Apple co-founder Steve “Woz” Wozniak touted the Mac and the loyalty of Mac users during his keynote speech before the Apple CIDER user group on Wednesday, Sept. 10. He was on hand to help the group, which serves western New York, celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Wozniak said that one of the reasons that Apple has such a loyal following is the absence of viruses, such as SoBig, that have plagued the Wintel world, according to a Democrat and Chronicle article. Another is that PC owners may have computers that do all they need them to do, but they don’t “love” those systems.
“But we (Mac users) are passionate,” Wozniak said. “It’s very similar to Harley-Davidson. So many people will only buy a Harley-Davidson. It’s already pre-decided and it has nothing to do with what the specs of a Harley are. And to keep that brand loyalty, Apple is doing a good job of differentiating their products with style and early features.”
However, Woz prefers Mac OS 9 over Mac OS X.
“If you wanted to have servers and not be subjected to viruses, I have one suggestion: Mac OS 9,” Wozniak said. “I run all my servers and keep them on Mac OS 9. I have never had a firewall, and I have never been hit in all these years, even though I appear on TV shows with other hackers and the like. I’d be a prime target, and they have not hit any of my machines.”