UNIX versus Windows hosting – which is better? You may have noticed in your search for Web Hosting services that some state that they have UNIX hosting, while others have Windows. If you didn’t understand the difference, you probably did one of two things: You decided that it didn’t matter, and skipped over that part – or you stopped in utter confusion, wondering what this meant.

The first thing to note is that the system that you develop your webpages on – UNIX versus Windows hosting – has nothing to do with the server that will store and display them – whether it is UNIX or Windows doesn’t matter, in this sense. Furthermore, the type of server – UNIX or Windows – has no bearing on what type of computers can access the webpages. The visitors system has no bearing on which one you choose.

Main Differences

There are, however, differences that you do need to be aware of. For example, UNIX systems are historically more reliable and stable than Windows servers. In fact, it is nothing for a UNIX server to run for years on end without the need to ever reboot the server. This does not mean that Windows servers are unreliable. It simply means that UNIX servers tend to be more reliable than Windows.

Most hosting companies will have UNIX servers, even if they are different types of UNIX servers, such as Linux or FreeBSD. This is because the Linux and FreeBSD operating systems are free, effectively reducing the expenses of the hosting company. Windows, on the other hand, costs a great deal of money (in the thousands), which in turn means that hosting companies using Windows servers tend to charge more than those using UNIX.

Open Source

Linux, as well as other UNIX operating systems, are open-source applications. When an application is open-source, the source code for that application can be altered by anyone. This is often done to improve the software, to update it, or to add features that do not already exist. Windows is owned by Microsoft, and is not open-source software. This means that if improvements or upgrades are needed, we must wait on Microsoft to make them.

Applications

You are probably still wondering how the type of server used affects you and your website. Simply put, UNIX is not capable of running many applications, such as MS Access Databases or ASP (Active Server Pages). They also cannot handle Visual Basic or VBScripts. Windows, on the other hand, can handle all of these. UNIX has other alternatives, however, such as the ability to handle CGI, MySQL databases, and PHP.

If you will need to include media files, such as audio and videos, you will most likely need a Windows server. However, Shockwave, Real Media Files, Flash, and MP3s can be handled by either UNIX or Windows. If you will be using FrontPage as your HTML editor, you can still host your pages on either a Windows server or a UNIX server.

What Your Site Needs

As you can see, it really isn’t an issue as to UNIX versus Windows hosting, which type of server is best. It is more of an issue of what you plan to do with your site and the types of files that you will be using on that site. If you will be serving video and audio to your visitors, if you need a dynamic site, or if you need to use Microsoft Access Databases, you will need a Windows Server. However if you will not be using any of these things, it is usually best to go with a UNIX server.