Hosting: What's the Difference?
Microsoft Windows NT and Unix (of which there are many varieties, or flavors, including Linux, AIX, Solaris and more) are computer operating systems. Both Windows NT Server and quality Unix implementations are enterprise application servers that can be used for a variety of critical purposes, including, but not limited to, Web, email, and database hosting. Windows NT was developed by Microsoft and is, in many ways, the flagship of their software solutions.
UNIX's development roots begin about twenty years ago - jointly at Berkeley University and AT&T Bell Labs. UNIX is often referred to as an "open system", which means that its source code is publicly available. This has both its advantages and disadvantages. While it has allowed many thousands of developers from all over the world working for different companies to contribute to its development, it is also more complex and less coordinated.
Both of these operating systems make excellent platforms for mission-critical Web hosting, and they function well. There are some differences of the two systems:
- Windows NT supports most Microsoft products including Microsoft FrontPage - a popular Web authoring tool.
- Windows NT supports Active Server Pages (ASP) - a popular programming laguage that allows you to build dynamically database-driven web pages (connecting to Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL server).
- The majority of existing CGI programs (generally Perl scripts) that are available on the Internet have been developed on Unix platforms and hence tend to install and operate much more smoothly under Unix. Many Perl Scripts are FREE!
The bottom line: For many web sites the operating system on which the web server is housed is dependent upon the web site's desired functionality.
While each client has individual needs, in most cases, I recommend Windows NT/2000 based hosting because it is a more powerful and flexible hosting platform.
