My website is a peer to peer advice forum. I cant decide between Linex and Windows Hosting. Help?

I have my domain and set up most of my hosting stuff last night. I thought I bought Linex hosting but it keeps asking me if I want Windows or Linex. I found that with Windows extra software is generally expensive which is not something I would look forward to. If my website is a forum would I easily beable to run the Linex hosting? Any advice would help tremendously. I can add details if need be.My website is a peer to peer advice forum. I cant decide between Linex and Windows Hosting. Help?
I run several servers both Linux and Windows. In general you will get more power out of a Linux server with the same hardware configuration as the Windows server. If cost is a concern Linux will always be cheaper as it has a much stronger open source community.





The most important question is what Forum you plan to use. Some are programmed in ASP which does run better on Windows while many are written in PHP which will give Linux an advantage.





When managing a web server a control panel is used that takes care of most day to day tasks. So it should be no more difficult to configure a website on a Linux server with cPanel than it would with a Windows server.My website is a peer to peer advice forum. I cant decide between Linex and Windows Hosting. Help?
Stick with linux. You can have your host install windows extensions.
All websites today currently run on either a Windows web server or a Linux-based server. The vast majority of websites run on a Linux-based platform as Linux has a strong reputation for security and web server performance. With standard (static) HTML-based websites, the web hosting platform doesn't make much difference. When it does make a difference, however, is when the website uses a dynamic scripting technology such as ASP (A Microsoft based technology), or PHP / PERL (Linux based technologies). A Windows-based hosting solution will run a Microsoft Windows server with IIS (Internet Information Server), and is necessary to run an ASP / ASP.NET scripted website. A Linux-based platform is typically used for PHP, Perl, and most other types of websites. Basically, unless your website uses ASP (pages ending in the .asp extention), Windows hosting is not neccessary.





If you want to start your website I recommend purchase your domain and hosting together. In this way it is possible to get your domain for free. Some hosting services offer this gift today.





As an experienced webmaster I recommend BlueHost service which I’m sure it would work for you and fulfill all your requirements. They have a really great offer for hosting %26amp; I have used them for over 3 yrs now, and have never had a single problem with them.





They are a Multi-awarded Web Hosting which offer a Full-featured service only $6.95 a month. Their service is really perfect and uptime.





You can go there through the address below:


http://bluehost-service.atspace.com





Here I have copied and pasted its features from their website to view:





- Free Domain Forever


- 1500 Gigabyte Hosting Space


- 15000 GIGS of Transfer


- Host UNLIMITED Domains (Support All Domain Names)


- Forum and Blog Tools


- 2,500 POP/Imap Email Accounts


- SSH (Secure Shell), SSL, FTP, Stats


- CGI, Ruby (RoR), Perl, PHP, MySQL


- 2000/2002 Front Page Extensions


- Free Site Builder


- 24/7 Superb/Responsive Sales/Support


- Free Search Engine Submission





They also offer ';Free Site Builder'; that helps you build your web pages without difficulty if you are not skilled in using any website creating program. (WYSIWYG: What You See Is What You Get)





******IMPORTANT*******


* This service was awarded “The Best Web Host OF 2008”.


* If you sign up for this service you will have $100 credits to advertise your website with the google %26amp; yahoo search engines for free!


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Good Luck!