Whats the difference between Linux web hosting and Windows web hosting?

[suninfy123]

Heya Please tell em what the difference is between linux web hosting and windows web hosting. I made my site by dreamweaver does that affect either of the 2 i should choose please tell me thanx!

[matthis]

linux is more secure and faster than windows. it supports a wide range of softwares/applications like PHP, Perl, PostGre, MySQL, PostgreSQL but linux is not fully compatible with some Microsoft technologies so if you are using Access, ASP, MS SQL, then windows would be better.
windows servers can run Microsoft software such as Access and MS SQL databases. some say windows hosting is more suitable for newbies because it is not as complex as linux.
i personally prefer linux due to security and stability reasons.

[matthis]

concerning dreamweaver.. it definetly works with linux..and i think with windows as well...

[livetecshosting]

Choosing windows hosting and linux hosting depends upon what type of application do you want to host.

[traxport121]

Most of the companies out there are using Linux platform because its cheap, and flexible. The best control panel utility that runs on linux is cPanel, so yes, you can run your site pretty easily on that. However, the Windows hosting tends to be a bit expensive. The control panel for windows is Encompass (by cPanel) and parrallel's plesk panel. They are pretty much good too.

So bottom line, it doesn't really matter if you run your site on Linux or Windows. The sites run pretty well on both of the operating systems. The most popular one out there is Linux cPanel on CentOS If you have any further questions regarding this, feel free to PM me.

[branco]

Linux is more popular than Windows hosting. Linux supports PHP natively and most of your free softwares are PHP. Windows can support PHP too but I suggest Linux
One of the biggest differences between the Linux and Windows servers is security. Linux is built much more secure than Windows servers. From the offset, the root level is not available to most programs without permission.

Also, it is much easier to control URL structure in Linux which is important for search engine rankings.

You can read this article to understand better

[rolson14]

Linux supports PHP natively and most of your free softwares are PHP. Windows can support PHP

[dj.c]

this has been discussed over and over already. would it be rude that I ask you to put a research on this forum or google?

[miketyson]

Hello guys. The main difference between them is that Linux has a reputation for stability and speed which means that Linux web servers will crash less often than Windows web servers.

[branco]

Each hosting solution has advantages and inconveniences. But which is better?
Security:
Concerning security, the Linux distributions are known for their high security level opositely to the Windows distributions which are always victim of viruses attacks. But, we also know that the use changes from an adminstrator to another. So, an Windows Hosting user can be safe from any attack if he has a minimum of knowledge and a novice user of Linux Hosting can cause an unreasonable risk to its server.
Conclusion: The Operating System is not decisive to answer to security problems.
Handling:
Everybody says : "Linux distributions are too complicated for me... they are for IT professionals". It is true that Linux is more difficult than Windows, in spite of the Linux distributions evolution of these last years which are more handy. But MSDos of Windows is also difficult and it is diffrent from the graphical interface we know. The Linux hosting or Windows hosting solutions proposed are sold with an operating system configurable via the console interface.
Conclusion: The Handling of each Linux hosting or windows hosting depends on the administrator habits.
Price:
The Linux distributions are free, they are Open Source Operating Systems, and the Windows distributions are paying solutions. That is why Windows Hosting is usually more expensive than Linux Hosting solutions. The difference between its two prices is based on this criteria. There are some Linux Hosting solutions which are more expensive than the Windows Hosting solutions like the RedHat Entreprise Hosting solutions.
Conclusion: The price depends on the license we have to aquire and on our hosting solution provider.
General Conclusion: Their is no difference between Linux Hosting and Windows Hosting. It depends on what we want to do with it and what kind of application we want to run on our Hosting Solution. Their are applications which require a Linux distribution and other which require a Windows distribution.