Most people simply assume that all web servers and computers run either Microsoft Windows or the Macintosh operating system, but that’s not true. In fact, many web servers actually use either Linux or Unix, two very similar operating systems. In fact, it’s possible your web hosting server uses one of these two operating systems and you don’t even know it! That’s because people using shared web hosts really don’t need to know anything about how the server operations. However, if you’re using a virtual private server or a private server for your web hosting, you may need to know what operating system it’s using.
Many people haven’t heard about Linux/Unix, however, because until several years ago, they were mostly used by those in the computer programming field. Few average users used these operating systems on their home computers because they are much more complex than Windows or Mac OS. Recent upgrades, however, have made them more user-friendly. However, for the most part, you won’t have to worry about actually using either of these operating systems since all you’ll need to do is upload your website to the hosting server.
Both Linux and Unix are open source operating systems. This means they are platform independent. It doesn’t really matter what operating system you use, although there are some specific Windows applications and programming languages, such as ASP and Visual Basic, that may not work on Linux/Unix servers. However, basic web design, Java applets, and all other programming scripts like Pearl, Python, PHP, C/C++, and Shell will work just fine. When it comes to databases, though, you’ll also need to be aware that while Linux/Unix both support mSQL and MYSQL, they don’t support that Microsoft MSSQL database.
While you may not be able to take advantage of as many Microsoft products, Linux/Unix does claim to be much more reliable and isn’t as often targeted by viruses as Windows is. This is why many in the computing world prefer to run these operating systems. Since they’re open source, programmers are able to modify the system to their needs. Linux/Unix is also designed for multitasking. The two operating systems can run a large number of processes all at once, putting all of the server’s resources to use.
The cost of Linux/Unix is also much cheaper than Windows. In fact, since they are both open source, there is usually very little cost involved with installing and using either Linux or Unix. This means web hosting costs in generally are cheaper since there’s no operating system cost or licensing fee involved. Often, you’ll only pay for storage and bandwidth use.
The downsides of using a Linux/Unix hosting server is that you won’t be able to use Microsoft FrontPage extensions, advanced ASP scripts, or some of the Microsoft databases and other programming languages. However, if you won’t be using any of these on your website, then there’s no reason not to consider a Linux/Unix server. You may even find that Linux/Unix web hosting offers more for your website than a Windows server does.