Linux Server

Deciding whether to use a Linux Web Site Hosting service or a Windows service can be the source of some confusion. The aim of this post is to provide a simple non-technical explanation to help in making that choice.  In fact, for many people it doesn’t actually matter and the standard of service provided by the hosting company is more important.

Key points to be aware of:

The operating system used by your web hosting service is not connected to your PC operating system. Knowing Windows well will not mean that it is easier to use Windows hosting.
Most web sites are powered by Linux servers using the Apache webserver so support for Linux is good.
Linux is open source so there are no license fees involved. This means that Linux web site hosting may be cheaper but the difference will not be large.
As regards security, performance and reliability much has been written about the differences but for real world purposes they can be taken to be similar.
If you are just going to build a standard web site then either Linux or Windows will be fine. Your hosting service will likely supply tools to enable you to do this but you will also be able to use third party site builders if you prefer.
If you are building a database driven site you need to be careful. WordPress has become very popular for web sites and blogs and this is database driven. If you want to use WordPress it is best to use Linux hosting.
There are technologies which only work with one operating system and others that work more easily with one. Therefore your choice can be limited by what you are intending to do. If you are having a site produced for you your developers should be consulted prior to making any choice on hosting.

Windows hosting is appropriate when:
Your web site uses Microsoft  technologies like ASP or .NET or uses Access or SQL Server databases.

Use Linux Web Site Hosting if:
You will be employing a MySQL database or using CGI, PHP or Perl.

Bottom Line
If there is a reason to use Windows hosting then do so, otherwise (including if you don’t know) get Linux hosting.