Linux Community Magazine

Linux Hosting Vs Windows Hosting

Linux hosting traces its birth from 'Linux', an open-source computer operating system based upon the concept of free software available to anyone to freely use, improve, modify and even redistribute. Windows hosting, on the other hand, relates to Windows operating system wherein the software is proprietary item of Microsoft.

Since being an open-source operating system, Linux hosting tends to be cheaper than Windows hosting. Besides, Linux hosting is considered as one of the main pillars of the LAMP server-software combination - Linux, Apache, MySQL and Php/Perl/Python. Popularity of Linux hosting among web developers can be judged from the fact that a great many open-source software have been created and are being continuously created for free use among discerning web enthusiasts.

Whether one chooses Linux hosting or Windows hosting will to a great extent depend on what the webmaster proposes to do with his website. Here is a quick rundown of both Linux hosting and Windows hosting.

Linux Hosting

Linux hosting is a good choice if you consider that you have perpetual options of using open-source software for your hosting needs. Linux hosting would mean that the operating system is fully compatible with PHP, which is steadily becoming the most popular programming language.

It is important to remember that Linux is a breeding ground of practicing programmers all over the globe and innumerable applications are being authored, re-written and tested all the time. What this means in simple terms is Linux hosting will always keep the door open to let in fresh air of new discoveries. For an avid user, nothing beats Linux hosting in this aspect.

The other advantage with Linux hosting is that it is cheap. Why? Since most application software are free to install and use, the hosting cost is reduced to only maintenance of servers. Since proprietary software are not installed, many overhead expenses are avoided in case of Linux hosting. This enables hosting providers to pass on the cost-advantage to its customers of Linux hosting.

Here are some examples of popular open-source application software, mostly in PHP, that can be easily used in Linux hosting.

Ecommerce Shopping Cart : OS Commerce, Zen-CartContent Management System : Drupal, PHP-Nuke, MamboBlog : Wordpress, Nucleus CMSPhoto Gallery : 4Images, Coppermine

Windows Hosting

Windows hosting makes use of Microsoft's proprietary Windows software for the host server. In contrast with Linux hosting, Windows hosting allows integration primarily with Microsoft's own products and services. For example, if you plan dynamic web content, you have to use ASP (Active Server Pages) or the advanced ASP.NET as your programming language, both created by Microsoft to be linked to SQL databases.

Interestingly, if you choose MySQL as your database, you may opt for either Linux hosting or Windows hosting, but in case your choice for database is MS Access, your option is only Windows hosting.

Windows hosting has limited support for CGI / Perl, so if your favorite scripts are in Perl, it has to be Linux hosting for you. On the other hand, good news for FrontPage users is that though it is essentially a proprietary Microsoft-owned software application, many Linux hosting do support FrontPage extensions.

There is an argument that the user interface for Windows hosting is much simpler between the two. However, of late Linux hosting too has improved on this score.

Coming to cost analysis, Windows hosting is costly not only because of proprietary software, but also due to the fact that Windows servers as such are costly, compared to servers used for Linux hosting.

Summing Up

Glossing over, what emerges is that it is the purpose of your website and its future plan that are the determining factors between choosing Linux hosting and Windows hosting. To be sure, all serious hosting providers will, in varying combination, offer a choice of both Windows hosting and Linux hosting.