If you've already decided you need a hosting account, you might get slipped up when you get asked, "Linux or Windows?" Fortunately, there isn't a big difference between them and either type of account works for most customers.
To make sure you do get the right type of account, though, you should choose the type of hosting account you want based on how you're building your site.
Development Tool | Linux | Windows |
---|---|---|
WordPress® or other Web apps | ✓ | - |
Dreamweaver or other WYSIWYG apps | ✓ | - |
PHP, MySQL, CGI, Python, or Perl | ✓ | - |
ASP, ASP.NET, MS SQL | - | ✓ |
ASP, ASP.NET and PHP, MySQL | - | ✓ |
I have no idea what any of this means | ✓ | - |
It's important to note that these are just our recommendations. Windows accounts will actually support most of these development tools (more info), but Linux hosting best fits most customers hosting needs.