Reader Comments

Wasn't this already discussed in the last article? It wasn't grammatically dubious, and I don't think it's unreasonable for Apple to make sure that people understand that the virus only runs on Windows and was, in fact, originated from an infected Windows machine. There's no way around that. Apple didn't try to deflect any blame here; they specifically mention their own fault for not catching the virus on the assembly line. But they do point out the obvious--that the infection occurred because of Windows and its alarming susceptibility to viruses. Microsoft is, after all, the company that releases IE7 one day, and the next, we're already seeing security vulnerabilities announced for it: http://secunia.com/Internet_Explorer_Arbitrary_Content_Disclosure_Vulnerability_Test/ Apple also has jabs on its website toward the fact Windows doesn't support EFI, while Boot Camp enables BIOS emulation and makes it so the Mac "runs in both centuries," to quote the site, so this is nothing new for them. Microsoft has said similar things about Linux (even calling Open Source a "cancer"). It's just part of business.

Paul used the perfect word for it: childish. When you consider that almost every company under the sun uses Windows, and that therefore almost all similar QC problems from all of those companies came from a Windows machine, Apple stands alone blaming Microsoft. At the same time, I think Apple is, though quite annoying in this regard, still business savvy. They've found something that works for them and their customers, and they're sticking with it. If Apple consumers love to hate Windows, Steve Jobs certainly has no reason to change course, even if it would be the grown up thing to do.

No Preseton, the infection did NOT occur "because of Windows." It occurred because Apple, who should be employing hundreds of tech engineers to provide quality control, failed to do so adequately. It happened through Windows. Just like murders occur through the use of a weapon. Murders don't happen "because of weapons," they happen because of murderers. The line of thought you mentioned was probably exactly the same one adopted by the execs at Apple who released the statement, and it's indicative of people who can't look at themselves, their company, their products, and their competitors in a reasonable way.

And, just to preempt the mild inconsistency in my posts: I think that Apple's culture is unreasonable, but they have learned through experience that such an approach works for their customers. In a vicious cycle, the two feed off each other, so that I'm sure many of the people working at Apple believe their animosity toward Microsoft is well founded, in part because it makes so much money.

"If Apple consumers love to hate Windows, Steve Jobs certainly has no reason to change course, even if it would be the grown up thing to do." Exactly. It's what Apple's customers want and not surprisingly, Apple is only too happy to cooperate.

Tom275, you hit the nail right on the head. As someone else has mentioned before, it is the iTude that is prevelant through all of Apple, and all of the iPeople that drink the Kool-Aid from Cupertino. And if they were to really concentrate on the business market, they would need to immediately drop this attitude. Outside of what Ballmer or Jobs may say out of their collective ar*es, official written knowledge base articles should not be worded in such a way. And, how about actually providing some reasonable information on how to remove the virus? The site gives links to various trials, but does not give any specific information on what to do. When Sony did the same thing (albeit they did it on purpose), they got a lot of much needed flak, and responded with proper information on what to do. Apple has not done that. This is one of those situations where it is not acceptable for a LOB PC to be infected in such a way. This is not some general workstation that is used by a user, but it should be a locked down PC that can only do specific tasks, and up to date with patches and virus software, which it obviously was not. Most likely, it was a PC that was also used by staff to surf the 'net. Given the typical factory floor, I'm sure the types of sites that they were going to were probably not the PG rated sites that would be deemed NSFW in a typical office. Any tool can be misused. Just like when a manufacturer issues a recall, they don't blame the manufacturer of the part, or the manufacturer of the robot that made it, but they explain the problem, and provide a resolution. And the constant blathering about how much more secure the Mac is going to bite them one day, if they ever do realize that increased market share. Once again, scroll down to figure six for some interesting analysis: http://blogs.technet.com/security/archive/2006/10/17/2006-january-through-september-vulnerability-trends.aspx

What should be most embarrassing for Apple is the fact that they were even using a Windows PC. What’s wrong with using OS-X for this critical part of the manufacturing process? But the blame falls squarely on Apple for choosing to use Windows in the first place, and then for ignorance or laxity in pursuing the security rigmarole that is sadly necessary with Windows.

I'm giving this another bad rating because this is basically the same exact article we read yesterday. That's the only two bad ratings I've given you this year Paul, both in the same week. Okay, rbaronaz- The manufacturer is not Apple, let's all get that straight. Therefore, they have their own choice in what OS they want to use at their company. Windows is probably much cheaper for them, who knows. But there is no embarrassment in the fact that a manufacturing plant uses a competitor's product. That's going on all across the world between thousands of companies, get a clue people. The fact that this virus only affects Windows based PC's is where Microsoft gave Apple the opportunity to take another shot at Windows... It's no different than their commercials, which frankly are funny and have some truth to them. Yes, it is avoiding the problem in this case...in some ways. But in some ways there is truth to what Apple said. People who ignore the fact that Mac users were totally not affected and only Windows users are have been drinking too much MS Kool-Aid themselves. Paul... John Poon isn't going to have anything good to say about Apple, and it's not like he's some critical analyst from the Wall Street Journal. He's a Microsoft employee, absolute bias. Randy Abrams is commenting on it as many of us did yesterday. How many people traded oppinions on this issue? How is that a news story? This would have never made headlines if: 1, it hadn't come from Apple and... 2, Apple did go out on a limb to blame MS. Any other small virus (it only affects less than 1% of iPods produced there) would have done good to make Microsoft's to-do list this month in a security update. In other words, this is all a bunch of hype. I'll catch the rest of you when we get some real news.

