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Google Switches Away from Windows (Mostly to Mac) Due to Security Concerns
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My bad, it was 1999, and it was just the Mac OS, no server.
http://db.tidbits.com/article/5552
Edit: It was actually a pretty crafty setup from what I read in the article.
Not stupid, but clearly suckers.
Hassle? I've seen people switching and the hassle is only in the other direction.
Maybe that's why there will be an Apocalypse.
are you kidding right? Microsoft is actually a pretty innovative company and the windows OS as a lot more security features than mac or linux machines have.
The problem in all of this is the IE6, not windows itself.
A Mac certainly isn't invulnerable to hacking, but it would be very difficult to write a virus for a Mac that could easily spread to other machines (even if Apple was the dominate platform). The obvious vulnerabilities (like Objective-C code injection) were locked down before developers attempted to make use of them in apps. Things are sand boxed pretty well on a Mac making it difficult to get enough control to spread to another machine if a vulnerability was exploited. The security vulnerabilities we hear about are only relevant for hackers that are deliberately trying to break in to your machine. The type of vulnerabilities that are the result of bugs in code are almost always only exploitable by hackers and not viruses. Viruses normally take advantage of vulnerabilities introduced by poor program design instead. Don't make enemies (or get a good firewall) and you will be fine. There is a reason that there has not been a single Mac virus in the wild.
There is still the possibility that some poorly written third party program that had a huge market share (a requirement for viruses to spread easily) could be the carrier of viruses, but Apple is good at protesting those things. Flash and Acrobat have been the source of viruses in the past. I once saw a virus that used the Quickbooks (for Windows) software update mechanism to spread and host warez. I'm not saying that is the reason that Apple is boycotting Flash (it is just the closest thing I could think of), but there are a lot of reasons to prevent poorly written software from becoming mainstream and this is one of them. Apple is famous for their marketing, but they do a good job of not releasing something before it is ready just because Marketing wants a certain feature available. Auditing software for bad security design is much more well known now and should always be checked before users depend on a badly designed feature. Microsoft learned this the hard way.
I've taken it upon myself to create a Facebook page for this occasion haha.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/That-awkward-moment-when-Google-switches-to-Macs/125842707437874
http://www.facebook.com/pages/That-awkward-moment-when-Google-switches-to-Macs/125842707437874
TBH, I didn't know there wasn't one already...
Cool FF tool, though! I will try that, next time I use firefox. That may be a while...
Well, yes and no. Yes, IE6 was the point of penetration... but no, "Windows itself" ain't that robust: Seriously, read all that very carefully before firing back with a reactive response. (the OS is practically entirely dependent on the web interface for its security, as —internally —its underbelly is structurally relatively flimsy).
Yeah, OS X is pretty well sand boxed so it has some protection from poorly designed applications. Most apps aren't running all the time, so it is worse if a virus can latch on to another part of the system and is certainly more difficult to get rid of the virus. Unlike the standard version of OS X, OS X Server has root enabled so it can get root kits because the sand box can be compromised by root. Normally only people who know what they are doing install OS X Server though so there are not that many instances of hacked servers. I have seen OS X web servers that were automatically hacked with brute force password attack and a root kit installed because their administrator left a very weak password on the root account. Seeing this definitely puts in to perspective how effective the security model on OS X client is (where weak passwords are common). Running Windows however is kinda like running OS X server on your desktop with every user containing root privileges. Once they find a way in, they have infected your whole system and can run constantly to spread to more machines. Weak passwords with this kind of access make it that much easier. What a difference a decent sandbox makes on the Mac.
Wow, really? Can you provide a link, please? (don't get me wrong, honest curiosity)
Sun Microsystems did the same thing many years ago.
Oops, look where they are now...
Owned by Steve's best friend's company, Oracle and serving up enterprise markets.
Robocop
What a deal!!! I would love to actually purchase $20,000 worth if you don't mind as long as it comes with a 3 year "Aircare"
Happy to transfer the money but all I need you to do so I can organize this is for you to please transfer me $2000 to show you are interested and then I will transfer $22,000 through to you, deal of a life time I say! ACT NOW!
What a deal!!! I would love to actually purchase $20,000 worth if you don't mind as long as it comes with a 3 year "Aircare"
Happy to transfer the money but all I need you to do so I can organize this is for you to please transfer me $2000 to show you are interested and then I will transfer $22,000 through to you, deal of a life time I say! ACT NOW!
Just amazing, you're annoyed over a scenario you made up in your head that hasn't even happened? Drama much?
Linux?
For every programmer or software architect who'd prefer Linux, you probably have several support staff that wouldn't:
Human resources staff, accountants, office managers, receptionists, middle managers, etc.
Even if one were to consider Mac OSX inherently superior or easier to use, I'm sure Google will still have its hands full retraining people who are comfortable with Windows, have never used anything else (nor wanted to) and will need time to adjust-- to say nothing of Linux.
For every programmer or software architect who'd prefer Linux, you probably have several support staff that wouldn't:
Human resources staff, accountants, office managers, receptionists, middle managers, etc.
Even if one were to consider Mac OSX inherently superior or easier to use, I'm sure Google will still have its hands full retraining people who are comfortable with Windows, have never used anything else (nor wanted to) and will need time to adjust-- to say nothing of Linux.
Win7 is a privacy nightmare (a lot of MS backdoor to the OS) from what I heard.
On another note, Intel didn't upgrade not a single machine to Vista either..Not sure if they upgraded to win7 or are still using XP. Intel to skip Vista upgrade
On another note, Intel didn't upgrade not a single machine to Vista either..Not sure if they upgraded to win7 or are still using XP. Intel to skip Vista upgrade
I don't understand this at all! Windows is such a better OS......oops wrong forum
Those folks thought QDOS was better too .
"The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a 'mouse'. There is no evidence that people want to use these things."
I wonder why Google isn't using a real UNIX variant like Ubuntu Linux 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) for their development machines or for the computers at Google headquarters.