Why No Mac Viruses?

Frank Steele on classic Mac OS viruses:

The Mac environment wasn’t always virus-free.

Once upon a time, I ran a few public-access labs at my university. These labs suffered several virus outbreaks, most notably catching WDEF before it was discovered in 1989. We also would occasionally see MDEF, nVIR, and Scores. The Mac’s market share then was a little higher — a little under 10 percent, versus 5 or 6 percent today — but it was still a minority platform, with the great majority of computers running DOS or Windows.

★ Monday, 20 November 2006