Google dumps Windows: the first shot in the coming war
Chester Wisniewski has an interesting post on Google’s decision to eschew Windows. Basically, he doesn’t accept the ‘security’ argument.
Despite having a lot of friends in the media, I think the hype over this decision is more about marketing and PR than about defending against the red Chinese menace. Google is choosing an option that provides far less sophisticated tools, management, and detection capabilities than the much-maligned Windows platform.
Chester Wisniewski
He is not alone in questioning the security motive. Much respected security analyst Dancho Danchev tweets:
GOOG’s decision to ban Windows, only decreases the probability of successful exploitation. A misconfigured OS X/Linux = back to reality.
So claiming that leaving Windows is a response to the Chinese APT doesn’t really wash.
The important thing, however, is can Google live without Windows? Well, if Google can’t, none of us can. And I suspect that this is the real point. Google already has its Chrome browser. It has Office look-alikes in its Apps. And it will soon have the Chrome operating system.
The Chrome OS, built to leverage the Cloud, closely reflects the evolving globalised work environment that is unfolding around us. Quite simply the Google model is better suited to the TwentyTeens than the more static, over-priced and bloated Windows model. But Windows is like a parasite embedded deep into the corporate psyche; and it and the big corporates and bureaucracies will cling to each other: one for survival and the other for fear of the unknown.
There is a battle looming. While many pundits see a contest between Google and Facebook for control of the internet, and Google and Apple for control of the airwaves, I suspect Google is aiming higher. Google is getting ready to take on Windows, head-on. Chrome and the Cloud beats Windows in almost every way: cost, agility, security, you name it.
So Google dumping Windows has little to do with security. It says to the big corporates, hey guys, we can live without Windows. You can too.
