So, Apple ships a bunch of iPods with a virus. And who do they blame?
We recently discovered that a small number – less than 1% – of the Video iPods available for purchase after September 12, 2006, left our contract manufacturer carrying the Windows RavMonE.exe virus. This known virus affects only Windows computers, and up to date anti-virus software which is included with most Windows computers should detect and remove it. So far we have seen less than 25 reports concerning this problem. The iPod nano, iPod shuffle and Mac OS X are not affected, and all Video iPods now shipping are virus free. As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it. [emphasis added]
Hey, Apple, you shipped it. Show some class.
Ed Bott 
I took that as being tongue in cheek; a bit light hearted.
Maybe that’s just me…
Yeah, the first 1,000 times or so I saw a comment like that come from Apple, I took it as being a little bit of light-hearted banter, but after that it wore thin and now just comes across as snidey.
It’s actually nothing more than a trick called reframing – Apple did something bad but reframed the problem to make is a Microsoft issue.
“As you might imagine, I am not surprised Apple would do such a thing and Microsoft > Apple.”
What ever happened to blaming the bad guys? You know, the ones who perpetrated the evil acts, the ones who wrote and released the virus?
Shame on Apple for their classless attempt to rationalize their stupid mistake. They know their products will be used with Windows machines, scanning for malware before release is just part of basic “safe computing” practices they failed to perform.
I’ve had my bad experiences with MS in the last 20+ years, but I am tired of people forgetting that it’s consumer demand for flexibility and legacy support, and badguys that put us in this state, not Microsoft.
As “The Computer Age” matured, consumers demanded new versions of MS products support their legacy hardware, software and data – forcing MS to weigh support of said legacy items over security. They demanded support for tens of 1000s of 3rd party software products and hardware add-ons – some 10 years old or older! And bad guys, many simply MS, Gates, USA, or Bush haters, (and terrorists?) set out to bring them down, for fun and/or mal-intent.
Let’s not forget that it is Apple’s long time insistence on a unflexible, locked down, proprietary, hardware and OS platforms that caused them to never have more than a few points in the market share! Hence their NEED to produce products (iPods) that now interface with Windows machines in order to survive as a company.
Sarcasm has absolutely no place in a press release or public warning. Apple blew it. Their hubris is like it was in the early 90’s—I find their arrogance about security absolutely infuriating…and I have been a Mac fantastic for 21 years.
Grow up , Apple.
The fact Apple tries to spin this into a Windows vs. Apple debate shows even their management treats computing as some sort of religious exercise.
And in related news, Choice Magazine nominated the Apple iPod as one of the country’s top ten shonkiest products. Reasons quoted include Apple’s after-sales support and product quality issues.
Choice Magazine is a publication for members, which reviews products and services for members and reports on consumer issues.
“So, Apple ships a bunch of iPods with a virus. And who do they blame?” I can’t understand why you used the word “bunch.” Apple said less than 1% and they weren’t kidding; there have been, as Apple said, less than 25 reports so far. Lets double check these numbers now: 8,729,000 iPods in this past fourth quarter alone , 25 out of 8,729,000 is .000286 percent of those iPods. If thats a “bunch,” I don’t know what to say. I’m not saying that Apple handled it right; rather I think Apple pulled a faux pas there. I just thought I’d point out the numbers.
Timothy,
Apple said it was “a small number – less than 1% of the Video iPods available for purchase after September 12.” So let’s say it was 1/2 of 1% and that the period in question lasted one month, during which they sold nearly 3 million iPods. By my back-of-the-envelope calculations that’s over
25,000(sorry, that should be 15,000) potential infections.It’s disingenuous for them to say they only received 25 reports. How many people never realized they were infected? How many more didn’t realize the iPod was to blame and thought they got it from an e-mail message or from a website?
Sorry, but I think “a bunch” is valid.
None of this is surprising. Apple has been lacking any kind of class for a very long time.
As a developer, I often consider doing some things on the Mac, but the constant semi-religious jihad against Windows is simply nauseating. I don’t want anything to do with that community.
I transcribed some of a video shown at Apple’s WWDC developer conference here: http://renegademinds.com/Default.aspx?tabid=60&mid=415&ctl=ViewEntry&EntryID=56
It’s insulting to everyone that develops software for Windows. The implication in it is that Windows developers cannot produce anything that works right. Does that make me want to “switch”? Heck no.
And talk about “getting it”? Apple doesn’t get it. As developers we just want to make cool stuff. As users, we just want stuff to work. Nobody is interested in a holy crusade. Well, except Apple and their cult followers. (There are Mac developers out there that don’t buy into it. Some are friends of mine. Don’t get me wrong like I’m trying to blame “all” of them.)
Maybe someday Apple will show a little bit of class, but I don’t see that coming anytime soon.
This is bad bad news for companies’ security. The threat endpoint devices pose is pretty scurry! GFI just issued an article in response to this Apple ipods shipping out with malware issue… it’s at: http://www.gfi.com/news/en/ipodvirus.htm – seems like threats are rising and keep on rising!
Here’s something funny. A few days before this virus outbreak was reported, there was a thread on the AppleMatters’ bulletin board, where someone asked (let me paraphrase) why are Mac users so snobby?
My response (by the handle “SterlingNorth”) was (paraphrasing again) that Apple cultivates it in such a way, by calling users of other OSes lemmings, or making repeated cheap shots (think WWDC), and that this is a signal for their users to take up the mantle of MS bashing. (Actually, I think I explained it better here, than I did over there.)
The very day they published that piece to the main site, the iPod virus story came out, and Apple went out and effectly proved my case for me. Apple makes a cheap shot at Windows, and then many, many Apple fans go out and defend Apple on their wording and bash Microsoft for Windows being susceptible to the virus on the iPod.
It was remarkable!