Report: Google Banning Windows over Security Concerns

[gubbi]

Report: Google Banning Windows over Security Concerns

A report in the Financial Times claims that Google has begun moving users off of Windows systems and made it very difficult to get new ones.
The move is cast as a security measure. Users are being shifted primarily on to Mac systems, but also to Linux.
Even prior to their brush with hackers from China late last year Google had a policy of moving users on to Google products where possible. The incidents accelerated the process. The story quotes Google employees to the effect that Windows systems are distrusted by definition at the company.
Something feels exaggerated in the story to me. First, from all indications we have in published reports, the system compromised at Google wasn't just a Windows system, but a Windows XP system running Internet Explorer 6 and logged in as Administrator. In other words, it was a system on which no serious effort at security was made. Banning all Windows systems because of this is surely an irrational overreaction.
Google is a savvy enough company to know this, and also to know that Macs aren't, as the FT story claims, less vulnerable to hackers. In a targeted attack such as that which compromised Google, the Mac is at least as vulnerable. Google would secure themselves much more effectively and cheaply by using Windows 7 in a managed environment.
Perhaps as the story develops more details will be released.

Is Google becoming the new Windows?

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Microsoft Windows sucks, It has alot of security loopholes. Plus there way of programming is not secure at all ..!
Get Linux, Ubuntu or Fedora.. Fedora is cool ..!

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Looks like Microsoft will finaly pay for its evils which it did when it had the monopoly. With the advent of Multicore tech and parallel computing MS has failed to produce an OS which can efficently utilise such systems.. In other words all that computing power is going to waste as not even Windows 7 utilities its resources properly(sirf jugaroo kaam kia hoa he MS walo ne).. not to mention the lack of hardware drivers for 64-bit and parallel architectures.

 

[desiman]

Windows 7 is by far the best operating system in the market right now. Mac systems totally suck in front of it. If Google thinks it can take on Microsoft then its wrong. Microsoft is the biggest fish in the market and it will swallow google without even burping once lol Mac system are total crap for office work and the only look good visually. With a limited software library and higher cost they can never compete with the likes of Microsoft.

 

[desiman]

Looks like Microsoft will finaly pay for its evils which it did when it had the monopoly. With the advent of Multicore tech and parallel computing MS has failed to produce an OS which can efficently utilise such systems.. In other words all that computing power is going to waste as not even Windows 7 utilities its resources properly(sirf jugaroo kaam kia hoa he MS walo ne).. not to mention the lack of hardware drivers for 64-bit and parallel architectures.

are you joking Windows 7 is just amazing. They refined Vista totally and Windows 7 runs just great on the new Core I7's. They are constantly updating Windows 7 and this OS is here to stay for a long time. There are more than enough hardware driver out there. Component manufacturers must now play catch rather than the other way.

 

[gubbi]

Microsoft Windows sucks, It has alot of security loopholes. Plus there way of programming is not secure at all ..!
Get Linux, Ubuntu or Fedora.. Fedora is cool ..!

I am a big fan of Fedora! Its free and wholly customizable. When it started out, they didn't have support for bluetooth or wireless or laser/wireless mouse. Now they do. Its imply amazing. I love it. Though aint much help with a tablet pc which I use in the lab daily! Got 2 HDDs one with XP tablet pc edn and the other with Fedora Core 12 (Installation is a breeze!).

I do believe that windows sucks, but I am happy with WinXP and for now with Win7 (32 bit OS). I use my rig only for games or movies.

Mac is IMHO highly over rated. I love the GUI, but it doesnt have the support for most applications like Linux users have. You need to pay for stupid applications and you dont find any free alternatives. It feels very suffocating!

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

are you joking Windows 7 is just amazing. They refined Vista totally and Windows 7 runs just great on the new Core I7's. They are constantly updating Windows 7 and this OS is here to stay for a long time. There are more than enough hardware driver out there. Component manufacturers must now play catch rather than the other way.

