Google ditches Windows. Hell breaks loose! Pink newspaper roils the Internets. Windows users cry, “D’oh!”
I feel redonkulous for writing this, but I am a headline whore and it is my job. So, Google, a known Microsoft uber-user (not), decides to ditch Windows because of security concerns.
Microsoft retaliates by writing up a blog post that says:
“When it comes to security, even hackers admit we’re doing a better job making our products more secure than anyone else. And it’s not just the hackers; third party influentials and industry leaders like Cisco tell us regularly that our focus and investment continues to surpass others.”
It’s all a little testy and a tad defensive, if you ask me, but then, I don’t get to run the PR department of a multi-billion dollar corporation so, Shut it, me!
The original story percolated out of the Financial Times, a paper that is so snobby that it prints on pink paper and feels no inclination to promote the Bravo channel.
Anyhow, the FT’s article had these wonderful gems of information:
“Google is phasing out the internal use of Microsoft’s ubiquitous Windows operating system because of security concerns, according to several Google employees.”
“In addition to being a semi-formal policy, employees themselves have grown more concerned about security since the China attacks. “Particularly since the China scare, a lot of people here are using Macs for security,” said one employee.”
“But many employees were relieved they could still use Macs and Linux. “It would have made more people upset if they banned Macs rather than Windows,” he added.”
So, the basic gist of this story is that someone in Google said, We love our macs, and we’re getting rid of Windows. Isn’t it curious that the attribution in the story seems a little vague. I mean, anonymous sources are one thing, but “a guy at Google told me that he once skipped breakfast with no ill side efffects” is not so great. Not if you are the Financial Times. TG Daily? Maybe.
So, if it is really a policy, why wouldn’t it be official and on the record. It’s not like Google is afraid of Microsoft. It’s not like Google has any less cojones than the the city of Munchen in Germany, or Bergen in Norway. What’s wrong with this picture?
Could it be that the millions of Windows using corporations – banks and insurance companies among them – are all wrong? They are compromising the fabric of our capitalist society. Really, Google? Really, FT? This story is just plain fishy if you ask me.
Maybe, I’m just mad that this story got all the mileage that it did. I guess everything is pretty in pink.
