John Gruber, over at Daring Fireball, wonders why there’s no malware for the Mac. I think they’re mostly there with the reasoning, but they’ve missed a bit.
The reason malware can function so successfully on Windows is because they’re so damn much of it. Just like diseases that infect humans, there’s a vast range and our antibody system has to be appropriately complex to deal with it. Virus checkers in windows are pretty complex beasties, and they still only spot 40% of malware. In effect there is a strong network effect on that platform, encouraging others to join the happy malware ecosystem.
Writing malware for a Mac, right now, would be a no-win situation. You’d get slapped down so hard you’d probably end up not only with your virus failing to work, but there’d be a worldwide hunt by the mac community to find you.
Being the first virus writer for the Mac has absolutely zero benefits.
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