"Wasn't this already discussed in the last article? It wasn't grammatically dubious" Actually it was incorrect grammar. But that couldn't be more irrelevant (not irrelaventer). What is important is that Apple seems to have gone the route of political mudslinging. Let's not talk about issues, let's just insinuate and make false apologies. This is just as bad as the Mark Foley thing. I was molested therefore I shouldn't be responsible for my behavior? Please. And for all the people here who seem to think Mac = Democrat and Windows = Republican, I'm a Democrat who likes Windows the best of all OSes I've ever used. So please stop making this a political thing. This issue is entirely about Apple making cheap shots and being irresponsible. And for that they can go suck on an egg.

hmmm.. They use Windows (98/2000 or XP-SP1 perhaps) and Norton Antivirus maybe :) But all joking aside, Apple did drop the ball here. As a software developer I can't blame the user for bugs in my software. So apple can't blame windows for bugs in their quality control. That said.. I guess the person in charge will get a Mac tomorrow.. :)

"This would have never made headlines if: 1, it hadn't come from Apple and... 2, Apple did go out on a limb to blame MS." You're right Derek. It wouldn't have made the news. Exactly like the identical (though less childish) story about McDonalds sending out MP3 players in Japan with viruses on them, never made the news. Oh wait, it did. Boy doesn't that make you seem like a silly little schmuck. And of course John Poon isn't going to say anything good about a competitor company that's trying to divert blame towards something that should never have happened. That doesn't mean he isn't right... And yes, their commercials are funny. I laugh every time I see them. They also have some truth to them, the keyword here being... "Some". You know Mac's are good for everything, and PC's are only good for spreadsheets and Powerpoint presentations... I mean a lot more games are supported by PC's than Mac's but these days, who are playing computer games anyway? The news story here isn't that Apple sent out iPod's with viruses on them. It's that Apple is trying to hide their own incompetency by blaming the fault on someone else. It doesn't matter if it's Microsoft or someone else. They pooped their pants, take some frigging responsibility. I'm not a fan of McDonalds, but kudos to them for cleaning up the mess they made. When I read the "Press statement" I couldn't believe I was actually on their official website. The way it was worded it sounded like a 16 year old blogger who was upset at his parents. There's only one way to sum this story up; Childish.

"What is important is that Apple seems to have gone the route of political mudslinging. Let's not talk about issues, let's just insinuate and make false apologies." You are right about some things there Orion. Yet, Apple actually did talk about the issues. They came straight forward and addressed the fact that the problem has to do with their own iPods, and their own manufacturing plant. They also addressed the fact that less than 25 people actually had a problem, and that the virus was so null that it wasn't dangerous and could easily be caught by an anti-virus protection scan. Honestly, there isn't much more to it than that. That pretty much is the issue, and where everyone stands with it. Apple made a point to address to Windows users the fact that this virus only affects their system and not macs. They have every right to do that, and they are not incorrect about that. For once maybe people should look past getting technical with the press, and realize the point Apple was making about Windows in general. When someone ships a product with a virus on it that only affects OS X.... I'm sure all of you will not blame Apple's operating system will you? Amazing how easily one can put this into different perspective.

"It doesn't matter if it's Microsoft or someone else. They pooped their pants, take some frigging responsibility." They did take responsibility, perhaps you didn't really read the press statement. And while I find the new Apple commercials better than the Think Different campaign years ago, I wouldn't want anyone to think I take them all too seriously. What makes them funny is the fact that they're drooling with sarcasm. Tell you what then, we'll sit and wait. We'll wait for this to happen with Zune and see how Microsoft reacts. How's that sound? I'm sure we won't see Microsoft try to blame anyone else when that happens (which I wouldn't doubt it happening in the future at some point in time). In fact, Microsoft will probably come out and say "sorry guys but we suck." The reason I argue the way I do about this, is because it is similar to what already happened this summer when Apple blamed Sony for manufacturing faulty batteries. Not the same, but similar. Most people have qualms about this because the blame was directly deverted towards Microsoft's operating system this time, instead of someone else like Sony. While I'm not in dissagreement with you on much of what you said, I'll be sure to bring this up at a later time when appropriate.

