Google wants employees using Macs, not Windows or Chrome OS PCs

Google’s preferred desktop OS for its employees is Mac, and not Windows, Linux or even its own Chrome OS. This surprising revelation came at the LISA 2013 conference held earlier this month, where Google revealed that the company is managing over 43,000 Macs that its employees use, without any help from Apple.

Google system engineer Clay Caviness said, “There was a time when Macs were a small part of the Google fleet but as of now if you start at Google and want to use a platform other than Mac you have to make a business case.”

Macbook Pro 17-inch

The company has been selling its own Chrome OS-enabled Chromebooks via various OEMs. However, it has reportedly been imposing a Mac-only rule for all employees, according to The Register. The company has also revealed that it faces challenges while managing the increasing number of Macs as Apple’s existing enterprise tools aren’t useful for its specific needs. Speculation says the growing popularity of the iPhone is reason for slow developments for Mac enterprise tools.

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Google doesn’t want to wait for Apple to deliver the enterprise solution that it needs, so the search giant has built its own set of applications and programmes for the Mac systems. Google has reportedly updated 99.5 percent of its Mac fleet from OS X 10.7 to 10.8 in eight weeks. It also plans a move to OS X 10.9 Mavericks soon.