Because almost all of our production fleet is Linux derived, it makes sense to use a platform that is nearly identical.
Additionally, cost is a huge factor as well. Think about the cost of purchasing 100,000 macOS machines. Compare that to purchasing 100,000 generic x86_64 machines from several manufacturers, which are generally more friendly to customization for Google's needs.
Feel free to ask questions!
Disclaimer: Googler that has a gLinux Desktop, a gLinux Cloud VM, and a macOS laptop. Not in CorpEng.
>Because almost all of our production fleet is Linux derived, it makes sense to use a platform that is nearly identical.
Yeah, it surprises me that more people who use Linux on their infrastructure don't also dogfood it on their personal machines. We run a Linux-based cloud, and my colleagues use a variety of OSes for their daily drivers; I definitely see a difference in capability between those who dogfood and those who think they can get by just fine on Windows or Mac.
As someone currently working in a company that has linux-only product but somehow decided to standardise on macbooks in engineering...
It turns out I'm not the only person with the complaint "macOS in Engineering considered Harmful". Pretty much all backend work is done in either a Linux VM using Parallels, or in docker containers, and the developer experience sucks because of that. While theoretically someone could try building some components on mac, that would be a small portion useless to general work.
We might not be at the scale of Google, but we have even less mac-specific work and similar Linux focus (hell, I'm working on custom distro even)
It doesn't surprise me at all. It's not the software, it's the hardware.
PC hardware is absolutely terrible i.e. cheaply built, poor battery life, poor quality displays, numerous bugs and Linux compatibility issues and so on. My 16" MBP will reliably allow me to work between 15 and 20 hours without needing to recharge. The mini-LED screen is far more advanced than anything on a PC laptop, daylight visible, and can go head-to-head with professional reference displays. The CPU is substantially faster and cooler than Intel's top of the line. The audio is the best on any modern laptop. It's not like there are one or two features that Macs excel at, they are better in too many ways to count.
Additionally, cost is a huge factor as well. Think about the cost of purchasing 100,000 macOS machines. Compare that to purchasing 100,000 generic x86_64 machines from several manufacturers, which are generally more friendly to customization for Google's needs.
Feel free to ask questions!
Disclaimer: Googler that has a gLinux Desktop, a gLinux Cloud VM, and a macOS laptop. Not in CorpEng.