Rumours of Google working on a secret operating system have been kicking around for years, but the latest findings by a web analytics firm might just point to them being legit. Net Applications routinely sniffs around traffic as it whizzes across the web, but it turns out a portion of Google’s own traffic leaves no trace of the software used to generate it.
Operating systems, browsers and even computer hardware leaves tell-tale markers in web traffic, so it’s relatively easy to see if someone’s using Windows, Linux or OS X. What’s more, it’s simple to see which browser they’re using too.
However, according to Net Application’s findings, a third of the traffic from Google’s own employees is free of all identification strings. That means it’s impossible to see which software is being run inside the Googleplex.
Since removing those markers is likely an intentional move, and a tricky one at that, Net Applications is highly suspicious. Is it a sign the big G is working on some super-secret software, even a whole operating system?
Or is it simply a hangover from the development of Chrome and Android, traces of which Google would understandably have blocked from the outside world?
Shout up with your conspiracy theories in the comments section below!
TBC | £TBC | Google (via Net Applications)
