Just a little update to the previous story. (courtesy of Ars Technica)

A couple days ago, when Apple posted its warning that some iPods were shipping with a known Windows virus on them, they made a jab, saying,

“As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses…”

Well, we knew that Microsoft wasn’t going to take that little quip from Apple lying down. Various security experts, some from outside Microsoft and some from within, have responded to the comment as expected:

That statement drew criticism from security experts, including Jonathan Poon, the man in charge of scanning Microsoft products for viruses before they ship.

“It’s not a matter of which platform the virus originated [on]. The fact that it’s found on the portable player means that there’s an issue with how the quality checks, specifically the content check, was done,” Poon wrote in a blog entry.

What kind of name is Poon anyway? Comanche Indian… (you’re welcome) Poon goes on to say:

This also indicates that through the manufacturing cycle, the base device from which the image was duplicated to the other devices in the manufacturing run, was connected to a PC that most probably did not have , and i quote their press release, “up to date anti-virus software which is included with most Windows computers”.

Then in a shocking turn of events, the QA director of Apple’s iPod division announced in a press conference that he is an alcoholic and is entering rehab, and when he was a young boy he was molested by a virus; in turn this caused him not install virus scan on any of his computers… Okay, I made that up but should be a good enough excuse seems to work for everyone else, why not the tech industry?

James “Randy” Abrams, who once held Poon’s job at Microsoft but is now director of technical education at ESET, added, “That Apple would blame Microsoft demonstrates a lack of understanding of remedial security and manufacturing processes. Virus was only a symptom of the problem. Apple didn’t know what they were shipping.” Oh snap.

Don’t forget Apple, the only reason you’re around today is because Microsoft / Bill Gates helped you when you were down. It could have been much different, you could be like Netscape, selling dial-up Internet service.

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