http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20006400-265.html


Google has seen enough of Microsoft's Windows operating system, suspending internal use of the OS amid security concerns related to the attack on its network late last year, according to a report.

(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET) The Financial Times reported late Monday that Google has begun telling new employees that they are no longer able to request Windows PCs, giving them the choice of Mac or Linux systems. Google has long offered its employees their choice of work operating system but will no longer do so, The Financial Times said, after an attack on Windows and Internet Explorer 6 resulted in the theft of Google intellectual property, believed to be source code, late last year.

Rumors to this effect surfaced earlier in the year, but CNET was unable to confirm them at the time. Microsoft has never been a friendly face inside the Googleplex, but Google's engineering-driven culture and need to test its software on a variety of systems usually meant that at least some portion of its employees preferred the Windows environment. Some Google employees will still be able to use Windows machines, but they will have to get special permission, according to the report.

Later this year Google will begin directing employees toward Chrome OS systems, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told CIOs attending a Google seminar on cloud computing in April. Google believes the browser-based operating system will be "inherently more secure" than alternative operating systems, Schmidt said at that event.

Google declined to comment "on specific operational matters."

Google CEO Eric Schmidt believes that Chrome OS is more secure than Windows, reportedly ordering employees to move away from Windows machines.



is anyone still using IE6? I've use IE7 a few years now and theres also IE8 out so I'm failing to see where this is a problem any more. Besides that you dont even get IE6 from a clean install of xp vista or win7

Man, I'd love to use a Mac at work. I hate the crappy PC I have to use at work and I HATE having to use IE (there are a few medical sites that require IE, wtf?). To death with it, I say! I love firefox. Chrome is meh...maybe it's because I love Firefox so much.

I used to use firefox but after the 3.0 update, it went to hell for me. I've never had a problem with IE.

I love Firefox

I pretty much only use Firefox.

I use mostly Chrome now. I used to use Firefox until I realized that certain web sites wouldn't load up properly on it. I have no issues using the most recent version of IE, though. I love Chrome's simplicity and it's so much faster than Firefox.