This is exactly why I rarely ever purchase and limit my exposure to Apple or their products. Its clear that Steve Jobs childish nature from the late 1970s, still is ever present throughout the company. Anytime something goes wrong or a new product line is introduced, they go down to slander and idiotic commericals. Micrsoft so far has taken the high road and I commend them for that. Apple doesn't realize that most people get offended when they use such cheap melodramatic statements just to appease a small niche market. With the potential of Apple, its product lines and its operating system, they could be so much more if they would just cut to the point. The whole slandering Microsoft is really getting old and pretty much keeps me from doing more business. I feel other cultures where how you present yourself are also hindered by the blatent arrogant "typical American" attitude that Apple seems to reak. This kind of behavior is discussed in fundamental business courses at any local college. Perhaps Steve Jobs and company might want to take courses and reach a more adult standard.

Partial responsibility. Instead of being "upset at Windows" maybe they should be "upset" at the person who forgot to install Anti-Virus on the computer they used to image the iPods, or maybe even be upset at the person who infected the computer to begin with. RavMonE.exe isn't even something that spreads through a known vulnerability, but rather an .exe that has to be executed for the virus to spread. Maybe we should all be a little upset at autorun.inf and it's implementation in Windows, it's not exactly the greatest invention to ever come out of Microsoft, but that doesn't excuse a multi-billion dollar company like Apple to skimp on their security. Well I wouldn't say it was that similar to what happened with the batteries and Sony. Sony delivered a product to Apple, which Apple again incorporated into their product. In such a case you expect the product to be of sufficient quality for something like that not to happen. In the case of the iPod's, Microsoft did not deliver any product to Apple nor did they have any part in the process of imaging the file or setting up the computer that was used to do so. If Sony batteries were "flawless", and it was rather the circuit design of Apple that made the notebooks catch on fire then it would be a more similar case. In such a case criticizing Sony for their batteries would be just as bad as criticizing Microsoft. However, eventhough Apple's circuitry maybe wasn't as bulletproof as it could have been, the problem did originate in the batteries being faulty. Hence "blame" should be (at least partially) sent towards Sony. For me it doesn't matter who did what. think I'd still have the same stance if roles were reversed and Apple were blamed by Microsoft for something that was completely and utterly Microsoft's responsibility. If they Microsoft pooped their pants, they better damned well take responsibility for it too. I do urge you however to bring it up at a later point, when and where appropriate

"They came straight forward and addressed the fact that the problem has to do with their own iPods, and their own manufacturing plant." Well if they came out and said, "the problem is on Creative's player and in Creative's plants" the iPeople would probably have gone along their merry way in fantasy land where Apple does no wrong. "When someone ships a product with a virus on it that only affects OS X.... I'm sure all of you will not blame Apple's operating system will you?" No, we won't actually. It wouldn't be Apple's fault, it would be the fault of the shipping company. And as everyone else has already stated, the current issue is that Apple made a mistake and are trying to lay the blame on someone else. "it is similar to what already happened this summer when Apple blamed Sony for manufacturing faulty batteries. Not the same, but similar." Actually it's very little to do with that. In that case Sony was at fault, but what happened was that iPeople used the opportunity to put down the the wintel world by saying only Dell laptops were blowing up. In the meantime we in the wintel world pointed out that actually Apple laptops were exploding as well, something that iFanboys covered their ears and shouted "la la la" at. What I do agree with though Derek is that this article still gets a low rating. It's yesterdays news, something Thurrot seems to be delivering a lot of lately.

I agree with the previous point about the Sony battery issue not being on the same level as the virus issue. The Sony issue has to do with a safety recall. Because it has to do with customer safety, the investigation into Sony's battery manufacturing process was justified. All of the notebook makers did take a major portion of the blame too, rather than pointing the finger first. Apple is leveraging a (theoretical, although possibly intentional) flaw in their own manufacturing QA process to generate a PR campaign and further their own business, nothing more. Whether you believe it's a fault of Apple or not, it IS Apple's partner and Apple is to blame for releasing a product without proper QA (quality assurance) checks before stamping their name on it. BTW: I like that term: "iTude". Fitting.

>DerekTraver "the virus was so null that it wasn't dangerous and could easily be caught by an anti-virus protection scan" So, why didn't the manufacturing plant do that? You insist it was the plant -not Apple- that made the error here, whereas actually, it could just as easily be Apple, as surely it would be Apple that would provide the software to the plant to put on the iPods? In a case like this, you have to examine the procedure from start to finish - look at where the software originated from, and all the systems it may have 'passed through' to make it onto the iPod. All of those systems - including those at Apple, should be checked, and the question of why it wasn't spotted in advance is JUST as important as how it was dealt with afterwards. I'm not crying foul over Apple for taking pot-shots at the competition, companies do so all the time, but a couple of questions remain unanswered, like - did Apple conduct a review to find out how this happened? What will they do to stop this happening again? Ultimately, in ANY kind of situation where your quality control has been comprimised - any company that really wants to show that it cares about it's customers would go into _overdrive_ dealing with the problem. Posting a few links to anti-virus vendors is doing the bare minimum.