Google is phasing out the internal use of Microsoft’s Windows operating system because of security concerns, according to several Google employees. The Financial Times reports that since early January, new hires were still being allowed to install Windows on their laptops, but it was not an option for their desktop computers. Google would not comment on its current policy.

Windows is known for being more vulnerable to attacks by hackers and more susceptible to computer viruses than other operating systems. The greater number of attacks on Windows has much to do with its prevalence, which has made it a bigger target for attackers.

Employees wanting to stay on Windows required clearance from “quite senior levels”, one employee said. “Getting a new Windows machine now requires CIO approval,” said another employee.

New hires are now given the option of using Apple’s Mac computers or PCs running the Linux operating system. “Linux is open source and we feel good about it,” said one employee. “Microsoft we don’t feel so good about.”

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It’s interesting to see that “educators” on the web are doing most of their computing using “Linux” and an “open source” web browser.

Lets look a bit closer at the top 10 software tools:

Many Flavours (cc) kobrasoft

• Twitter – Linux
• del.icio.us – FreeBSD
• youtube – Linux
• google docs – Linux
• google reader – Linux
• wordpress – Linux
• slideshare – Linux
• google search – Linux
• Audacity – Free and Open Source
• Firefox – Free and Open Source

I know a secondary school student is more than capable of learning to build and run a web server but the way its taught in schools using IIS is really pathetic. The student doesn’t learn much and does it really empower them? No not all, it cripples them. I remember chatting to a young friend of mine about his early days in high school, he likes computers and studied ICT thinking it would be different in high school but it was the microsoft word training again, he told me he’d previously gone through the word training twice already in primary school. They are taught that pressing the “export as web-page” button is Web development so people should think about how much they can learn about word processing and word processor software on Ubuntu using open source software and compare it to what they learn and do now because obviously they aren’t learning anything useful about web development.

I don’t understand why there isn’t a government policy to have a preference for free and open source software yet or at least equity for students wanting to learn and use GNU/Linux. Imagine you work in a school as a computer/library assistant and there’s 40 or so pentium 3 computers in the store room and you want to use one to add a diskless web kiosk to the library, the computers are in the store room because they were replaced by newer computers with even bigger hard disks (the most expensive component?) and you wonder why they didn’t buy smaller cheaper hard disks if only 5gb of the 80Gb will ever be used, it would probably be worse these days.

Meanwhile the teachers are fighting for disk space on the server. Imagine asking a simple question; “May I use one of the computers in storage to add another computer to the library?”, obviously the first thing is the fact that those computers don’t work with the current version of windows, to cut a long story short if they’ve never heard of GNU/Linux then its likely they will reject the idea and sometimes give ridiculous reasons.

Its also a power issue, proprietary software users know all to well that you can gain power over people using software, its common in things like LMS’s and if you’re the guy who setup the school website then you can give people access to publish. There’s a lot of social politics involved in these things, whoever gets the better computer is not always the person who needs it.

Will the student wanting to use FOSS and GNU/Linux to learn about technology and software be allowed to do that in Australian schools? Choosing an operating system and software is part of the Information Technology Systems Syllabus, read the Sample assessment task 1. I wonder if the students have any rights or choice, perhaps it falls back to teacher preference.

If the general public knew about Ubuntu and the fact that unlimited copies are available for free, would they want a fair share of the systems running ubuntu in state funded education. Learning about technology shouldn’t be reduced to training kids to use proprietary products.

Most teachers Ive met say they’ve used “Linux” with their students but usually its just for a single day in the year.

So hows your favorite operating system do on the list of the top 500 supercomputers.

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New users often feel overwhelmed by all of the new information they need to digest in order to confidently use Linux, and Hackett and Bankwell provides them a quicker way to get familiar with using Linux-based operating systems and master the material.

The publication is available to purchase here or you can make a donation which will help them to publish futher material, the comic is also available with Ubuntu on cd. This comic is suitable for all ages and has real educational value so by all means download the pdf and pass it on to younger readers, the illustrations are really fun.

Hackett and Bankwell can be instrumental in helping new users understand the various elements that comprise the operating system and how they work together.

