More blame game

[greatbear]

This sort of thing makes me chuckle and shake my head at the same time. In a case filled with metric tons of irony, it seems that Apple has accidently shipped a fair number of iPods with an extra bonus, a Windows virus, "RavMonE". It seems that the virus originated from a production line Windows PC which is most likely used during the formatting and setup of the iPods. That Apple's iconic device needing PCs during their creation isn't enough to jump the snark, lo and behold an Apple spokesman takes this time to dig at Windows' inherent security weaknesses:

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company apologized on its Web site for the problem, but also used the opportunity to jab at Microsoft, its operating system rival.

"As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it," Apple said on its site.

Lame, lame, lame. While I will be the first to agree with claims that Windows is a veritable culture dish when it comes to viruses, to blame the OS for becoming infected and passing it's payload into product is akin to Republicans constantly blaming Clinton for everything they do wrong. First of all, steps should be put in place to prevent malware infections. This is SOP for any respectable company using platform computers in manufacturing settings. Also, give some courtesy where it is due. The iPod owes it's bewildering success to PC users. It's generally known that the iPod is primarily a Windows device, Apple itself recognizes this fact. Add to that the iPod being the first Apple-branded item that most of their owners have purchased, windfall sales of Apple computers and other items to PC users benefit Apple immensely these days and have practically saved the company from being the next Commodore.

You dont bite the hand that feeds you. Admit you made a mistake, make good on your promises to deliver a quality product and perhaps even use this as a learning experience and not a chance to shove off your responsibilities on others. Otherwise, the spotlight ends up shining instead on poor quality control on your part.

Reactions from Microsoft and security experts were in this same vein. Ironically, McDonalds (yes, the hamburger people) ran into almost the exact same scenario only recently when a MP3 player given away to Japanese customers as part of some promotion also contained a virus, presumably infected in a similar fashion. McDonalds immediately sent out a link to a website hosting a solution to fix any problems with the device. McDonalds! Not who immediately pops in one's mind when it comes to computer perpherals and containing malware, but they did the right thing and did it immediately.

Okay, back to transferring more music onto my iPod. From my PC.

Comments

It is worse than that!

[beartech420.livejournal.com]

Eons and Eons ago when I worked at Digital Equipment Corporation. All of our minicomputer we used in manufacturing of course were DEC minis. At one point we purchased a testing machine from a vendor which had a Data General mini computer running it. The management took off the Data General front panel and put a Dec pdp-11 front panel over it.

You would figure that in all of the Apple manufacturing they would be doing it with their own Apple computers!
I mean what does it say that Apple doesn't use it's own computers at Apple!
It says that Apple computers are not as flexible as PCs.
best regards,
pete

[danlmarmot.livejournal.com]

Well, a few things are in order. The company making iPods (which isn't Apple) obviously has the problem, and not necessarily Apple.

Second, Apple does have a problem in that it hasn't impressed on its manufacturers how to QA their hardware. I guarantee you that every single bit of Microsoft hardware and software has been virus scanned up the yingyang, as well as being thoroughly scanned for things like offensive words ("nigger", "abo"), politially sensitive terms ("Taiwan", "Macedonia"), and bad words ("TODO:", "hack").

Still, I'm not really all that surprised. The iPod runs an OS with its roots in the PC (and mobile phone!) world, and the native iPod software has nothing in common with the MacOS. Small wonder that this hasn't happened before.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

True, it's Foxconn who is contracted to make the iPods, they are the ones ultimately who screwed up. In this age of farmed-out manufacturing though, what the contractor does ultimately reflects upon the company who's name is on the product. Foxconn had put Apple in some ethical hot water a while back with accusations of bad labor practices. Ultimately, having a company mouthpiece pointing fingers at Microsoft despite owning up to their own QC shortcomings tie the incident directly to Apple in the public's eyes. Bad form, plain and simple.

Look at the humongous dustup regarding laptop battery recalls. Originally Dell, then Toshiba, Hitachi, Apple and a couple others involving countless thousands or battery assemblies recalled due to faulty cells made by Sony. Finally Sony themselves recalled batteries used in their own laptop products. The various companies had been lucky enough to deflect their resulting PR gaffes to Sony while making good with their own customer service. I have two digital cameras which were affected by defective CCD sensors all stemming from a substandard sensor package design that came from Sony. My two cameras are two brands (Olympus and Canon) not normally associated with one another much less Sony. The faulty sensors affected dozens of makes, including Sony. All have made good on repairing the cameras even beyond their warranty periods. Again, here are companies trying to make good from a bad situation.

Wired News has a good article on the beginnings of Apple's iPod and how it came to rule the (mp3 player) world.

[cpj.livejournal.com]

The problem relates to scale. Foxconn sells the iPods in bulk to Apple, and they don't have to feel the impact of the .1% virus rate the same way Apple does.

That's because Apple can't easily change vendors on the fly. Foxconn may offer a discount, or throw in more quality control, but they're basically getting a slap on the wrist.

Ironically, it would be even more humorous if it turned out that FoxConn isn't using any properly licensed copies of Windows when they build these drives. You know, foreign companies mixed in with software piracy and all.

[cpj.livejournal.com]

The iPod runs an OS with its roots in the PC

I always wondered about the OS side of things. With the other miniturization stuff I've seen, plus all of that old Newton code sitting in a vault, I wonder if Apple is working on a handheld OS of their own.

They make a surprising effort to try to give everything the Mac Aqua look and feel, right down to the credit card signature tablets in their stores.

[danlmarmot.livejournal.com]

Heh, oh god no--the iPod was a crash project and was done outside of Apple's mainstream product development. The OS came from Pixo who did embedded software for cell phones. iTunes was purchased from Casady & Greene, a small company that did Mac software. AAC was lifted from Japan's original HDTV project.

[teddyb.livejournal.com]

I'm a big Apple fan, having used the company's products for over 2 decades now, and I am generally very supportive of Apple.

But I think you called this one right. Apple's response to this was pretty lame.

I'm disappointed in them.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I've always admired Apple's products despite not owninga Mac personally (I'm a hardware guy and like building computers. Can't do that with a Mac). Robust and innovative industrial design, top notch useability, quality, etc. Apple's 'problem' lately is that they are seen by so many as a company that stands above all others with their values and slogans as well as their products, so a relatively minor incident like this is scrutinized against the high expectations people have for the company. It stands out like scratches on a shiny iPod.

I am still supportive of Apple and their products. It's still my intention to buy a Mac someday soon. They just have to behave like the company people perceive them to be. After all, the company goes a long way to create that perception.

[md-mancub.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of surprised that the manufacturing line PC is networked. Shouldn't that PC be a stand-alone, isolated so as to prevent stuff like this? Then only upgrades would get placed on the computer, from a CD/DVD/memory stick, which would have been scanned before being loaded onto the computer.

This is how it works in my business, to try to prevent viruses/malware/etc from jumping from the Internet onto isolated networks.