Linux for Web hosting?

NEW DELHI: Using Linux at the desktop is being considered widely amongst enterprises. Time will tell whether this will become a success story or not. Nevertheless Linux Servers are being considered for hosting Websites. A blog posting by Matt Bacak throws light on this.

According to Matt's post cost works greatly in favor of Linux as compared to Windows. Linux being open source software comes with zero licensing fee, whereas Windows has a huge cost attached to it which is calculated on per machine basis.

Talking about reliability, Matt gives a plus point to Linux as it is known for being very stable and seldom crashes as compared to Windows.

While all this sounds very much in favor of Linux one cannot ignore the functionality and compatibility that Windows has to offer. Windows support for Active Server pages (ASP), the most popular scripting language using which one can develop dynamic database-driven web pages, makes it a preferred choice, in many cases. Linux offers no support for ASP and Microsoft databases like SQL Server and Access leaving open source database MySQL as the only option. However, one can use the Linux accounts that come free with Frontpage extensions for uploading Frontpage websites on a Linux server.

The CGI programs available on the Internet for free are available as Perl scripts, and as they are developed on Linux servers they are more reliable if hosted on them.

While reliability, security and to a certain extent speed may work in favor of Linux one may have to depend on Windows for using ASP scripts and SQL Server and Access databases. What is your choice Linux or Windows on the server side? Leave us an opinion.