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.'”

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)