Hello guies,

Do you prefere Linux or Windows box and why? WHat is the prefered control panel in each?

ANd what are the major companies for each OS?

I preffer Linux, why? Security, speed, efficiency, and native php/mysql support. Preffered control panel ( I know i'll get hit on the head for saying this) is cPanel... AFAIK they are working on a windows version right now. Big companies for Linux? Redhat, Suse, Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo. For servers, go for either RH or Gentoo... they are the fastest.

Christian ;-)

We prefer Linux with RedHat for reliability, stability and security. We use the Plesk control panel which is great.

Windows is equally as secure, stable and reliable as linux, at least RedHat Linux

If you go by 2002-2003 stats. RedHat linux was exploited more than Windows 2000. It simply comes down to management. Both can be equally secure, both can be equally unsecure

If you are a reseller, and want to decide between selling Windows or Linux, my personal experience is that Windows is more profitable to sell with features such as ASP.NET, SQL Server, etc. They is a market out there which isn't satured like the linux one.

Originally posted by Yash (JodoHost)
Windows is equally as secure, stable and reliable as linux, at least RedHat Linux

If you go by 2002-2003 stats. RedHat linux was exploited more than Windows 2000. It simply comes down to management. Both can be equally secure, both can be equally unsecure

If you are a reseller, and want to decide between selling Windows or Linux, my personal experience is that Windows is more profitable to sell with features such as ASP.NET, SQL Server, etc. They is a market out there which isn't satured like the linux one.

I agree with you. For resellers Windows can be better.

Originally posted by Yash (JodoHost)
If you go by 2002-2003 stats. RedHat linux was exploited more than Windows 2000. It simply comes down to management. Both can be equally secure, both can be equally unsecure


I know the stats you are referring to and im kicking myself that i cant find the article DISPROVING them!

I agree that Windows servers can be just as stable as Linux, but that statistical report you're referring to is very deceiving.

Microsoft combined many many security issues into 1 issue, thereby reducing the number of vulnerabilities calculated for the report.

Also since Linux is highly regarded in the Open Source community, more people are happy to report bugs more often to improve the software, whereas this does not readily happen for Microsoft.
The reported bugs under Linux were also far LESS detrimental than the Microsoft issues too.

If i find this report, ill post it....

About Open Source, of course Linux is much much better, but for the market, I think a Windows Reseller account is better. What about you?

Originally posted by jubbs

Also since Linux is highly regarded in the Open Source community, more people are happy to report bugs more often to improve the software, whereas this does not readily happen for Microsoft.
The reported bugs under Linux were also far LESS detrimental than the Microsoft issues too.


I disagree with that totally. Microsoft does proactively look for bugs and security risks and they do spent quite a bit money on it. Unfortuntely, most people don't realise that.

Also, alot of the security patches are released for non-crtical services such as IE or Windows Media or services similar to those. None have been released in recent times for IIS. Although there was a recent kernel vulnerability discovered in Windows (for which a patch was promptly issues), its scope was limited to causing a local denial of service issue, not gaining extra privelages or damaging the system. We have NEVER had a single Windows server compromised due to a Windows security flaw.

We have however had one Linux server compromised a year ago due to a linux kernel vulnerability.

There have been a number kernel vulnerabilities discovered in linux over the years. Here's one:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1400446,00.asp
That is a very serious vulnerability

For what reason do you believe it's better? Im assuming you're saying its better because you've had experience with both Operating Systems and have extensively compared them?

I honestly cant give my opinion because I haven't had enough experience with Windows servers to justify why it would actually be better than Linux... but with my limited experience, Windows generally seems to have more problems than Linux.

I don't believe either is better when it comes to reliability, security or stability. Yes, I agree that Windows NT and the early years of Windows operating systems had flaws. But the recent operating systems especially 2003 are pretty secure.

Windows 2003 comes locked down, ready to deploy almost out of the box. On the other hand, RedHat linux requires a number of ours to lock down and secure. IIS6 is an excellent product especially when it comes to being a shared host. Allows you to easily track and isolate problematic websites (with the help of application pools, etc). There are a number of advantages in Windows, and there are advantages in Linux as well but they are purely from the administration point of view

My advice to any customer making a choice between windows and linux is not to consider them on the basis of the perceived security/stability weakness of both OSs, but evaluate them on the basis of their needs.

But for resellers, windows reselling or a windows/linux combo is much more profitable IMHO than linux reselling