Lest we forget, the iPhone X hasn’t shipped yet. Although the media had brief exposures to it at September’s Apple event — and perhaps a few selected tech journalists are quietly reviewing them — it’s not on sale. Even when it ships on November 3rd, rumors state that you’ll have trouble getting ahold of one for a while. No surprises there.

I realize the foregoing should be obvious, but that won’t stop the fear mongering about the potential horrors of Face ID. Some tech pundits clearly get off on discussing things they barely understand, expressing fear, uncertainty and plenty of doubt about a feature.

Particularly if it’s Apple’s feature.

So we have yet another article from a certain large tech news portal that starts with a balanced discussion about Face ID and the TrueDepth camera that powers the iPhone X’s biometrics, but soon goes off the rails.

But the problems really begin with the headline, “iPhone X: Sorry Apple, but I just can’t face using Face ID.”

I’ve been accused sometimes of using silly puns on my radio shows, but this is just a groaner. That said, any discussion of Face ID technology seems to almost transport you to a sci-fi world. It’s been described over and over in detail. Apple has a useful overview on Face ID that you’ll want to consult for more information.

So the blog in question quotes Apple’s security overview, that, “The probability that a random person in the population could look at your iPhone X and unlock it using Face ID is approximately 1 in 1,000,000 (versus 1 in 50,000 for Touch ID).”

That’s the promise, and I certainly can’t dispute the claim without evidence to the contrary.

At no time does the blogger actually provide facts that demonstrate that Face ID won’t work as advertised. The objections are speculative, based on someone who is clearly not using an iPhone.

All well and good, but the blogger makes it pretty clear that a fingerprint sensor is preferred compared to something he’s never tried. That leads to some assumptions that don’t appear to conform to what Apple has posted on the subject. So a little research beyond quoting a few tidbits from Apple would have helped.

Unless there’s an agenda.

So the blogger points out that other facial recognition schemes are “wanting.” I don’t dispute that. Take the Samsung Galaxy S8, which sports a sensor that was defeated early on with a digital photograph.

Let me parse this: He’s not using an iPhone, because the fingerprint sensors with which he’s familiar are on the sides or back. But he can manage the process so flexibly that he is capable of just reaching into his pocket and unlocking the fingerprint sensor as he pulls out his smartphone. He can accomplish the same task lifting it from his desk. A single operation lifting and immediately locating the correct spot for that side-mounted or rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.

A single operation!

Before I go on, readers, why not give it a try? Lift your iPhone or Android phone and unlock the fingerprint sensor at the same time. All right, maybe his fingers are more flexible than mine, or he’s practiced the maneuver so often that he can do it seamlessly. Clearly an iPhone, with Touch ID activated via the Home button wouldn’t work, but I can certainly reach over to my desk, place my thumb over the Home button, and unlock my iPhone. But lifting it requires a separate step.

Or maybe I just won’t understand where he’s going with that procedure.

In any case, his argument against Face ID is that, “I need to look at the phone before it opens.” Just as you need to touch the fingerprint sensor before smartphones so equipped open. All right.

Is this maneuver easier to accomplish with your fingers or your face? I put it to you!

I cannot begin to tell you how flexibly Face ID operates because I haven’t had the chance to try it. But I will when I have the opportunity. Then I will be able to tell you, with direct knowledge, how well it seems to work. I can speak knowledgeably on Touch ID, because I’ve been using iPhones with that feature for several years, and at no time can I pull one out of my pocket and, without some uncomfortable maneuvering, unlock it at the same time, perfectly, accurately.

So the problem here is that people with clumsy fingers, make that normal fingers and normal dexterity, may not be able to unlock their iPhones or Android phones in a single seamless maneuver. Bloggers who can are therefore fated to find Face ID to be less flexible.

After I wrote a piece about the latest effort to push antivirus software onto the storage devices of Mac users, I came across another story about security, only this one appears to be dealing with a factual issue. But even then the fears may be overblown, and what about other computing platforms where the potential issues are far worse?

As most of you know, there is a small piece of software that is run by your Mac when it’s first turned on. The latest technology is known as the Extensible Firmware Interface, EFI. It takes the Mac through a process where it identifies the hardware, makes sure there are no critical errors, such as bad RAM, and turns the startup chores over to the macOS.

