I’m terribly confused! I’ve registered my domain name, and am ready to set up my website hosting. It appears I need to choose a web server operating system, either Linux or Windows, which apparently is not related to my computer operating system (Windows).

I emailed my husband’s best friend (the one who owns the graphic design company and who I keep hoping will offer to design my website, but so far he’s not getting the hint! Lol). He said to go with linux, but then he added a line into his email that windows based servers are required for Microsoft products.

My husband’s friend is biased, because he thinks Microsoft is trying to take over the world, so I’m hoping you guys can offer some input! (Also, I don’t want to pester him too much so I can continue to ask him for advice! )

I currently use Microsoft products, and would like to continue to do so. Can I have Linux for my web server operating system, Windows for my computer operating system, and still be able to use Microsoft products in my business?

I've been researching this online, but it seems that a lot of articles are too technical for me.

Our servers are all Linux - I don't know if that helps you at all. We just find they're easier to work with and Linux is more stable (ie - doesn't affect the browser in a negative way). Linux is Open Source so there are more free products you can install, scrpits, etc. Linux is also more secure (in our opinion).

If all of your pages are .HTML pages then you can choose either one without issue - your hosting server has nothing whatsoever to do with what tools you use on your computer, what your browser is, what your OS is, etc. so don't worry about that. If you're coding anything in ASP then you will need to choose a Windows server.

I don't know if that helps or confuses you even more....let me know

That helps a LOT, Tess! Thank you so much!

Glad to help!

Tess, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think Linux has to be used if you plan to host a Wordpress-based blog at all...I might be wrong, but I think I read that on my hosting site somewhere.

That may or may not influence your decision, but it did mine!

__________________
Brianna Young, VA and Graphic Artist
www.virtualsolutionsadmin.com
"It's not the piano that makes beautiful music. It's the person sitting AT the piano!"

Hey Bri! Actually, you can host WP on a windows server as long as it supports PHP. Possibly your host doesn't?

Thank you for that information, I have trying to find if I can host my page on linux server since I made few simple web pages in Web Page Maker. This information is very helpful for me. I decided to use Linux, even so I use mostly Microsoft OS.