The battle between the two major hosting Platforms, Windows and Linux has been on for a while now. Linux fans vouch for its sheer freedom and stability, while the Windows followers swear by its ease of use. With time, Linux surely is edging past.
Frequent end of support announcements from Microsoft is definitely a bane forcing you to invest in the next upgrade. Upgrading itself would be challenge; Windows XP to Windows 7 being a case in point.
Linux is a robust Operating system devoid of the licensing issues Windows is plagued with. Round the clock support from Red Hat, Novell and Canonical has resulted in numerous large scale data centres making the switch to Linux for mission-critical applications.
Users with Microsoft applications can find support from Linux to maintain them. For example, .NET compatibility is ensured by Novell’s Mono project which provides Visual Studio plugins for Windows-based .NET applications coded in a Windows environment. In fact Linux provides better .NET application stability than Windows.
As far as stability is concerned, Linux system uptimes are close to 99.99%. Frequent rebooting due to service pack, patch or driver update results in poor stability and reliability for Windows users, who have non-stop critical application requirements.
Like most Operating systems Linux doesn’t offer 100 percent security. However, regular patches and kernel updates from the worldwide community ensures the required security. Also unlike Windows, the source code is open and, if you are adequately equipped, you could scan each line of code and ensure system security. One area where Linux clearly scores over Windows is the small memory footprint and hardware that it requires. Frequent hardware upgrades with new releases are not called for. For the same hardware configuration Linux would perform more efficiently than Windows.
Apart from support through forums and community sites by the worldwide community of code developers, the Linux Foundation comprising Oracle, Hitachi, NEC, IBM, Intel, HP, Novell and Fujitsu ensures that the support is widespread unlike Windows. And finally the big advantage- it’s absolutely free.