While choosing a hosting company, there are an enumerate things that must be looked at. These may vary from the price that we’re willing to pay for software and hardware features and characteristics of the server. A rule of thumb while picking a cheap host doesn’t necessarily mean good. In the hosting world, in general, “you acquire what you pay for”. So don’t be fooled and deceived by the host that offers you infinite resources for at a very low cost. Probably they’ll provide you with a poor service and lots of downtime.
Another crucial decision to be taken while seeking a hosting company is to choose between Windows and Linux hosting. There is no particular rule, you normally prefer what best suits your needs. I’ll describe the fundamental differences between Linux and Windows hosting.
The first difference and perhaps the most important one is the support for different programming languages. In Linux you’ve a huge range, everything from basic CGI / script support for high programming languages such as Perl, PHP, Ruby, etc. This is a great advantage and renders huge opportunities for programmers and technical users. In Windows, you get languages which are Microsoft powered like. NET, ASP etc.
The second difference is how you use the host. Both offer ftp access, Linux has more advanced features that you prefer to go with like ssh, telnet, VNC and many others. As you will be able to see it is more geared towards technical users. With Linux, you acquire great power but less user-friendly interface.
In the final difference what I will discuss is the safety and performance. It is recognized that Linux hosting agreement is much safer than Windows, but Linux is normally preferred. It is also true that Linux servers tend to be more successful with the hardware that they are being used with. So if safety and performance are significant to you Linux is the way to go, however if you are looking for a simple and user friendly interface, you may be interested on a Windows hosting.
3 Comments
Samy
June 22, 2009 at 17:18This information is very interesting and valuable to everyone of us who are interested in choosing a linux or a windows webhosting. Thank you for posting this.
Campbell
July 1, 2009 at 20:01I am a total newby about this. Appreciate getting some important details I was missing.
Zak
July 21, 2009 at 01:45Thank you guys for the nice words. I hope to heard more from you 🙂