Microsoft has got wind of the rumoured Google Windows ban and, unsurprisingly, it’s not impressed. Microsoft PR bods have hit Twitter and the company’s official blogs to attack the claims and trumpet Windows security. Are they right to go for Google or are they just protesting too much?
The whispers from within Google yesterday suggested that Windows was on the way out as a direct result of the attack on the search engine by Chinese hackers back in January.
Brilliantly-named Microsoft spokesman Brandon LeBlanc took to the official Windows blog to tell Google it has got it all wrong: “When it comes to security, even hackers admit we’re doing a better job making our products more secure than anyone else.”
There are certainly some examples for Microsoft to fall back on: in February, Aaron Portnoy of hacking contest Pwn2Own claimed Windows 7 security was better then OS X while in March, security researchers claimed to have found 20 Mac OS security holes unplugged.
That could suggest that Google offering a choice between Macs running OS X and PCs packing Linux isn’t just about security. But as the most used OS out there Windows does also get the majority of viruses, malware and other nasties pointed at it. What’s more an Internet Explorer 6 security flaw was apparently the route used in the Google China hack.
While Microsoft was very mature when criticising Google on its blogs, Frank Shaw, its vice-president of corporate communications, was a little cheekier on his personal Twitter account (@fxshaw) He called the original FT report on Google ditching Windows “bad reporting” and fired off a series of parody headlines including “News Flash: Google boards up all windows in global HQ citing security concerns”.
Let us know: do you think Google is right to ditch Windows? Has Microsoft been unfairly slighted when it comes to Windows security? Apple fans and PC lovers, scrap it out in the comments.
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