Advantages of Linux

[laarni080]

Low cost: You don’t need to spend time and money to obtain licenses since Linux and much of it’s software come with the GNU General Public License. You can start to work immediately without worrying that your software may stop working anytime because the free trial version expires.

Stability: Linux doesn’t need to be rebooted periodically to maintain performance levels. It doesn’t freeze up or slow down over time due to memory leaks and such. Continuous up-times of hundreds of days (up to a year or more) are not uncommon.

Performance: Linux provides persistent high performance on workstations and on networks. It can handle unusually large numbers of users simultaneously.

Network friendliness: Linux was developed by a group of programmers over the Internet and has therefore strong support for network functionality; client and server systems can be easily set up on any computer running Linux. It can perform tasks such as network backups faster and more reliably than alternative systems.

Flexibility: Linux can be used for high performance server applications, desktop applications, and embedded systems. You can save disk space by only installing the components needed for a particular use. You can restrict the use of specific computers by installing for example only selected office applications instead of the whole suite.

Compatibility: It runs all common Unix software packages and can process all common file formats.

Choice: The large number of Linux distributions gives you a choice. Each distribution is developed and supported by a different organization. You can pick the one you like best; the core functionalities are the same; most software runs on most distributions.

Fast and easy installation: Most Linux distributions come with user-friendly installation and setup programs.

Full use of hard disk: Linux continues work well even when the hard disk is almost full.

Multitasking: Linux is designed to do many things at the same time; e.g., a large printing job in the background won’t slow down your other work.

Security: Linux is one of the most secure operating systems. “Walls” and flexible file access permission systems prevent access by unwanted visitors or viruses.

Open source: If you develop software that requires knowledge or modification of the operating system code, Linux’s source code is at your fingertips,


Today, the combination of inexpensive computers and free high-quality Linux operating system and software provide incredibly low-cost solutions for both basic home office use and high-performance business and science applications. The available choices of Linux distributions and Linux software may be overwhelming at first, but it if you know where to look, it shouldn’t take long for you to find good online guidance.

[MasterMind]

Interesting reading but now I'm wondering the advantages of having a dual platform.

I know that most Windows server support PHP applications, but now Netfirms is anouncing ASP.Net functionality over its Linux platform

[wantingawebsite]

kool, scrap windows web hosting all together then apart from mssql. :|

[monaghan]

Personally, I don't know whay people keep publishing this sort of junk. Linux is no better or worse than Windows. Even an old NT4 box can be put on the Internet, have high uptime without needing reboots all the time. When you look at many server offerings they make a big deal over the fact that they have reboot switches regardless of the OS being used. This suggests to me that there's a huge number of sysadmins that can't keep a box up and running regardless of OS.

Windows and Linux / *BSD / Unix etc... are different OS's and will of course have different costings associated with them. Any OS will only be as secure as the sysadmin, a fully trained & experienced system admin will have a better system reagrdless of OS. I came across an NT4 box on a secure LAN the other year that had been up for over 500 days (it was 540ish) and was only taken down to install a new tape drive, if that's not stable, then what is? I have a Linux box on a customer site that's been running without fail or reboot since I installed it last summer (until today when a powercut lasted longer than the UPS ).

Being experienced in both *nix and Windows OS's my servers enjoy stability and good uptime whatever OS they are running.

Each OS has it's own strengths and weakness and those who must only run their chosen OS because it's better then OS xyz... rather than because it's the best fit for the customer's needs are far too shortsighted to be left in charge of a system

I've seen people try to run Linux in an environment where they are the only team member with Linux skills, all the rest were MCSE (or multiple MCP's). On this occasion I rejected the request to install the Linux box on the network on future supportability costs. The training costs to put this single Linux box on the network far outweighed cost savings on a Windows server license (even at full retail cost). There was nothing in the application that required a Linux platform other than 1 person's desire to get Linux on their CV.

[saubryn]

That was an interesting post, and as an administrator of a few different server types myself, I agree about the uptime / stability thing. Almost every 'crisis' I've had to deal with at a sysadmin was down to dodgy hardware, not a dodgy OS.

The only reason I can see to use Linux is the cost - IF you are starting from scratch and would need to train your staff anyway, then you may as well opt for Linux - if Windows works, why change?