Although it may not be on a balanced scale, the world is divided into two main camps when it comes to software environments: the Windows camp and the Linux camp.
Now, before we go into whether you should choose Windows or Linux hosting and helping you find out which one is the ideal one for you, let us make one thing clear: there is no “better choice” there’s only a “better fit”. You see, every hosting scenario comes with its own unique preconditions that you will need to meet before you can have a fully-functioning website. The more of these preconditions you meet – by implementing the environment that fosters them – the better success you will have.
Millions swear by Windows and just as many others do so by Linux. But enough about that, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty:
Price
When it comes to money matters, having your site hosted on a Linux machine is always cheaper – because the operating system itself is free and hosting providers only have to pay nominal fees to use it on their servers.
Microsoft knows no such nonsense; anyone wanting to use their products needs to pay.
So, if you’re watching your budget, Linux is the way to go.
GUI Experience
Yes, most of us have grown lazy but more importantly we have gotten used to great graphical user interfaces (GUIs) like the ones only Windows can give us. Not all of us are good at working with text-based command line syntaxes (many of us don’t even know what that means, or even care).
So, if you want to click, drag and drop choose Windows. If you want to set out on a challenging adventure, go for Linux.
Stability and Strength
The good thing about open source software like Linux is that millions of pairs of eyes pry inside them and tinker with their inner workings. They all contribute to making them work better. So far, the tinkerers have done a great job – Linux is very stable and rarely crashes or causes much misery.
Also, since these same people monitor any attacks on the system and can actually go in and fix any bugs or loopholes, Linux is a very secure operating system.
Windows on the other hand – well, let’s not go into the crash rates and “Blue Screen of Death” horror stories. But, in its defense, this operating system is receptive to ecommerce sites and offers robust functions that allows for a much wider choice of applications.
So, here you will have to choose between practicality and stability.
Easy Integration
Windows can be integrated with many languages, scripts and add-ons, making it an all-encompassing software that can be easily configured and tweaked.
With Linux it needs a little bit of expertise. Although it does have a GUI that helps with such tasks, Linux version doesn’t seem as fully-fledged as the Windows interfaces. You will, eventually, have to go into some code typing (however crude it may be) to make things work. That is tough.
So, if you have the knowhow then you can choose Linux, but if you would like it all to be as simple as copying and pasting stuff or clicking on buttons to go “Next”, you should stick to Windows.
The Knowhow Out There
With a 70% dominance of the operating system market, there is no shortage of Windows software experts. At the very least, experienced administrators will have the confidence to troubleshoot a few problems even if they aren’t experts per se – the interface is user-friendly and pretty clearly understandable (especially in case of errors like “The application is not responding – wait or restart?” or something in that sense).
With Linux – it’s a little bit scarier. Troubleshooting a Linux problem is a bit confusing – to say the least. You need to know exactly what you are doing and the error messages seem to be written in cryptic code.
Therefore, if you want to host your site where any, and every, one with a few days’ exposure to a Windows screen can help you out with suggestions, then by all means buy the Microsoft product.
With Linux – finding the expertise will be a little tougher as the pool is smaller. And so, again, if you’re a brave soul go with Linux, else…
The Stuff your Site is Made Of
If you have gone ahead and already created your website, then it probably means you have already sealed your fate. ASP .NET sites with an MS SQL database will want to run on a Windows server while sites designed with other open source coding languages like PHP and with a MySQL database will run more efficiently on a Linux environment.
So, you’ve already chosen. That’s that. Well, in fact, you can make Windows applications run on Linux and the, say, PHP site run on Windows; but that only makes your job tougher.
Ok, now that we have seen these points you will have to make a “pros” and “cons” chart to see which one will be your hosting operating system of choice. But, let us leave you with a general tip: if someone else is doing the hosting, and especially administration, for you (a web hosting provider, for example) choose the Linux operating system. If you have to do your own administration, go for Windows – not paying yourself alone will go a long way in offsetting the cost.
Choose wisely. And then be aware
