Linux Vs Windows on the web
Computers are confusing. There is so much that can go wrong with a computer. For this reason, each
decision time comes I dive into anxiety.
Lately I was puzzled with which server to use. My research showed that there are two kinds of servers I should consider choosing from -
Linux or Windows Web servers. There are many sources that aided my with the decision, yet eventually I noticed
that there was no conclusive answer. Allot of the information was influenced by subjective reasons such as the authors own opinion. After
spending hours I came to the conclusion that the web server is not so important (That is whether Windows or Linux based server). The ultimate
importance choice making is with the right web hosting.
Although the web server is not very important, one must realize that Windows based servers are using a
Microsoft operating system. Many consider Microsoft to be an evil corporation and prefer using an open source operating system with it's free
software. Open source is generally Linux based and mostly free. Never the less, most likely, for a person that seeks a web host, the issue of
which operating web server to choose isn't so important.
Since I think focusing on the web hosting is more important than focusing on the server I will
establish this-
Although Windows software are more costly than Linux, it will not affect the web hosting package, most likely. A
web hosting company using Windows based server may offer a package that is just as cheap as their Linux competitors.
PC runs Windows, yet you need not buy a Windows hosting package. The Access to web accounts
will most likely be through FTP or a control panel. Windows and Linux servers support these methods. Some of the FTP commands are slightly
different between Windows and Linux. Some FTP programs are designed with only Linux or Windows in mind. This reason may bring an error but most
likely it would only happen in rare situations.
so how should we choose a server platform?
Most web features run just fine on both platforms including mySQL, PHP and more.
When creating a site with ASP, Windows Streaming Media, Access, MSSQL, FrontPage or any of the other Microsoft proprietary technologies I would
recommend just to be on the safe side using a Windows host. There is limited support for a number of these technologies in Linux, but they can be
expensive and are usually lacking in features.
Windows is a wide based platform and that is why flaws are being detected constantly in it. For
it to continue its wide spread hold in the market, there need to be a good service fixing the bugs.
Linux being the most common server type, suffers from a surprising high number of successful hack attempts. There is not a big corporation that
is trying to fix the bugs in Linux, just because it is mainly free.
The bottom line in the security of both platforms will be decided with the competency of the
system administrators.
If you are security minded then you'll do better to make sure that the hosting company is reputable and highly skilled than to worry about the
server they use.
Performance wise there's not a huge difference between Windows and Linux servers. Linux
reportedly performs faster because Windows (as usual) attempts to offer a package based on all of its products (instead of the extendable Linux
implementation). If performance is most important to you then maybe you should keep this in mind.
As I said before though, there is not allot of difference between the two, what one must look for is the people that are managing, operating and
fixing the server.
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