hostingchoice asked: Web hosting has grown as an independent industry in itself and the hosting service providers offer many diverse features and services to its customers. Concurrently, web development has evolved like anything from static HTML pages, to flashy, interactive and animated sites. Users can virtually do online shopping, listen and download videos, make payments, create and participate in surveys, and so on.
In addition, different design and development technologies, such as Microsoft technologies or Open Source technologies have opened new avenues for web hosting as well. An HTML based site works equally well on both Linux and Windows platforms, without any technical problems. However, of late, Linux hosting is getting more popularity that Windows based hosting because of following reasons.
* Linux platform is more powerful, secure and cost-effective. Though it is bit complex to use, it is a better option than Windows if security is a main consideration for you.
* If you have budgetary constraints, use Linux. It is cheaper than Windows based hosting because open source technologies are available and distributed free of cost.
* Linux is based on a more secure structure and Linux hosted sites are less vulnerable to viruses, spam and hacking.
* Linux supports wide range of file extensions, and free availability of software that supports Linux servers keep the cost low.
* You can always host a Linux hosted site to a Windows based server; though the reverse may not be always possible.
Linux based control panels offer better and advanced features. For example, you can see detailed statistics of traffic to your site, and set different levels of permissions on your web pages and database.