It’s no secret that Google has never been very friendly about using Microsoft products. Google’s engineering-driven culture necessitates that software tests be done on multiple systems, but lately Google has begun to move away from Windows. Google has traditionally given employees the choice of operating systems, however new employees at Google are no longer allowed to request Windows PCs. They are instead given the choice of Mac or Linux systems. This news was reported by The Financial Times, after an attack on Windows and Internet Explorer 6 specifically, resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. Rumor has it source code was stolen late last year which facilitated Google’s decision to avoid the notoriously vulnerable operating system. Since so much testing and software engineering requires the use of Microsoft software, some employees will still get to use Windows PCs, but they will need special permission.

Google is expected to direct its employees toward Chrome OS systems later this year. According to CEO Eric Schmidt in April, browser-based operating systems will be “inherently more secure” than what we use now. The relationship between Google and Microsoft has, until this point, been playfully competitive. The Chrome Browser was clearly aimed at taking market away from Internet Explorer, but Google developed their own javascript platform for the browser, and makes Ajax applications run super fast. Expect Google to get more and more hostile towards Microsoft as their open-source operating system, Chrome OS approaches its release later this year.