Following yesterday’s news that a competition to infect two G5 PowerMac computers running Mac OS X with a virus had been shelved, the Mac community has reacted angrily to what it sees as a publicity stunt.
Yesterday SC reported DVForge had canned the $25,000 competition due to legal concerns and fears that the virus might actually be possible. But some industry watchers claim that DVForge CEO, Jack Campbell, was merely looking for publicity.
"This was nothing more than a publicity stunt," said one computing expert from a car manufacturer, in a letter to SC. "He is already well known by some in the Mac community as a publicity hound."
Web forums have dedicated much time over the last 24 hours to discussion about Campbell and DVForge and there are websites dedicated to detailing Campbell's alleged past activities.
Yesterday, a statement on Campbell's website openly criticized Symantec and "fear-breeding folks preying on the lack of knowledge about how viruses work" and claimed that the competition was merely a device to shame the company which suggested Mac OS X was increasingly being targeted by virus writers.SC attempted to contact Campbell, through DVForge and email, to question the competition's motives, but has, as yet, received no reply.
