I have a senerio that happens to some companys out there. Lets say if I want to build my business on a unix platform but my knowlegde of unix is fair not great. And i start recieving customers and they start utilizing the control panel, ftp, mail, etc. Lets say i get a total of 150 customers and now i cant handle the load anymore as a reseller (sorry, forgot to mention earlier) and i now want to upgrade to a deticated server or colocation. Can my current reseller setup migrate over to Windows 2000 server including ftp accounts, mail, etc without no problem? Or Should i start my business off with a Windows reseller account and upgrade from there?

this will depend on the control panel you used for your current reseller account and the control panel which you will be installed on the dedicated server.

in WHM/Cpanel, there is a function which allow you to copy the whole account ( mail, ftp, mysql, web contents ) from server to server with just only a single click and it will do all the job for you.

Generally it will be quite a major exercise to migrate from linux to windows especially if you are just on a reseller account without root access.

If you decide to go with Windows in future, then I suggest you start with Windows now. It will make life simpler for you in future.

Certain things are migratable, but certain things are just not migratable.

If you stay on the same platform, then doing it would be easier especially if your new server mimics the old setup in terms of software (ftp daemons, MTA etc) used.

If you intend to move ultimately to Windows, it is best to start off with Windows.

With any server change, there would be unavoidably be some differences. If all your customers sites are just pure HTML with no scripting or database than it would be easy. There will be a change for the control panel and email systems.

But if your site includes database and scripts then although not impossible, you may have to make configuration and script changes one by one. It is a good thing that Windows also supports MySQL, PhP and Perl which are commonly used on a Linux server.

What is important is to stick to a system which you are more confident in if you are running clients account with it. You need to be on top of the situation and be more knowledgeable than your clients.

I've seen web hosts here would started off nice and dandy but then when faced with an avoidable or fixable, they flipped and panic.