Webhost Deathmatch: Linux Vs. Windows

When you choose a desktop operating system, there is a pretty significant difference between Windows and Linux. The user interfaces are vastly disparate, many applications are designed for one OS or the other and the underlying kernels are worlds apart. The same concept applies for Linux VPS hosting and Windows hosting. While the differences in user experience tends to be lessened because you’re typically working through control panels, and not the operating system proper, you still have features, scripts and technology that one server OS supports that the other doesn’t. Here’s what you need to know.

Script Support

The script languages supported by Windows and Linux differ greatly. Perl and CGI are both difficult to support on Windows, while Windows technologies aren’t supported on Linux servers at all. While the latest Windows server operating system supports PHP, you aren’t guaranteed to have that version of Windows on specific hosts, so confirm the OS version if you want PHP scripts to work properly on a Windows server. Always keep essential script support in mind when you choose the server operating system. Scripting really is the primary decision maker for choosing Windows or Linux, as the two operating systems don’t share a lot of cross-platform scripting support.

Pricing

Linux distributions are generally free and are all open source operating systems. Some distros do require a paid commercial support package, but the pricing and overhead is less expensive than comparable Windows servers, due to Windows’ licensing costs. Windows also depends upon more hardware resources to run properly, requiring a more powerful server than you would otherwise use. Keep your price point in mind, and be aware of the capabilities you’ll get with Windows compared to Linux.

Microsoft Technologies

If you’re using FrontPage extensions, ASP, ASP.NET or .NET, you are essentially locked into a Windows server. Microsoft doesn’t make it easy to use this technology on Linux, BSD or OS X servers, although some emulation is possible. However, performance is not optimal, and it tends to take a lot more time and energy than just getting a Windows server on hand.

Database Technology

Database-driven scripts are common in web applications, and Linux database support covers MySQL technology. It does not, however, cover Access databases or Microsoft SQL. Enterprise-level applications use extensive database technology, and Access is great at handling high volumes of fields and information. If you need a specific type of database, confirm it is compatible with the server operating system you are choosing.

Security

Linux is widely considered a more secure operating system than Windows, mostly because the Linux architecture is not as easy for virus creators to program for. The lack of executable support in Linux prevents standard viruses from working, and security holes are plugged up by the many programmers looking at the open source code. Windows gets attacked by hackers on a consistent basis, and users have to wait for Microsoft to develop and deploy patches.

Which do you prefer for web hosting: Linux or Windows? Tell us in the comments.

Gregory Adams

Greg is a technology and mobile trend freelance writer with a penchant for rollerblading.

Nexus not as hot as you think, Chitika

Google’s tablets really made the news after the release of Nexus 7 [Affiliate Link] and one might consider Nexus 7 to be bought by almost everyone but when it comes to the web traffic the results are not that much convincing. According to the Chitika’s current web traffic report Google’s Nexus tablets hardly make a difference. Chitika compared Nexus tablets with Microsoft surface and examined the web traffic for a week in November and surprisingly Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 [Affiliate Link] together accounted for almost 1% of the web traffic.

Well, part of the reason Nexus tablets have accounted so less of web traffic is because Google has not been able to cope up with demand of their devices. No doubt the demand for Nexus tablets is skyrocketing but Google has not been able supply with enough units or perhaps the supply was not enough from the get go. And to aggravate the situation, there is no official figure regarding the sale of Google Nexus devices.

As for Nexus 7 things have settled down in terms of demand and supply and Google is trying to take care of Nexus 10’s supply as well. But if supply has leveled out for both devices and still they lack behind in web traffic then it means that Nexus tablets are not that much of hit of hit among masses as we thought. There are other factors to be taken under consideration.

For those who do not know Chitika is one of the research firms that play a significant role in mobile advertising space. Also we are not aware of any official report manifesting the exact number of units of Nexus Google has sold. Nexus tablets may be hot among the techno geeks but when it comes to average masses it might not be as much demanding as the Apple’s iPad.

As for Microsoft Surface the results were even worst. It only accounted for .13 percent of the web traffic even lower than Nexus’s .91 percent. Again, there is no official figure regarding the sale of Microsoft’s Surface so in situation like this third party analytics for instance Chitika provides a much vivid story. The people at Microsoft might be happy with the figure Chitika has presented since Surface is first of its kind from Microsoft.

In a nutshell, if it isn’t Apple it is not on the top of food chain. iPad is the only tablet which in enjoying the healthiest share in the tablet market and even the iPad mini was able to make its mark the despite the tough competition it faced because of the reasoned price it offered.

Other tablets such as Amazon Kindle fire and Samsung’s Android based tablets may also be enjoying a healthy share because of their strong marketing campaigns. For now we cannot say anything and it would be better to wait until the early 2013 when 2012’s Q4 reports will be out. But according to the numbers now, we anticipate not more than 10 percent of the market share of both Microsoft’s Windows and Google’s Android together. 

 

 

Fahad Majidi is a Paid Contributor for the Paulstechtalk.com website.  Any views of his is his own and not of the website.   Any Links in this article are affiliate links to products mentioned to help support paying for the contributor.


 

One thousand GamerTags have been Hacked on Xbox!

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XBOX has been Hacked!

From what I can tell there are 1,009 GamerTags with passwords and email addresses. I am unsure how many of them are real and how many are just fake or if they are all fake. I do know if you have an XBOX account and you want to know if your account is hacked you can go to Pastebin and hit Control-F and either enter your GamerTag or email address.

Change your Password!

If you need to change your password on your XBOX account, all you really need to do is reset your live account.   Somethings to remember when changing your password is to have a difficult password and also something that can have a Dictionary Attack on it.  This has happened in the past with Xbox having accounts being hacked, it actually happened in 2007.  I recommend using something like Lastpass to create a very strong password that is hard to crack.   I know the pain of entering that password into XBOX but that is one way no one will gain access to your account!

Paul Sylvester

Android Malware, Ridiculous!

English: A candidate icon for Portal:Computer ... Image via Wikipedia

 

Malware for Android??

Nothing I have read from what people have said or done indicates that it is actually malicious in being installed.   Yet, Everyone keeps saying it is malware!

Software is considered to be malware based on the perceived intent of the creator rather than any particular features. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, scareware, crimeware, most rootkits, and other malicious and unwanted software or program.

[Via Wikipedia]

What is with people saying Android has Malware!   I don’t understand that and I have been scratching my head when I read this.   It really burns my buttons on my computer when I read it.

Use your Head!

If you haven’t been keeping up with my blog, you will know that it isn’t really unwanted.      Most programs you download using your android device is something that is being sought out but yet it isn’t going to be truthful when it comes to something you don’t know.    I can’t understand for the life of my why they are trying to scare people into thinking that you need antivirus for Android for security.   I’ve talked about this in past post but I will say it again:

 

This is something I tell my friends and family when buying an Application on the Market place from anywhere there is usually a bunch of reviews of it from various users and thus will help you determine if this application is worth the money or could be a problem.

 

My Underware!

I’m calling anything that is unwanted and stuff you didn’t know what is being rune’d on an OS.   I call this underware due to the fact that is programs that you installed on your OS but didn’t know that it is doing something it shouldn’t.  This is something that I called it because when you say malware, it makes me think of software that is being forced to be installed and running under the radar.   You really don’t know it is running and thus that is why you call it malware, but if you install a program accepting the consequences then, it should just be called underware.

What should it be called?

I’m really not sure what else to call it but the idea of underware is UNDER the radar programs.   If you can come up with something better please let me know but I don’t want it to be called malware.

Paul Sylvester

 

Have you tried Glasses USA!