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Google ditches Windows; hugs Mac, Linux

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CIOL Bureau
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SAN JOSE, USA: Google is now feeling better about open source operating system Linux than Microsoft's Windows.

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Concerned about the security of its systems, the search major is moving its employees away from Windows PCs, mostly towards Apple’s Mac OS, while new hires are given a choice between Mac computers or PCs running the Linux operating system, said a report appeared in The Financial Times, citing some Google employees.

“We’re not doing any more Windows. It is a security effort,” a Google employee was quoted as saying. “Linux is open source and we feel good about it,” said one employee, adding “Microsoft we don’t feel so good about.”

Moreover, employees wanting to stay on Windows now require a clearance from “quite senior levels”, the report quoted another employee as saying.

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The directive to move to other operating systems began in earnest in January, after Google’s Chinese operations were hacked.

The magnitude of the loss in that hacking incident was such that one of Google's crown jewels - a password system that controls access by millions of users worldwide to almost all of the company's Web services, including e-mail and business applications - was reportedly stolen.

Google said in a statement: "We're always working to improve the efficiency of our business, but we do not comment on specific operational matters." However, the search major is yet to comment on its current policy regarding the switching of OS. In addition to being a semi-formal policy, employees themselves have grown more concerned about security since the China attacks, said The Financial Times.

(Do you think it is a good decision by Google? Will it help give an added heft to the campaigns promoting open source? Or will it affect the top-line of Microsoft? Please give your comments in the box below.)

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