As far as the types of hosting services are concerned there is not much of a choice as there are only two major hosting types, Windows hosting and Linux hosting . This is one of the most popular and frequent tech debate as to which one is the better, Linux or Windows. Though both types of hosting has its specific pros and cons and are seen with personal preferences and technical attributes when choosing a hosting service, both remains popular on a shoulder to shoulder analysis. Windows hosting has some specific areas of strength that in spite of lagging behind Linux in number of aspects wins favor as a hosting system. Over the years thanks to its huge mass market appeal it changed itself in many aspects and continued to evolve as a hosting system that supports a lot many programming languages previously thought to be impossible. Let us have a basic understanding of the definition and technical attributes of Windows hosting before describing the pros and cons.
Definition
When web hosting servers run by Windows operating system and its variants the hosting system is called as Windows hosting . Using Windows hosting the website or web page seamlessly can access the programming and web development aspects supported by Windows operating system. From a general mass market point of view Windows is the most popular computer operating system in the world and so when opting for a hosting service it enjoys huge popularity among the webmasters and users. Windows being the operating system constantly being on the focus of research as tech giant Microsoft's most popular front line product, is continuing to improve in great array of technical aspects to support more programming languages and scripts.
Who should opt for Windows Hosting?
For some scripts and web languages to work seamlessly Windows hosting is absolutely necessary. Windows hosting system typically supports ASP and ASP.net which is a major plus on Windows hosting specifications. MS SQL database and MS Access part of supporting databases in Windows hosting environment. Visual Basic Development and C# are other developer languages supported by Windows hosting. If you are particular about these technical specifications when choosing a web hosting service it is advisable to go for Windows hosting.
Pros and Cons of Windows hosting
In talking of pros and cons of Windows hosting it unavoidably takes us to the comparison between Linux hosting and windows hosting as they are the only two major choices as for hosting services. While Linux hosting is still the most popular web hosting system among the hosting services Windows with its gigantic backup of Microsoft continuing to evolve and incorporate many new aspects as for supporting newer programming languages. Let us have a look at the distinct pros and cons of Windows hosting.
Pros:
- It is a brand of considerable mass appeal and so still holds enough competition for Linux as a hosting system in spite of few crucial lacking.
- With the robust Microsoft brand and research output working behind it is sure to evolve with time and claim many areas previously called its weak points.
- Supports ASP, ASP.net and Microsoft Sharepoint, some of the major web programming languages - truly an uncontested area in their favor when comparing to Linux. Windows also supports PHP, so not offering much less when compared to Linux for versatile web development features.
- Wider and programming friendly operating databases like, MS SQL and MS Access.
Cons:
- Compared to Linux a lot costlier hosting system as it is not a free and open source software. So for your hosting need Windows hosting packages can actually be a little costlier than Linux.
- For design specific, rich informative text development on the web it is less effective compared to Linux as it does not support a great array of such programming languages like Perl, Ruby, Python, CGI script, etc.
- To go by the experts Linux is more secure than the windows hosting system.