Apple’s Macs and Macbooks have generally been known to have very few malware and virus issues when compared to a widespread OS like Windows. It’s not because the Apple’s platform is invulnerable but rather due to the platform’s little market share. Hackers behind the viruses and malware have generally not targeted Macs but with the increasing popularity of Apple’s computers, things are changing very fast.
According to a report by BleepingComputer, Macs are seeing the most prolific year in malware attacks in 2015. For example, the report states that during the period between 2010-2014, there were about 180 instances where malware was discovered on Macs. The scenario has changed completely with a whopping 948 instances being reported in the 10 months of 2015 so far. That’s a 30 fold increase in malware attacks on Macs.
While the sudden increase in Mac attacks is pretty clear, not everyone claims that the scenario is as dangerous as someone using Windows. According to security analyst, Rich Mogull:
If you put all of the Mac malware that we’ve seen, and you combine those numbers for the history of OS X, basically it is less by a significant amount than the amount of Windows malware you will see in an hour.
The number of malware attacks may be smaller on Macs but every single piece of malware found on Apple devices has been significantly more dangerous than what’s regularly seen on Microsoft’s Windows OS.
At the end of the day, a rise in Malware attacks is certainly changing the perception of security in OSX. Users stand in far more danger as OSX does not provide any built-in security software like Windows and the users are under the impression that OSX is invulnerable without realizing that having security software has become more vital than ever for Apple users.
Go LINUX!
mac is unix based. So, no “go linux”.
although i am a Linux enthusiast, Macs are way ahead in desktop computing
Care to explain?
Linux as go to OS is only for enthusiasts, for everyone else Macs just works.
That’s why OSX is at 8% approx in market share while Linux is still at 1.8%.
And yes OSX is also based on UNIX (BSD-based) which makes it more rocksolid than Linux.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems
There are a few problems with your answer as it is full of assumptions. Mac is only for desktop users who are 90% of the time average Joe, people who don’t understand highly technical details of a computer. Linux and Microsoft cater to both Desktop and Enterprise users. Microsoft does better job of UI friendliness, plus it’s cheap and provides freedom, hence more people use Microsoft. Mac is used by people who appreciate design as well as money. Linux? Only enthusiasts and power users use Linux. People who want to control even the sensor readings of their laptops. On the server side market, Linux is run by 97% of the servers, I hope you know the reasons for this as well.
So you see? Comparison between Linux and Mac is useless.
u answered it yourself, windows, linux and macs can be compared, and yes if i have a choice between linux and macs, i’ll go with macs.
And for your info Mac OS X Server is for servers so your answer is invalid :P
Good for you if you want to go to Mac. BTW in my long career, I’ve yet to see enterprise machines running Mac Server, except @ Apple HQ obviously. :)
Good Day.
I’m a power user then :D I’ve started to love Linux due to its simplicity and speed as I have both Windows 10 Pro and Linux Mint 17. You will be amazed to know that Windows 10 takes 2-4 minutes from booting to desktop – not in hibernation mode – whereas Mint takes less than 30 seconds, ready for browsing!