Google Reportedly Ditching Windows

Reader awyeah notes a Financial Times report that Google is ditching the use of Windows internally. Some blogs have picked up the FT piece but so far there isn't any other independent reporting of the claim, which is based on comments from anonymous Googlers. One indication of possibly hasty reporting is the note that Google "employs more than 10,000 workers internationally," whereas it's easy enough to find official word that the total exceeds 20,000. "The directive to move to other operating systems began in earnest in January, after Google's Chinese operations were hacked, and could effectively end the use of Windows at Google. ... 'We're not doing any more Windows. It is a security effort,' said one Google employee. ... New hires are now given the option of using Apple's Mac computers or PCs running the Linux operating system. 'Linux is open source and we feel good about it,' said one employee. 'Microsoft we don't feel so good about.' ... 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."

Comments

Re:MACS???!?!

[Kitkoan]

Sorry if this is trollish, but Macs are IMO a WORSE security risk than Windows when dealing with spearphishing and other forms of targeted attacks. Security updates are rare. Even if the OS model is better than Microsoft's, it's not a good choice.

Macs are security risks.

Re:Flamebait

[mjwx]

If you play around with Open Office, their spreadsheet app is in many ways better than Excel.

Except user friendliness.

Don't get me wrong, I've used OO.o for years and will keep using it because it's free, legit and works on all my PC's. But OO.o Calc is difficult to use for an experienced user with OO.o compared to Excel. If OO.o would work on that it would be a lot easier to convert people. Free (gratis) is a powerful persuader, but it's defeated by hard (difficult to use/learn).