Google employees are slamming Microsoft's Windows operating system, claiming security vulnerabilities in the OS left the company open to Chinese hackers in January 2010, a new report says. According to the *Financial Times*,Google will ditch the internal use of Windows in exchange for alternative operating systems including the Mac OS, Linux, and Google's own forthcoming Chrome OS operating system.
The May 31 *Financial Times* article quotes only anonymous Google sources, identifying them as several of Google's 10,000 employees. FT reporters David Gelles and Richard Waters write: "*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.*" Google officials have not tacitly denied the Windows ban on work computers, issuing the following statement to the Reuters news agency: "We're always working to improve the efficiency of our business, but we do not comment on specific operational matters." The FT calls Google's anti-Windows policy "semi-formal" and said that some laptops of "new hires" were still being outfitted with Windows, but all internal desktop PCs for these employees would run non-Windows based operating systems. Microsoft's dominant operating system Windows and its leading Web browser Internet Explorer have a reputation for being vulnerable to attacks. Security experts point out that Microsoft's market share dominance promises malware developers a significantly higher return on investment than the Mac OS platform, which owns 5 percent of the OS market. Other operating systems (including Mac OS) and Web browsers -- including Google's own Chrome Web browser -- have also suffered from security vulnerabilities. Microsoft's Windows operating system and its Internet Explorer browser were cited by Google earlier this year as contributing to Chinese hackers successfully hacking a number of Google-owned PCs and Gmail accounts. Security researchers said hackers used the back-door Hydraq Trojan to break into Google owned PCs and accounts. In January, Google claimed a China-originated attack let malicious hackers steal Google intellectual property and partially break into the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "nforceit" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nforceit?hl=en-GB.