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Windows 7 being better than Vista is saying a lot. Microsoft may have a huge PR advantage as people will compare it to Vista and think it is good so “angels will sing again” like they did with Windows 95 compared to Windows 3.1. So maybe Microsoft did this on purpose.

He also talked about what 2009 had in store for the Linux desktop;

Look at what Firefox has achieved and how it is creeping up on Windows. It is important projects like Firefox and OpenOffice.org which are spreading the whole notion of open source wider. They work cross-platform and the project shouldn’t be tied to the platform. People will realise the lack of tie-in means you can chose a platform and that is much healthier from the market standpoint than having to make a platform decision for an application.

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This great little laptop has helped to kick off the netbook craze and has offered a really affordable way to be online and mobile, as well as offering people the Linux operating system, which we here at superuser.com applaud. Well done Asus.

Need help with your new Eee PC? Checkout Superusers Computer Repairs Brisbane.

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Lenovo, which years ago purchased IBMs personal computer business, appears to have quietly stopped offering Linux as a pre-installation option. None of the company’s 49 ThinkPad and IdeaPad notebook models — nor its many ThinkCenter and IdeaCenter desktops — can currently be ordered with Linux.

Lenovo does offer four high-end ThinkStation workstation models without any commercial operating system software, but all of its other systems now carry the “Microsoft Tax,” it appears. That is, in order to purchase one of the systems, you have to pay for a Microsoft Windows operating system license.

Lenovo’s executive director of external communications, Ray Gorman, denied in vague terms that the current situation marks a strategic shift, though he did admit the company is “refining its Linux strategy.” He added, “Lenovo is not abandoning its commitment to choice of operating system, and actually is increasing the role of the Linux operating system in Lenovo’s product portfolio.”

All evidence to the contrary.

Gorman continued, “In 2008, Lenovo offered preloaded Novell SLED 10 Linux on some of its ThinkPad notebooks, targeting business users. We are now seeing greater demand for Linux from consumers and those in education, and are bringing Linux preloaded on soon-to-be announced Lenovo netbooks targeted to education.”

Actually, Lenovo already announced its Linux-based S9 netbook models, when it launched its netbook line about a month ago. However, the company provided pricing and availability information only for the Windows XP-based “S10″ model, saying that the Linux-based “S9″ model would be limited to overseas education markets.

In other words, if the government of some large country wants to order a few hundred thousand of them, they’ll build some, and not before.

Anyway, interesting news, wanted to share it with you. Very tired, off to bed. Peace out…

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This was obviously a planned robbery as they used bolt cutters to steal the laptop.  So even thieves don’t want Vista it would appear…

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Since Windows XP remains available only as a “downgrade” from Vista, at additional cost, businesses that want to replace obsolescent PCs or need to add staff are compelled to buy Windows Vista and then pay extra if they want to stay with Windows XP. In order to avoid the cost of “downgrading” to XP by migrating all desktops to Vista, they’re faced with the added cost of all new Vista licences, plus high hardware replacement costs because Vista requires new PCs kitted out with at least 2GHz CPUs and 2GB of memory in order to run acceptably. Then there’s also the fact that Windows Vista performs poorly, even after SP1.

Businesses that cannot bear such a large hit to their IT budgets should consider migrating to Linux instead. All of the Linux distributions are available either entirely free of charge or at relatively low cost. Linux runs well even on older PC hardware, which means businesses can avoid having to purchase all new desktop PCs (if you need Linux or PC repairs or support in Brisbane click here for Superuser’s help). All of the major Linux distributions include free file and print servers, website and email servers and clients, office productivity applications, development toolsets and utilities.

If you’re already doing without dedicated support staff for Windows, one year may be all the paid support you need for Linux. Ubuntu users joke that simply googling for technical support usually results in the exact answer you’re looking for on Canonical’s forums. Linux is different from Windows, but it isn’t an alien life form.

The human investment you make in transitioning away from expensive Windows and Office licenses may pay for itself quickly. More important, you’ll be free to run the desktop and server software of your choice, on hardware you can afford.

says Scott Spanbauer, a contributing editor for PC World.

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The Origins of Linux – Linus Torvalds

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