Google Ditches Microsoft's Windows Over Security Issues, Report Claims

PC World ^ | 6/1/2010 | Tom Spring

[markomalley]

Google employees are slamming Microsoft's Windows operating system, claiming security vulnerabilities in the OS left the company open to Chinese hackers in January 2010, a new report says. According to the Financial Times, Google will ditch the internal use of Windows in exchange for alternative operating systems including the Mac OS, Linux, and Google's own forthcoming Chrome OS operating system.

The May 31 Financial Times article quotes only anonymous Google sources, identifying them as several of Google's 10,000 employees. FT reporters David Gelles and Richard Waters write: "Employees wanting to stay on Windows required clearance from 'quite senior levels', one employee said. 'Getting a new Windows machine now requires CIO approval,' said another employee."

Google officials have not tacitly denied the Windows ban on work computers, issuing the following statement to the Reuters news agency: "We're always working to improve the efficiency of our business, but we do not comment on specific operational matters."

The FT calls Google's anti-Windows policy "semi-formal" and said that some laptops of "new hires" were still being outfitted with Windows, but all internal desktop PCs for these employees would run non-Windows based operating systems.

[zeebee]

That was over 2 years ago and it was done under laboratory conditions:

“the rules were relaxed so that attackers could direct contest organizers using the computers to do things like visit Web sites or open e-mail messages.”

It seems if holes are found in MacOS, they get plugged very quickly and easily.