The iPod Virus: Apple Arrogance
Recently, there was an outbreak of E. Coli in the United States- bags of spinach across the country were recalled and the questionable spinach was traced to a region in California. How would you have felt if you had E. Coli poisoning- or worse, died- and all the farmer responsible said, “There is E. Coli in our spinach and we are really upset that human bodies are not more strong and healthy to protect against these things.”
That’s what Apple just did.
Historically, Apple has been an arrogant company and its user community has at times been snarky. We are an elitist minority and usually, we like it that way. We claim that Macs are better and safer and so much cooler, so we are not being arrogant. We’re just giving you the truth.
Apple users can do what they like, but this is my message to the Apple corporation: Stop it. You have gone too far.
In September, an undisclosed number of Video iPods were sold with a Windows virus called RavMon.exe on them. This is a serious issue and one that should be dealt with swiftly and effectively. These things happen and the way to separate the great companies from the bad ones is to see how they respond.
Apple’s response was terrible. They said:
As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses
I’m sorry we broke in to your house, they say. You should have stronger locks.
There isn’t a hint of an apology on their page disclosing the issue, only an aloof sense surprise that people actually use Windows.
Wake up, Apple- your biggest cash cow is the iPod and most of them are used by Windows users. Insult them all you like in the Mac ads, but your iPod users are Windows users. And you just sold them a virus for $400.
Now that I got that out of the way, let us try to deal with the issue of the virus. If you bought a Video iPod after the 12th of September this year, you may have been sold a virus. I would recommend this free trial of McAfee anti virus which should deal with it. Make sure you run it with the iPod attached and scan any attached external drives. Then restore your iPod from iTunes (how to restore).
Apple has not yet disclosed a method of detecting whether your iPod is one of the problem iPods and I doubt they will, unless they smell a lawsuit. Public apologies, meaningful freebies and not being called a weakling is the least an infected paying customer should expect from a company like Apple. Right now, I feel embarrassed for being an Apple user and insulted for being an occasional Windows user.
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Comments
crap. that tirade would have been so much more awesome if i used the right quote. c’est la vie.
I just can not believe the hatred that emanates from this topic. Did the virus actually kill someone like the writer somehow suggests ? And did Apple C° then just laughed it away ?
We are talking here of a computervirus, not Hepatitis. No-one got hurt. Just need a free download-able programme. Don’t you see it’s a big joke, Apple getting infested with a virus by doing something totally contrary to their business, i.e. using windowPC’s. This stuff is just funny.
I guess you should read a bit more about the news in the world and turn your anger on real issues. There must be some issues in the US, I suspect.
Thank you Parallax and WAWA, my point exactly. You know, the more i read over the comments and article I would say that Apple mentioning Windows first and itself second was a complaint, but I really don’t think the order would have made a difference. One way or the other they would have been chastised.
Apple getting infested with a virus by doing something totally contrary to their business i.e. using windowPC’s—WAWA
The company under whose watch the virus originated would not have been Apple. Apple does not undertake actual manufacture of iPods but has contracts with companies to do this for them. It would be these companies who were using the virus-infected PCs.
I would say that Apple mentioning Windows first and itself second was a complaint, but I really don’t think the order would have made a difference.—Macster2
The point surely is that they shouldn’t have used this situation, where they have made a serious error and need to make amends, to have ANY SORT of go at MS, AT ALL.
It would still have been inappropriate to have reversed the sentence and slated MS *after* apologising. But to do so BEFORE they apologise is unbelievable.
I cannot agree that this is “funny”. If it were fiction on the Crazy Apple Rumours site then yes, it might be. But this is reality here, and it is a very serious thing to ship your hardware with a virus. Really, very, very serious indeed. Surely you can understand that.
The fact that this abomination of a press-release was sent out shows, at the least, that several high-up people in Apple have very skewed appreciation of what is appropriate, or indeed the seriousness of shipping viruses on your products.
I seriously hope that someone gets fired over this.
It is a joke. Something like the CEO of Lexus not getting on time for his presentation because his Citroën broke down.
What is not a joke, e.g. sending troops against the advice of your military leaders and against that of your own secret service (UK). Now get upset about that, get someone fired over that. This is a forum for people who happen to enjoy their computer. I’m not willing to read all this stuff, what do you want, a beheading ? Burn down the Apple building ?
Use your anger and your indignation for real problems.
And a light bulb appears
I seriously doubt that.
So stop blowing this issue out of proportion.
