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Having recently spoken to Symantecs Mac product manager, I got a sense that the threat to Mac OS X is likely to grow over time, but not into something we should stay up nights worrying about. But this Symantec Threat Report sounds like the Mac has never been secure and is only going to get worse over time. The comparison to Microsoft sounds downright ominous. Ryans story includes more quotes from the report that are equally frightening or more so.
Is it any surprise that Symantec would beat the drums of fear as loudly as possible? This is, after all, a company that has for years persuaded Mac users to pay $70 for software "necessary" to protect their computers against nonexistent threats.
This makes me wonder whether the real threat that concerns Symantec isnt from Mac OS X viruses and malware. Rather, its customers noticing that theyve paid a lot of money for Norton anti-virus software that they didnt really need.
For more insights from David Coursey, check out his Weblog.
How can Symantec keep those customers in line and writing checks? By scaring the living daylights out of them, thats how. They even invoke the "M" word as a warning of what could be in store!
Its prudent to protect yourself. But what you pay for the protection ought to have some relationship to the threat.
While my "value pricing" concept will never fly, there really should be some relationship between what we pay and the protection we get. Compared with what Windows users pay, $70 is more protection than any Mac requires. Yet thats what Symantec and some competitors charge.
Mac users deserve a break.
Contributing Editor David Coursey has spent two decades writing about hardware, software and communications for business customers. A full bio and contact information may be found on his Web site, www.coursey.com.
Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, reviews and analysis on Apple in the enterprise.
This makes me wonder whether the real threat that concerns Symantec isnt from Mac OS X viruses and malware. Rather, its customers noticing that theyve paid a lot of money for Norton anti-virus software that they didnt really need.
For more insights from David Coursey, check out his Weblog.
How can Symantec keep those customers in line and writing checks? By scaring the living daylights out of them, thats how. They even invoke the "M" word as a warning of what could be in store!
Its prudent to protect yourself. But what you pay for the protection ought to have some relationship to the threat.
While my "value pricing" concept will never fly, there really should be some relationship between what we pay and the protection we get. Compared with what Windows users pay, $70 is more protection than any Mac requires. Yet thats what Symantec and some competitors charge.
Mac users deserve a break.
Contributing Editor David Coursey has spent two decades writing about hardware, software and communications for business customers. A full bio and contact information may be found on his Web site, www.coursey.com.
Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, reviews and analysis on Apple in the enterprise. 
