Microsoft counter Google security claims: "there is irony here"

Microsoft have snapped back at rumors that Google is moving to oust Windows based PCs from their employees' desks, pointing to recent security research that suggests the company is in fact doing more to ensure system safety than rivals like OS X.  In a post on the Windows Team Blog, Windows communication manager Brandon LeBlanc suggests that "there is some irony here that is hard to overlook" and points to Yale University's apparent delay in switching to Google Apps services over their own security concerns.

LeBlanc also claims that "even hackers admit" that Microsoft are doing more to ensure Windows security than OS rivals, flagging up Marc Maiffret's quote that the company is "the model for how to do it."  He also cites newer speculation that Mac systems are increasingly becoming the target for malware, and lists the ways – Windows Update, Firewall and IE8 – that Microsoft has moved to ensure security.

Still, it's prompted the expected arguments in the comments section, with plenty of disagreement over whether indeed Windows is still the leaky ship it was ten years ago.  Google's decision to shift to OS X and Linux certainly could be seen as more about pushing onward to Chrome OS than about reflecting on the relative merits of rival platforms.