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'We think more people ought to buy them,' John Thompson told the Future in Review conference yesterday.

He described Windows as a 'target-rich' environment for malware writers and hackers, but warned that those same people might change their tack if Macs become more widespread.

'We shouldn't assume that any one technology at any layer is sufficient to protect our notion of a connected

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world,' he said.

However if any technology comes close, it is Mac OS X, at least according to technology consultant and former CEO of Mac product maker DVForge, Jack Campbell.

'Just over one-year ago, my company, DVForge, announced a $25,000 prize for the first virus developer who could infect two Powermac [sic] G5 computers located in our office,' he writes in his blog.

'Well, more than a year has passed. And, surprisingly (or not, to some of us), there is still not one self-replicating virus in the wild that attacks the Mac OS X operating system. That's right, folks... not one. Not the first. Ever. Never. Zero,' he says.

'When I announced the OS X Virus Contest, OS X had been on the market for four years, with still not one single in the wild virus. Now, it has been more than five years. And, guess what?... still not one in the wild virus!.'