Displaying items by tag: Java

In another installment of our “and that is why you fail” byline we come to the small dispute between Google and Oracle. On the table is not if Google use Java APIs or not, but the basic question of “are Java APIs free to use for development?” This issue is a huge one as a Google loss could set precedent for Oracle to go after ANYONE that is using the Java API without paying royalties to Oracle for their use.

Well, well, well… although we have been saying it ever since the first Macs with Intel CPUs rolled off the lines in the Foxconn factories in China it seems like the world is finally realizing that the Mac IS a PC just running a different OS. The first kick in the head was delivered when the Flashback Malware hit the streets in the form of a fake flash installer which made any infected Mac part of a global botnet.

Once upon a time Apple’s CEO and PR department constructed a mythology around the computers and devices that they sold. This mythology was needed to compete in the market and at the time was very good for business (even if it was less than honest). The mythology in question was that Apple products were somehow manufactured differently (or better) and that they were unable to become infected with malicious code that we all have come to know and loathe; the computer virus.

There is nothing like a botnet to remind us all that there is truly no such thing as a “secure” operating system. For years Apple presented the Mac as impervious to viruses and Malware. They had commercials stating “Macs do not get viruses” and continued this mythology despite many Java, Flash and other attacks that existed in the wild. The fact that many of these were centered on pirated software or required user interaction did not deter the myth. Now with Flashback things have gotten very real very quickly.