According to a report in the Financial Times, Google is so fed up with Windows 7’s woeful security issues that they are now taking Redmond’s operating system by the pants seat and unceremoniously hurtling it from the building.
What machines are employees getting instead? Linux rigs… and Macs.
Google’s move might be related to the recent flurry of attacks against the GMail accounts of political dissidents launched by China earlier in the year, which resulted in Google demanding the end of Internet censorship in China and withdrawing when they (predictably) didn’t get their way. Those attacks largely emanated from a security vulnerability in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
But employees interviewed for the Financial Times piece suggest that while employees are being given the option of picking a Mac, what they really want is for employees to opt for Linux… specifically their Linux-based Chrome operating system.
“Before the security, there was a directive by the company to try to run things on Google products. It was a long time coming,” said one employee.
If true, Google’s tolerance for Macs on campus now might soon become another rout as the entire organization switches over to Chrome… an outcome especially likely if the product war between Google and Apple gets any bloodier.