This is an all too common position for defending Apple. From exploding batteries to illegal stock back-dating to lawsuits against users of the word “pod”. And it would actually mean something if Mac users didn’t CONSTANTLY blow things out of proportion with Windows. “Don’t use Windows or your computer will blow up within 10 minutes of getting on the internet!! There are 15 million viruses on Windows!! PCs crash 5 times a day! Blue screen of death, blue screen of death!”
Criticizing Apple for delivering a virus to Windows users and then blaming it on Microsoft is a legitimate gripe.
I have plenty for “real problems”. But they are not applicable to this arena of discussion. Indeed I find your insinuation that I have no sense of what is important insulting. In fact as I see it, if one is to take the view that we should act in perfect perspective all the time, he should not be posting on this website. The fact is that we cannot spend our lives constantly railing against things that matter immensely. And those things that do matter immensely do not completely mitigate things that matter only somewhat. And we cannot let them, because it would drive us insane. (I ask what your life would be like if your life was ruled entirely by global perspective. Would you ever come to a website like this? Would you bother trying to build a career? You would have to devote yourself to the really important things entirely. Humans must compartmentalise their considerations into different arenas.
On a cosmic scale, with millions dying from AIDS in Africa, my mother’s life seems almost dispensable. But in my life, it is centrally important.
These two views, representing different “arenas” in which we operate, are not necessarily incompatible. And as humans we must view ourselves and life in a whole array of different scales.)
—-
Anyhoo. It is not a joke. If you had received a virus-laden ipod, had an unprotected windows pc and activated the virus (to achieve which we don’t yet know what would be required) you would feel very differently.
The fact that this abomination of a press-release was sent out shows, at the least, that several high-up people in Apple have very skewed appreciation of what is appropriate, or indeed the seriousness of shipping viruses on your products.
I seriously hope that someone gets fired over this.
I agree wholeheartedly, although I’m not sure someone should get fired. The cult and culture of Apple are to blame here, not any one individual - who would simply be a scapegoat.
I’ll ask another thing.
If the consideration that you outlined above, regarding the unjust, illegal and deceitful wars my and others’ countries are currently fighting in the middle east, was a valid one by which to discredit the statement that “what apple has done is importantly wrong”:
What would apple have to do that would be importantly wrong? Is there *anything at all* apple could do that would be importantly wrong? Does apple, simply a maker of computers, matter at all? Why are we all bothering to even read this?
It is fairly obvious that the proving of the answer “no” to the question 2 above does not prove that what apple has done is RIGHT.
All we have done is defined “importantly” as “impacting on world affairs that affect the safety and security of large swathes of the planet”. By which measure, very little matters and we might as all fucking well go and die.
Six hundred and fifty thousand, and all that.
By the way, not to sound arrogant but read that carefully as I wrote it in my philosophy-essay mode.
I agree wholeheartedly, although I’m not sure someone should get fired. The cult and culture of Apple are to blame here, not any one individual - who would simply be a scapegoat.—Beeblebrox
I feel that it would be constructive as it would send a clear message that what was said was inappropriate. If the culture is to blame, this seems a good opportunity to start to change it.
(To clarify: I agree that components of apple’s “culture” are to blame, and assert that this Incident reveals that this may have serious problematic effects. Dealing with such things seems a. critical and b. difficult. Perhaps firing is a little strong, but this needs to be addressed internally and I’m far from confident that it will be sufficiently. Bedtime.)
Indeed I find your insinuation that I have no sense of what is important insulting.
This is but a small glimpse of what it’s like to deal head-on with mindless cultists. Criticize Apple and suddenly you’ve lost all perspective in the world, you don’t care about AIDS or millions of people dying; and if you’re REALLY lucky, you get treated to dime-store psychobabble about how you were bullied or raped by a priest or something.
All of that inane bullshit, diversions, and smoke and mirrors to defend Apple from any and all criticism. That’s their idea of “perspective”.
All of that inane bullshit, diversions, and smoke and mirrors to defend Apple from any and all criticism. That’s their idea of “perspective”.
**~~~unproduct-iiive~~~**
@ Ben Hall
Wrong, would have been if they did it on purpose to highlight the windows-viruses link.
I would find it totally wrong if they used their money not on research to make a better product but on lawyers in order not to abide to EU regulations.
Again, I can understand customers are getting angry over buying a virus, but even if we discuss this in a closed computer-idiot-centric matter I fail to see why all that anger is good for.
When thousands of people die, and I bump my head it’s my pain and it will be the most important event at that very moment. Still, I will not go on a forum to complain that the world news did not pay any attention to my personal pain. It is not the complaining I’m objecting, is the vehemence with which they are formulated.