Dudes its all cosmetics.. MS hasnt been abel to produce an API which could fully utilize the power of Multicore architectures like core2duo or core i5 or core i7. Though they are taking ths mnatter seriously but still the havent produced the result. Morever even if they do.. It wont be secure.

Check out the MSDN forum , and the link to get an insight into the problem which the whole IT industry is facing.. Its a paradigm shift and MS is not coming upto the Mark.. Though they claim it but its failed and havent produced results uptill now .
Developing Parallel Programs

 

[desiman]

Dudes its all cosmetics.. MS hasnt been abel to produce an API which could fully utilize the power of Multicore architectures like core2duo or core i5 or core i7. Though they are taking ths mnatter seriously but still the havent produced the result. Morever even if they do.. It wont be secure.

Check out the MSDN forum , and the link to get an insight into the problem which the whole IT industry is facing.. Its a paradigm shift and MS is not coming upto the Mark.. Though they claim it but its failed and havent produced results uptill now .
Developing Parallel Programs

The I7's are relatively new right now and it will take sometime before the OS system catch up. Other than Windows 7, no other OS comes even close to utilizing the strengths of the processor. Yes one can argue that the Linux based system maybe able to get there first but really Linux is not a viable solution to everyday computing needs. Its to complicated for amateur's to handle and its compatibility issues are well known. Many people tend to also complain about Windows 7 without having the need hardware in place. Without a quality X-58 chipset and atleast 3gb of DDR3 1333MHZ ram you cannot utilize the strengths of the I7's. Mac are very heavy OS's and are more makeup than actual systems. Windows still stands out when it comes to quality and performance. Im sure the remaining issues will be filtered out soon too.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

I am a big fan of Fedora! Its free and wholly customizable. When it started out, they didn't have support for bluetooth or wireless or laser/wireless mouse. Now they do. Its imply amazing. I love it. Though aint much help with a tablet pc which I use in the lab daily! Got 2 HDDs one with XP tablet pc edn and the other with Fedora Core 12 (Installation is a breeze!).

I do believe that windows sucks, but I am happy with WinXP and for now with Win7 (32 bit OS). I use my rig only for games or movies.

Mac is IMHO highly over rated. I love the GUI, but it doesnt have the support for most applications like Linux users have. You need to pay for stupid applications and you dont find any free alternatives. It feels very suffocating!

Yet again MAC faces same scenario but its far more secure than Windows.. Its software architecture is very much compatible. If you go into the details you'l findout that MS actually stole some of there genius and made a fortune out of it.

 

[desiman]

I am a big fan of Fedora! Its free and wholly customizable. When it started out, they didn't have support for bluetooth or wireless or laser/wireless mouse. Now they do. Its imply amazing. I love it. Though aint much help with a tablet pc which I use in the lab daily! Got 2 HDDs one with XP tablet pc edn and the other with Fedora Core 12 (Installation is a breeze!).

I do believe that windows sucks, but I am happy with WinXP and for now with Win7 (32 bit OS). I use my rig only for games or movies.

Mac is IMHO highly over rated. I love the GUI, but it doesnt have the support for most applications like Linux users have. You need to pay for stupid applications and you dont find any free alternatives. It feels very suffocating!

I would never recommend MAC for anything really. It sucks at even the most basic jobs. I bought a Mac Book pro last year totally decked up and it cost me $2500. Its one of my biggest regrets and constantly gives me problems. On the other side my Dell E-something with Windows 7 is just fantastic and never breaks a sweat, not to mention my Alienware Aurora with a core I7 extreme and Window 7 eats through anything out there. Windows 7 is dam impressive.

 

[booo]

Charlie Miller, a principal analyst at consultancy Independent Security Evaluators: "Technologically speaking, PCs are a little more secure than Macs. Macs have a larger attack surface out of the box (Flash, Java, support for a million file formats, etc.) and lack some anti-exploitation technologies found in PCs like full ASLR [Address Space Layout Randomization]. This means Macs have more vulnerabilities and it's easier to turn a vulnerability into an exploit on the platform. Despite the fact it is less secure, paradoxically, Macs are actually safer to use for most people. This is because there simply isn't much risk of being exploited or installing malware.

