Linux Vs NT

[letsgetsilly]

Hello everyone,

I am currently a student majoring in Management of Information Systems, as well as Financing. I am working on a large formal report that will represent a big chunk of my grade.

I am looking for information that will support the use of NT or Unix in a small-medium business networking situation.

I do not have specifics on what type of operations will be used in this business, but they are free for me to create in a hypothetical situation.

I would like to find any information on where I can find sources that support either one of these Network Operating Systems. Also, any individuals that deal with these kinds of problems within their own professions would be wonderful to hear from. Also, please post your personal opinions here.

Thank you in advance,

-Adam

[no1v2]

It's a matter of using the right tool for the job. Oh, and by NT you mean NT-based systems, right? ;) Nobody should be setting up NT 4 or older these days. When selling web hosting to a wide range of users the "right tool for the job" is usually UNIX. To help fit it into the budget that usually narrows things down to Linux or the free BSD's (no pun intended).

Budget considerations will sometimes cause, say, Linux and Samba to be used instead of Windows 2000 Server, or Linux instead of a commercial UNIX, when otherwise Windows or the commercial UNIX would have been preferable.

I know that was pretty much stating the obvious, but I'm not sure what else you're looking for in a public forum ;) If you want you may contact me privately (via e-mail) and I'll tell you what I can about what my employer uses and why. Most of the actual operating details are confidential, but I think much of what you're looking for is public information and would make a nice addition to your report.

[!aborabi]

This depends what do you want to run on your servers. If you want to have PHP based applications I think Linux is better solution. If you plan to use ASP and .NET enviroment then take Windows(NT) solution.

[devonblzx]

Agreed.. with aborabi...depends on what you need or want to offer..

Linux is free though you can never beat that ;-) but if you need ASP and .NET you definitely need to look into Windows hosting...

I think both are about the same performance wise nowadays

[iamliam]

I think he's referring to an entire business networking system, not just web hosting.

To be honest, I'm not sure. A few years ago, I would have said Windows (hands down) but all the recent advancements in open source technology have made me reconsider. You really can do anything with Linux that you can do on Windows in terms of networking, but for free.

Perhaps I'm not the best person to give you a proper answer!

[alemcherry]

Linus is:
1. Cheap - its free.
2. Runs a number of free software - PHP, PHP scripts, MySQL
3. Is better suited for a multi user environment. Have better permission system than Linux. SO better suited for shared hosting.