Microsoft
versus Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Unix; Which is better, or
worse?
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Which is better Unix Web Hosting; Linux? Windows?
On the Internet there is a tremoundous amount of argument over
which operating system is the best for web hosting. There are
anti-windows haters, there are FreeBSD fanatics and more. But
which is the best? The truth is it depends on what you are
doing.
The servers which run the web sites and the server software
all run on a computer program known as the operating system.
If you are running a personal computer chances are that you are
running Windows ME, XP, NT or some other similiar computer program.
That is the operating system of your computer. With web hosting
servers they also need a operating system and there are essentially
three different competing versions.
The first version is Windows. Microsoft makes an operating system
especially for servers. This operating systems allows true integration
with Microsoft's products and also allows web sites to run Active
Server Pages (basically computer scripts for dynamic web site
content). Microsoft's server also allows integration with its
SQL database, one of the more powerful databases. The downside
of Microsoft's server software is that it costs several thousands
of dollars for each server.
The second version is Linux. Linux is actually a common name
for a variety of operating systems. Linux was, and is, developed
by a community of individuals which come together to commonly
write the main part of Linux. After this main part is developed,
and continually refined, additional parts are added to the program
to customize it for whatever purposes the end user wants. A variety
of companies market Linux and you might have heard of a few:
Red Hat, Debian, Slackware, etc. Linux is good in that it is
compatible with the popular programming language PHP. It is also
favored by some web hosters in that in general it has a good
security record and tends on average to be a stable operating
system. Linux software is free.
The third version is Unix-based operating systems. The last
version mentioned here is very close in comparision to the Linux
versions. In fact there are probably more similiaries than differences.
The main difference is the history of how the two versions came
into being. Linux is an offshoot of the Unix operating system,
where the Unix-based operating systems are refinements of Unix
itself. Linux basically is a cousin to Unix-based operating systems.
The main Unix-based operating systems are FreeBSD and OpenBSD.
The selling point of these operating system is that they tend
to be very stable once installed. The downpoint is that they
are very technical to install. OpenBSD also has the reputation
of very secure in that in the last six years it had only one
security hole in the software itself. But OpenBSD does not allow
everything; that it you have to sacrafice some flexibility for
security. These operating systems are free as well.
So
which is the best? Well it depends on what you need. If you
want the tightest security you can get then OpenBSD is probably
for you. But it is very technical to install and you will not
have a lot of frills. How about compatibility with all of Microsoft's
products? Well then Windows is the best for you, but be prepared
in that it will cost a lot--the other operating systems here
all are free. How about compatibity with PHP? Well then look
at Linux or FreeBSD. You see it is not so much as which operating
system is the best, but rather which operating system is best
for what you need to do.
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