We all know that Apple and Macs are the uber-secure computing environment of choice for anyone that’s interested in computing securely? PC’s on the other hand are like pre-schoolers in a daycare full of sick kids. They’re going to catch whatever virus and bug floating around the room before you can even realize you’re all out of graham crackers and Kool-aid. I mean finding a non-perfect Mac is like seeing a unicorn in your backyard isn’t it? That is the case right?

Edited screen shot of PC vs. Mac commercial

Perhaps not so much anymore. Viruses may have a notch on their Apple belt now that researchers with Symantec have discovered what could be the first Mac and OSX based zombie machines executing denial-of-service attacks on a network.

They describe this as the “first real attempt to create a Mac botnet” and notes that the zombie Macs are already being used for nefarious purposes.

The researchers pointed to this blog entry that describes a a PHP script, running as root, launching attacks against an unknown Web site.

I’m not a Mac hater, I just hate the blind zeal that most Mac supporters have for their systems and machines and the thought that they’re absolutely impervious to any malicious activity or problems with crashing. I do enjoy seeing news about a chink in Mac’s armor, shiny and white as it is.

I’ve been a self-taught, figure-it-out, just-do-it technology lover. I’m not sure when it was that I decided I loved working with computers. I remember having a TRS-80 that I would write little programs for and save them on the cassette deck. The programs were just a glorified screen saver, but they were pretty cool at the time. However, that didn’t really grab my attention.

Image Source: sxc.hu

In grade school I always enjoyed the limited time I was able to play on the Apple IIe and other computers we had available. I had a few friends with Commodore 64’s and Commodore 128’s, as well as getting my taste of compuer graphics with the Amiga we had in art class in high school. College gave me more exposure as well as my first class in computer science, which I quickly dropped after the first class covered how to turn on the machine.

So what is it about this thing called the computer that’s grabbed my world? Is it just the computer or has it been due to the Internet?

What do you love about these things? Is it the device itself that you enjoy and the different things it can be programmed to do, or is it just because it’s one of the easiest and most useful ways to connect to the World Wide Web.

Since you’re reading the “Computers” section of this website, what are you really interested in? One thing? Both things? or just about everything?

Let me know.

What a journey the last 25 years has been! Here is wishing Mac a very happy birthday.

The first Apple Macintosh was launched on Jan 18, 1984. It was the first commercially successful computer with a GUI and a mouse instead of CLI.

To the left is the first Mac and to the right, the latest.

Jef Raskin envisioned the first Mac and wanted to name it McIntosh, after his favorite type of Apple, but had to settle for Macintosh. That compromise allows us to call it a Mac.

One specialty of Mac is that Apple oversees all aspects of its hardware and pre-installs its own operating system (currently the Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard”) on all Macs. Macs have always been special like the Ford Mustang, something that everyone wishes to own, but few do because of their considerably higher pricing compared to the Windows PCs.

Macs are lauded for their user-friendliness, performance, aesthetics, and quality, like most other Apple products. Check out the Mac line and tell me if you find nothing mouth-watering.

Computeworld is featuring a special series on this occasion.

For all kinds of information about Macs, visit our sister blog The After Mac.

Image Source: Wikipedia.

First Juan was not excited about this year’s MacWorld. Then he worried about Steve Jobs’ hormone imbalance, which I must say is something only Apple lovers are capable of. Now, after watching MacWorld ‘09, he decides that Phil Schiller’s keynote was just fine.

Jason, celebrating his three-year anniversary at Microsoft Weblog, sees a surge in Zune’s popularity since the 30GB Zune owners started experiencing widespread failure and Microsoft subsequently updating them about its fix. He still wants to buy Zune, but do you recommend it?

Clair introduces us to a cool terminal user whom all lovers of CLI can follow on Twitter and Identi.ca, and teaches two techniques off adding watermark to your images.

Jayvee laments about the closing of Electronic Gaming Monthly and cheers the usage of Youtube by Ohio Police to solve a crime.

Milo lists 4 correct moves made by Microsoft in 2008 and reacts to 5 things that Steve wouldn’t tell about Windows 7.

Mice are small and warm and fit in our palms cozily. Some have three buttons, some have two and a wheel, some have three buttons where one of them is also a wheel. Some have only one ball, like Hitler, and some don’t even have that.

Computer mouse, the pointing device, celebrated its 40th birthday sometime during the last week. I wish it many many happy returns of the day.

In 1968, Doug Engelbart and his team at the Stanford Research Institute first created a carved wooden block mounted on wheels, with a long cable trailing out the back. Xerox developed the mouse during the 70’s and released the first commercial product in 1981. Apple acquired a license for the mouse and sold it along with the Apple Macintosh in 1984. Since then, mouse has been a default input method.

However, computers continued to be sold without mice even in the 90’s. I remember learning computers in school and they didn’t have mice. That was the time when Pac-man and Prince of Persia had been hot, but that is another story.

Mechanical mice ruled the roost until the late 90’s when Optical mice suddenly became household for being very durable though costlier. There have also been Intertia mice, 3D mice and Tactile mice but I’ve never seen any of these. Though not a different technology in handling sensitivity, Wireless mice are now slowly gaining popularity what with portability becoming essential.

While the popularity of touch-screen technology is rising like a storm, I think the mouse will continue to live longer.

Image Source: Marcin Wichary.

Image via WikipediaI always find it funny how many people don’t simply search Google for their answers. Half of my IT knowledge comes directly off of a Google search anyway. I’ve always said that “Google is my friend” and at least one other person agrees with me. What’s even more amazing is when people search Google and still choose to not listen to what the all-knowing brain says. Take for example a story I heard the other day…

A friend was trying to clean up his old Apple Mac computer. His hard drive was getting low on space (he only had a 20GB drive) so he went through to see what was taking up so much space. He happened upon the “System” directory. He knew that he have never used that directory before and he had also never saved anything into it. After a quick Google search on what the “System” folder was he decided is what not useful. How he could have came to the conclusion that is wasn’t helpful is beyond me. Needless to say, a reformat was in order.

Now I am not a Mac guy at heart. I don’t have an iPhone and my iPod is probably 27 generations behind but I know enough about the system that the “System” directory is necessary. I mean, would you touch your “Windows” directory on a PC? If you would, listen up now — DON’T DO IT! Within the top 5 Google responses for this search were:

• System Folder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• In Mac OS, what is the System Folder? - Knowledge Base
• Bombich.com: Recovering from a Blinking “?”
• Mac OS 9 - The Basics of the System Folder

All of these clearly explain what it is and what it does. They are written in fairly plain English so I expect most people should understand it. The next time you feel like cleaning house, check Google and listen to what it has to tell you. It’s most definitely smarter than your average IT guy.