Every so often, Apple will issue firmware patches to fix bugs or possibly to deal with potential vulnerabilities to security exploits. And there have been a few of those through the years. What’s more, there was a recent report about the firmware-based tools such intelligence agencies as the CIA might use to break into one of these computers.

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In the old days of the Mac, back in the 1980s and 1990s, the suggestion that they were immune to computer viruses would have been laughed at. It wasn’t nearly as bad as on the Windows platform, but you definitely needed to run antivirus software.

I learned that lesson the hard way in the late 1980s when, as the owner of a brand new Macintosh IIcx, I was in search of software. It wasn’t so easy in those days, as most computer stores had PC applications, MS-DOS aplenty, but if there was anything for the Mac at all, it occupied a single dusty shelf usually located in the rear of the store.

Well, one day I visited Egghead Software, a long-departed chain with an outlet in Edison, NJ, and I bought Pyro!, a screen saver from a well-recognized utility publisher of the time, Fifth Generation Systems. After installation, one of my apps, QuarkXPress, reported a corruption problem. Well, I downloaded some antivirus software, shareware, and gave my Mac a scan.

Sure enough, that screen saver was infected with a virus; I forget which. It was only a few days since I set up the Mac, and thus I hadn’t really done much real work on it. So I wiped the drive, reinstalled everything — except for that screen saver — and all was well. The antivirus software was known as Virus Detective, long since abandoned by its author.

Now I’m not at all sure where in the production or sales chain that utility app got infected. I returned it to the dealer, who gave it a moment’s attention and offered to exchange it or give me my money back. I took the latter route, and decided to take my business elsewhere. No reason to take chances.

Around 1990 or so, working at a prepress studio, we were processing client floppies to send output to a high-end phototypesetting machine which produced high resolution film or positives. The shop set up antivirus software on all our Macs, and we often ran into a so-called desktop virus known as WDEF. I joined the rest of the staff in gently explaining to our customers how to protect themselves from these things.

I continued to run antivirus software on my Macs until the Mac OS X era arrived in 2001. While it wasn’t advertised as free of malware, it was Unix-based and far more secure. Thus most outbreaks were more about social engineering. So you’d click a link in an email or on a site, or download and install something that contained the payload. If you were careful and avoided such traps, you would be all right.

Perhaps the worst outbreak occurred in 2012, involving a Trojan Horse known as BackDoor.Flashback, which infected Java. A lot has changed then, and Apple ended up letting Oracle, Java’s owner, handle the updates. It also meant that I opted to stay away from apps developed in this cross-platform environment wherever I could.

But it wasn’t always easy or apparent where I’d run across Java. So, for example, I still use an older version of Adobe Photoshop, version 12.1, part of CS 5.5 from 2011, partly because I’m not inclined to want to subscribe and pay forever to keep the latest versions running.

However, as many of you with newly-installed versions of macOS can testify, you also have to locate and install an old Java 6 update for Photoshop to launch. Wasn’t it supposed to be a native Mac app?

Well, anyway, I don’t run web apps or services that require Java anymore.

While there are occasional Mac malware outbreaks out there, I have yet to see the need to install antivirus software. You see, Apple provides its own level of basic malware protection, regularly updated. That’s one way Flashback was eradicated. Businesses who run both Macs and PCs may install security software on the former. But a main reason is that some Mac antivirus apps will guard against PC viruses too, so it protects you against an accidental cross-platform infection.

As a practical matter, a good way to avoid possible malware is to only download and install apps from the Mac App Store or from a recognized third-party publisher’s site. It’s not a good idea to just search at random for something cool, because something cool may contain something that’s not so cool. One app that has garnered plenty of complaints is MacKeeper, which offers to provide a host of cleanup and protection functions. But some feel it may cause more trouble than its worth, and it can be difficult to remove once it instills itself on your Mac.

One cleanup app that does do what it claims is Cocktail, which basically puts standard macOS cleanup, maintenance and repair functions in a pretty interface for easy access. It’s one of those added ounces of protection that you may never need, but it’s worth a try if your Mac suddenly seems to run a little too slowly for no discernible reason.

Otherwise, always be skeptical about emails claiming to be from a business or financial institution that you may patronize. It’s a common way to fool you into going to a bogus site and giving up your login information. If you get a message that there’s a problem with your account, it doesn’t hurt to just go to the firm’s site and login directly and check out the situation. Scam emails pretending to be from PayPal and large banks are all-to-common.

