Mac OS X viruses

March 26, 2005 2:35 PM

Putting his money where his mouth is regarding the recent Symantec (Norton Utilities, Anti-Virus etc.) Mac OS X virus claims...? Seems not to be, but the fellow who was sponsoring the $25,000 reward has a, shall we say, checkered past. Mac users are still waiting for the first real attack. I could live without it, but this particular religious war (however insane and inane it can get) does liven up our computing experience. If the pop-unders at MacDailyNews get around your browser's pop-up blocker, go here.
posted by indices (14 comments total)

isn't that a bit irresponsible? if there was some stipulation that the virus can't do damage to host machines, i missed it. isn't funding a crime illegal?
posted by scottreynen at 3:20 PM on March 26, 2005

Errr.. this 'contest' is sponsored by Jack Campbell, a man who is absolutely infamous in the Mac community for a series of lies, deceits, and outright frauds. Macintouch has a nice chronolog of Campbell's activities, starting with the Mac Table fraud and running up through the current virus scheme.

He's a huckster, move on, nothing to see here.
posted by nathan_teske at 3:37 PM on March 26, 2005

Oh cripes... I should really click-thru all the links in the post before shooting my mouth off.
posted by nathan_teske at 3:39 PM on March 26, 2005

he has already given up on this little game: I have been convinced that the risk of a virus on the OS X platform is not zero, although it is remarkably close to zero.
posted by ouchitburns at 3:42 PM on March 26, 2005

When I first read this on /. , I perhaps too charitably assumed the machines to be infected were in a controlled environment. I guess not. I agree with the sentiment ("Shut up, Symantec"), but yeah, this was misguided to say the least.
posted by sninky-chan at 5:19 PM on March 26, 2005

UM, is it just Berek, or is anyone else mystified as to why anyone would use a Mac instead of a real computer?
posted by berek at 5:22 PM on March 26, 2005

It is just Berek.

Who is Jack Campbell, and why does he hate the Mac?

Who?! Who doesn't want to wear ze ribbon?! /Cedric
posted by fandango_matt at 5:26 PM on March 26, 2005

why anyone would use a Mac instead of a real computer?

*chuckles and pats his BSD-based supercomputer that he reboots once a month and hasn't reinstalled in over 3 years*
posted by squirrel at 5:55 PM on March 26, 2005

UM, is it just Berek, or is anyone else mystified as to why anyone would use a Mac instead of a real computer?

Its good to see that the subtle art of trolling isn't dead
posted by pixelgeek at 5:55 PM on March 26, 2005

Slashdot thread is great...
posted by indices at 6:11 PM on March 26, 2005

Hey, I'll give $25,000 to anyone who can break into my car and drive it into the river! Who's gonna take me up on it?
posted by fungible at 7:32 PM on March 26, 2005

It's over: DVForge cancels Mac OS X Virus Prize Contest
posted by Down10 at 7:51 PM on March 26, 2005

Now I'm going to create a Mac-based virus just because I'm pissed the contest was canceled.

If only I knew how.
posted by drezdn at 10:53 PM on March 26, 2005

UM, is it just Berek, or is anyone else mystified as to why anyone would use a Mac instead of a real computer?

You, sir, are a philistine. Again.
posted by ninthart at 5:46 AM on March 27, 2005