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Google Inc. Dropping Windows Over Security Concerns

Yet more fallout from Google‘s Chinese security breach earlier this year: According to the Financial Times, Google is phasing out support for all versions of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, calling the change a “security effort.”

According to the report, since the attacks on Google by Chinese hackers in January, new Google employees have been given a choice between OS X and Linux. “‘Linux is open source and we feel good about it,” said one employee. “Microsoft we don’t feel so good about.'”

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Kind of like Windows 7? Want to give Microsoft a chance? Well, you’ll need lots of top-level corporate approval to do so:

Financial Times:

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.

While the loss of a fraction of Google’s 10,000 employees isn’t likely to cause Microsoft all that much grief as a matter of pure numbers, the move could be more worrisome for them in light of Googlers’ roles as thought leaders — and more worrisome still if this is all taken as prelude for the release of Chrome OS, Google’s homegrown operating system.

(Financial Times via Boy Genius Report via DVICE)

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