1. The answer comes down to what service/application or software requirement is involved with that you are hosting. If the application (a CRM, for example) uses MS-SQL as its database, then you will need to run a Windows server.

   If you are running a website that is encoded in ASP.NET, then you'll need a Windows server for that. Linux has the advantage of being more flexible in what it can do, as well as being a lot cheaper. However, not a lot of people know the Unix operating system well enough to properly administer it.

2. A big advantage to running Windows servers is that most of the applications are commercial and you can call a customer support phone number for questions or concerns.

   A major advantage of Linux is that most software applications are free (and/or open source) and updates to the software are done quite frequently. Usually, you'll have to rely on other users for support for these applications but their usually exists a big community for obtaining help.

Tags: 7th dummy edition linux, understanding linux kernel