Linux And Unix Dedicated Hosting - Differences, Pros And Cons

What is the difference between UNIX and Linux?

Most webmasters cannot answer this question, and yet this is a decision facing every business shopping for managed hosting or dedicating hosting. Most people in the industry know that Linux is UNIX-like, but that is a limited understanding and only leads us to more questions. What does UNIX-like mean? How does this affect my website and/or business? UNIX is a proprietary system, and Linux is an open-source system initially intended to emulate UNIX. The open-source nature has given rise to a massive worldwide community developing and maintaining Linux software. This means that Linux is powerful, diverse, and free. A Linux-powered hosting solution will generally be cheaper than a UNIX-powered one because of that. However, this openness means that there are no standards between the environments, the tools, and the functionality. The developers of UNIX, on the other hand, target UNIX flavours toward specific audiences and platforms. These developers maintain consistency between editions, and they publish their standard, which a company can use and rely on in developing their own software. They also highly test patches prior to release. When a Linux patch becomes available, the early adopters often act like beta testers. In order to choose between UNIX and Linux, a company must fully understand its needs. In many cases, the savings provided by using Linux offset its shortcomings. However, if a company will be involved in a sophisticated web development scenario, the added cost of UNIX often pays for itself in the stability and reliability that it provides to the client. UNIX is:

• Customized
• Reliable
• Expensive

Linux is:

• Customizable
• Diverse
• Free

Two Key Reasons For Linux Over Unix For Dedicated Hosting

Choosing a dedicated hosting solution forces a close look at the choices. For most businesses it comes down to Linux or Unix. Linux evolved out of the open source movement and desire to drive the modern operating system forward in a way that Unix has not been driven. There are two areas where Linux proven superior: Innovation and Growth. Innovations in virtualization, customization, and resource management have been driven in Linux sooner than by the Unix versions. The common web stack of Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP comprise the base of ventures ranging from start-up blogs to multi-national corporations.

• Over 2.5 million lines of code are added to Linux per year
• Over 10,000 lines are added per day
• Over 5,000 lines are deleted per day

This level of innovation has sparked the growth of the Linux dedicated hosting market. Innovation is key to delivering a website that is stable and able to leverage the latest technologies. The Linux install base is growing at increasing levels while Unix is failing to maintain market share.

• The annual growth rate for Linux was recently calculated at over 23%
• The annual growth rate for Unix was calculated at a much lower 1.8%

Linux is the clear choice for all but legacy application that are not worth it to your business to migrate off of Unix. Innovation and growth are the keys to success in any venture, and Linux delivers where Unix does not.