What Is The Difference Between Windows and UNIX Web Hosting?

Windows and UNIX are in fact two differentScripts, MS Index Server, Macromedia's and Cold
systems and of course we are referring to computerFusion.
systems. A web host uses computers, (we shallWindows operating system require little or no
refer to them as servers, just computers, butexperience in web development to get advanced
sometimes larger) to host websites, and allfeatures working very quickly because of better
computers need a operating system, so Windowsgraphical user interface (GUI) Software such as
and UNIX are the operating system.Microsoft's FrontPage is specially developed for the
The Windows used is normally Windows NT or 2000webmaster to decrease the website development
and of course as you know Microsoft charges for it'stime and efforts.
software, while UNIX is an open source operatingLets go back again to UNIX, they support FrontPage,
system, this means that the original creators of theFlash, Shockwave, Real Audio/Video, Cgi Scripts, Perl,
system have given up the rights and anyone can usePHP, SSH (Secure Telnet), MySQL, Web-Based
it, change, improve or do anything they want with,Control System, Anonymous FTP, Web Site Graphical
free of charge.Statistics, Web-Based Email System, Miva/XML, Cold
From this we already have to main differences,Fusion Perl, JAVA, PHP, C, C++, Miva, Shell Access
Window hosts are more expensive and UNIX is moreand other wide verity of feature like Telnet and SSH
reliable, because it as been improved by thousands ofthat provides lots of flexibility and freedom in
anonymous people.managing file and directories, but some of this require
Most probably you are reading this in front of youradvance knowledge of Unix commands in order for
computer which most probably is operates on ayou to customize the scripts to match your website
Windows XP, have you noticed that it sometimes, itneeds.
freezes, and the only solution is to restart it? UNIX isBecause of the nature of UNIX, (open source) and
much more stable, robust, time-tested, flexiblethe people who love it, there is on the WWW freely
platform for a web server.available software and scripts, again bringing the cost
Hosting Marketersdown.
But Windows servers have also it's positive sides,Concluding which one is the best, it really depends
they are compatible with Microsoft applications, andwhat you need, if you need high uptime, security and
fully support Microsoft FrontPage, Microsoft Accessnot so expensive then go with UNIX, if you need to
and MS SQL, they also offer advance-programmingrun Windows applications like, MS Access or the MS
environments and features such as Active ServerSQL SERVER then Windows is your choice.
Pages (ASP), the ASP.NET framework, Visual Basic