understand how a Mac is virtually immune to viruses?

On 2006-01-15, Beryl Gormley <no@xxxxxx> wrote:
> After my initial question about a computer switch to Mac, I got to thinking
> about some of my colleagues at work mentioning that a Mac is virtually
> immune to Win viruses. I know this may be elementary (my dear Watson), but
> how is this so? Wouldn't the Mac be using the same programs for Win surfing
> (Firefox, for example) and be receiving the same spyware and other crap
> downloaded in the system as on the Win environment?

Current Macs use OS X, which under the hood is a microkernel version
of BSD Unix. Microsoft Windows is, well, Microsoft Windows. The two
operating systems are so different that a program for one won't run on
the other. Firefox compiled for the Mac has different object code from
Firefox compiled for Windows. Things like tracking cookies will still
work the same because that is a function of the browser. Operating
system exploits won't work. Mac viruses do exist, but because there are
20 Windows computers connected to the net for exery Mac, the bad guys
tend to stick to Windows. Besides, it is allegedly easier to exploit
Windows.

--
The night is just the shadow of the Earth.
.

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