Great news, everyone! As we all know, as much as we love our platform, there's no denying that the Mac lags behind Windows when it comes to availability of certain types of software-- such as games, uninstallers, and (perhaps most visibly) havoc-wreaking viruses. Well, in that last category, at least, things apparently aren't quite as dire as we imagined, since Sophos (a firm describing itself as "a world leader in anti-virus protection for businesses") has compiled a list of every single virus reported to its customer support department since New Year's Day, and claims that an honest-to-evilness Mac virus actually pulled in at a respectable 78th place, representing 0.16% of all reports. 78th?! Woo-hoo!! Who says the Mac has no viruses?

Now, while it's true that none of the top ten viruses (or, indeed, the top 77) was capable of infecting Macs, we're actually stunned by the Mac's 78th-place finish; we'd have expected a far worse showing, based on anecdotal evidence-- e.g., your friendly neighborhood AtAT staff has been using oodles of Macs for a decade and none of them has ever caught so much as a sniffle. Oh, wait-- we take that back. When one of us worked in a mixed-platform company that standardized on Office, we saw plenty of Macs infected with Word macro viruses caught from the Wintels. Suppose that's what Sophos is talking about with its magic Number 78, which goes unnamed in the article itself? Personally, we don't count Microsoft macro viruses as actual "Mac viruses," since you'd need to be running Office to be infected, although it sure was nice of Microsoft to try to throw us a bone by making a bunch of its viruses compatible with Office for the Mac.

In a real show of diplomacy, Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley does his best to avoid making the Mac look like a second-class citizen in the world of viruses by insisting that "a Mac has no more inherent security when it comes to malware than a PC." While that's kind of him to say, maybe it's just us, but since the vast majority of modern Windows viruses propagate by means of exploiting holes in Windows and Outlook to email themselves to everyone in the infected user's address book, we'd consider the lack of a Microsoft-developed default email client on the Mac to be an "inherent security advantage." Still, it was a nice gesture.

Cluley goes on to say that "despite their cool designer looks, Apple Macs are failing to capture interest amongst the counter-culture which writes viruses." Meaning, it's all Jonathan Ive's fault. If we as a community ever want to achieve Virus Parity with Windows, it's up to the Ivester to design a Mac enclosure which draws the malware developers in droves. (Come on, Jon-- we're counting on you!) Meanwhile, Cluley also insists that "Mac users shouldn't think it's okay to lie back on their laurels and not worry about viruses-- they do exist for Mac computers, and do infect systems on a daily basis." Thanks for the vote of confidence, Graham! Some pessimists might think you were just trying to drum up some business among newly-spooked Mac users, but we understand that your comments are all about the love.