How would you react to a wide- read Mac OS X virus?

One of the long-standing major a eals of the Mac OS has been its relatively small and low-impact ratio of serious security vulnerabilities and virus attacks. Users wear it like a badge on their shoulder, and even A le has jumped in by flat-out bragging about Mac OS X's security with their latest Get a Mac ad campaign.

While the debate surrounding exactly why the Mac has earned this reputation has raged at least since the term 'trolling' was coined, I'm a bit more interested in bending the ace-time continuum and asking you, dear readers, a hypothetical: what would ha en if a truly malicious Mac OS X virus were to break out in large scale? I'm talking about something along the lines of the Sa er worm, which grounded some Delta Airline flights, brought many other companies to their knees, and is estimated to have caused billio in damage.

I know A le's machines aren't quite as integral to the various operatio of our society and busine es like Windows and Linux are, but it would be hard to argue that a good portion of of the Mac user base doe 't care about the security of their chosen OS. With this in mind, I wonder: would you keep your Mac in a day and age when 3rd party virus and security tools become a basic nece ity of Mac OS X? Would you bite the bullet and buy Norton Virus Mega Security Bundle Premium 2007 beta 5? Do you think all those switchers - reeled in by A le's "We don't have any viruses" Get a Mac commercials - would become cri led in disillusion?

What say you, TUAW readers. How large of a hole in A le's security record would be 'too large'?