If you are careful about downloading stuff, and you watch out for bogus links in email, you’re likely to reduce or eliminate the need for installing security software. I mean, it probably doesn’t hurt to run one of those apps, except that the ones that offer automatic background scanning may also slow down your system or cause some instability. The Mac App Store has some free or low-cost antivirus apps that will do on-demand scanning, meaning you run them when you want, and otherwise they don’t do anything to impact performance.

You can’t possibly imagine the potential tragedy. With great fanfare, Apple introduces two new lines of iPhones. The first, the iPhone 8, is essentially an iterative update to the iPhone 7 with a glass backing and the usual faster parts. You almost think that, from here on, Apple has given up the “s” label for iPhone updates, and gone with full version numbers.

So maybe there will be an iPhone 9 next year? And will the iPhone X become iPhone X Series 2?

Regardless, Apple watchers paid close attention this past weekend for some evidence, any evidence, as to how sales may have fared. Last year, Apple didn’t report first weekend sales for the iPhone 7, and they followed suit this year. But the long lines that would normally snake around an Apple Store weren’t so long this time. You can get most any configuration you want within 1-3 business days from Apple’s site, and I’ll assume most dealers are able to fill demand without undue delays.

So what’s going on here? Did Apple misjudge demand and flood the channel, or was it just the proper combination of having enough supplies to serve customer needs? After all, Macs are doing pretty well, and recent model refreshes didn’t produce big backlogs.

But the horror stories have begun in earnest. Sales of the iPhone 8 are poor, as customers wait for the iPhone X, or maybe they’re all buying Samsungs or waiting for the results of Google’s acquisition of 2,000 staffers from HTC to develop new stuff.

There may be some clues later this month when Apple announces its September quarter financials, assuming there were enough sales of new gear to really flesh out the quarter. One expects that sales dropped ahead of the new model intros. After all, even if you really didn’t crave something all new, you can buy a legacy model for less once new gear is introduced. All good.

Well, one prominent industry analyst suggests that iPhone 8 sales are not slow at all. According to KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, iPhone 8 sales were in line with Apple’s expectations, whatever they were. The numbers are expected to build substantially once the iPhone X arrives. Of course, there are still reports that Apple is having big problems ramping up production, so it may well be that it’ll be hard to get one for a while.

Kuo writes, “While we acknowledge that queues outside SIM-free channels have been much shorter than after previous iPhone launches, we see stable first-weekend demand for the iPhone 8/8 Plus in carrier channels, most of those camping outside unlocked-device outlets are presumably hardcore Apple fans and heavy users, whose plan this year is to gear up for the iPhone X.”

In short, the people who are the most devoted to the latest and greatest gear from Apple are the ones most apt to show up at the stores to buy them as soon as they go on sale. But it’s iPhone X envy that kept some of them away.

I have to tell you that I used to do that too until I realized it was really foolish to waste my time, unless I had to meet a publishing deadline. Might as well order new iPhones online, and wait for it to show up at my front door, even if it took a week or two to get there. You can call me lazy, but I suspect most people would prefer to simplify their lives, and they will buy new gadgets in the way that’s most convenient to them. Sure, they might visit an Apple Store, but after they know stocks are plentiful and that people aren’t stacked out outside. Or they will visit another dealer, maybe the local Walmart or Best Buy, to buy an iPhone.

No rush.

I realize the Apple critics are going to claim that iPhone sales must be depressed because only one of two new models is available, not wanted to recognize the possibility that sales might catch up and then some when the high-profile model ships. Then total sales will be a matter of how many copies of the iPhone X Apple can move into the channel, and that has been a huge question mark.

There have been constant reports for weeks that there will be production delays, even before the iPhone X was expected to be in production. It has to be hard with all the new changes. What about the parts for Face ID and other new components? How can Apple possibly build enough of these things?

As most of you know, the iPhone X will be available November 3rd. Will Apple be able to meet demand? Just how many people want to buy a $999 iPhone? Well, don’t forget that a large number of sales will be made via credit cards or lease/purchase deals. Over a 24-month period, the price per month won’t be that much higher than an iPhone 8 Plus, and the 64GB iPhone X is only a slightly more expensive than a Samsung Galaxy Note 8.

So if sales are not quite what was expected, some will blame the high price, assuming production quantities were sufficient. If sales beat expectations, it’ll be the result of Apple’s reality distortion field, or a bunch of fanatics who are only to happy to pay whatever Apple demands for its luxury smartphones. Or something like that.