David Gelles and Richard Waters in the Financial Times on an article titled, “Google ditches Windows on security concerns” wrote the following:
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, which employs more than 10,000 workers internationally.
“We’re not doing any more Windows. It is a security effort,” said one Google employee.
“Many people have been moved away from [Windows] PCs, mostly towards Mac OS, following the China hacking attacks,” said another.
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.”
Other than DoD and the financial industry, moves of this nature seem to be gaining momentum. Although Windows 7 is a far better product than Windows Vista, the newer operating system does not appear to offer any truly compelling reason to stick with the Windows platform.
That, in and of itself, is the biggest problem Microsoft faces today – increasingly shrinking relevance due to a terrible security track record and a lack of innovation. Can anyone say the same about Linux and Mac OS X?
