Google ditches Windows in favor of OS X and Linux

Citing a renewed focus on security thanks in part to a recent series of cyber attacks originating in China, The Financial Times is reporting that Google is abandoning support for Microsoft’s Windows. Citing several anonymous employees of the search giant, the FT said that as recent as January, new Google employees were permitted to run Windows on their laptops, but the use of the OS on desktops was strictly forbidden. The continued use of a Windows machine is said to require authorization from high ups, and any employee that requests a Windows rig will need approval from the CIO. At the moment, authorized OSes are said to include Linux and Apple’s OS X. But for all of the talk of security concerns, the FT’s sources allege that the move also has as much to do with Google’s desires to ween its employees off of competing products as it prepares to launch its Chrome OS. Not surprisingly, Google declined to comment on the matter.

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