PC vs. Mac in Security: Experts Share Opinions

this comes from toms hardware. you decide yourself.

 

[gubbi]

Yet again MAC faces same scenario but its far more secure than Windows.. Its software architecture is very much compatible. If you go into the details you'l findout that MS actually stole some of there genius and made a fortune out of it.

I wouldnt say Mac is more secure. Only that spammers/hackers have not paid attention to it because of its 'scarcity' (for want of a better term).
Even with the explosion of iPhone OS, we dont see news of virus attacks for the simple reason that whatever goes into the iPhone is through the Apple store. If Apple opens up the applications to be freely available from the net, then see how incidences of iPhone crippling go up.
Gotta give it to Apple for being very innovative (they being the first ones to come up with the mouse!) and thought ethically very wrong, stealing highly skilled and experienced employees from companies is not exactly a new phenomenon.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

The I7's are relatively new right now and it will take sometime before the OS system catch up. Other than Windows 7, no other OS comes even close to utilizing the strengths of the processor. Yes one can argue that the Linux based system maybe able to get there first but really Linux is not a viable solution to everyday computing needs. Its to complicated for amateur's to handle and its compatibility issues are well known. Many people tend to also complain about Windows 7 without having the need hardware in place. Without a quality X-58 chipset and atleast 3gb of DDR3 1333MHZ ram you cannot utilize the strengths of the I7's. Mac are very heavy OS's and are more makeup than actual systems. Windows still stands out when it comes to quality and performance. Im sure the remaining issues will be filtered out soon too.

Linux is fastly becoming popular in Ordinary home computing.. Not to mention its huge success in the Enterprise and Corporate arena against all OS. Even SUN has better rating than MS in that arena.

I agree with you on the fact that the Hardware(Micro processors , RAMs) has advance but the Software which actually drives it is not there.
But Windows 7 actually emulates the 32-bit drivers and runs them serially onto single core of all the multiple cores of core i7. May be some other programs are executed onto other cores.

So if you got 7 cores on a Microprocessor for example then your combined OS and applications utilize 2-3(Evean tats inconsistent and inefficent as thers no API or software tec yet developed) core out of
all 7 then

3/7 multiply with 100 = 42.85% = aprox(43%)

Out of 100% you are not even using even 50 % of your processor's strength. Its due to this reason i dnt run windows on my muticore system yet Linux runs perfectly well.
Do run Linux on your corei7 and youl see the difference, its huge.. Zameen Asman ka fark he .

 

[Awesome]

Windows 7 is by far the best operating system in the market right now. Mac systems totally suck in front of it. If Google thinks it can take on Microsoft then its wrong. Microsoft is the biggest fish in the market and it will swallow google without even burping once lol Mac system are total crap for office work and the only look good visually. With a limited software library and higher cost they can never compete with the likes of Microsoft.

In terms of security, Windows isn't much. Haha you know on all these Linux systems combined there are less than a few hundred viruses to have existed that can even run on them in history?

Moreover the ram usage of Windows based systems make them a really big security risk, you won't see Windows being used on any serious server open to the public.

 

[gubbi]

I would never recommend MAC for anything really. It sucks at even the most basic jobs. I bought a Mac Book pro last year totally decked up and it cost me $2500. Its one of my biggest regrets and constantly gives me problems. On the other side my Dell E-something with Windows 7 is just fantastic and never breaks a sweat, not to mention my Alienware Aurora with a core I7 extreme and Window 7 eats through anything out there. Windows 7 is dam impressive.

I HATE your alienware but prefer assembling my own rig.
I made mine with AS rock 780SLI mb (integrated wifi), Phenom 9850 X4 Black Edition, 4GB Ram and a 1GB PNY 9800GX2 more than two years back. Time for an upgrade this year (if the Mrs allows )