Is that what Microsoft's thinking?

by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2006/07/28 13:33 -04:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2006/07/28/681698.aspx

Some people seem to think that this is what Microsoft is thinking when the issue of those new ads from Apple comes up.

I love the subtlety of that last panel. :-)

I don't know why people would think MS would be hostle to new Intel hardware entering the market. They make money no matter what hardware the software runs on as long as it's licensed, and there's always been a number of Mac users running Windows. The only change is that now they can run it on real hardware in addition to virtual hardware. It's PC system builders that would have more to lose from increased Mac sales, but there are many reasons why they won't take a significant hit.

RE: The Exploit Story (from the ads/comic)
I've said since the announcement of OS X that because large portions of Apple's codebase shares code with most OSS *n*x projects, they are/will be subject to many of the same vulnerabilities. This was subsequently proven. Common hardware architecture also decreases the previous barrier to entry. Wheras exploit coders may have had to choose between Mac and PC previously, they can now run all major OSes on one hardware architecture just as regular users can. Windows will continue to be a larger target for some time due to its wide distribution, but OS X is now a more tempting target as well and will likely be considered more often in almost direct proportion to the growth of its installed base. In some cases, it may even be a free bonus for the exploit coder due to previously mentioned commonalities. Successful exploitation on any platform is just a matter of the proactive and reactive steps (or lack thereof) taken by the OS vendor and the end-user.