Mostly, hosting providers offer 2 operating systems with the server and these are Linux and Windows. Linux as an operating system is fabulous for dedicated host and this is because it actually supports most of the applications and software's or say technologies which are available. This actually means that you will be able to install most of the components required and as root access is provided, you are on the go once you decide to install the applications, however, the only drawback when it comes to Linux is the fact that you won't be able to install some of the applications of Windows and this is due to the lack of compatibility of the Windows applications.
The applications of Windows are basically designed for Windows dedicated servers only and hence most of the applications like asp, asp.net, MS SQL etc. aren't supported on Linux but are supported on Windows. Though, there are some applications available which can help you to run these applications on Linux dedicated server hosting, but they aren't reliable enough.
Windows hosting charges more than Linux hosting on a very obvious level simply because Microsoft doesn't release the series of Windows Server operating systems free. It's much more pricey than Linux distributions.
Windows server hosting have bigger server overhead thus consume more server resources than Linux platforms do with the same application and traffic demand. But it will not be so when it scales up. Therefore, hosting small websites that are not so popular on Windows may not be quite cost-effective.
Windows platform can host not only custom created and maintained websites / web applications, but it can also host Microsoft released web products such as the Exchange Server. However, on Linux, this is impossible.
Linux hosting has few licensing fees because it's an open source operating system. It can be downloaded and installed for free. Because it is free, Linux web hosting costs very little. Generally, the website owner only has to pay for web space and bandwidth. If you decide to change hosting, Linux-designed websites can be easily converted to Windows websites.
Linux is also very reliable when it comes to running scripts like Perl, PHP, MySQL, and others, although ASP scripts may not run correctly since this language was created by Microsoft. While MSSQL databases are generally only accessible to Windows Edition servers, Linux servers can access most other types of databases, including PostgreSQL, MySQL, and mSQL.
If you aren't in need of any of the features a Windows based server offers or if you don't need advanced website items like shopping carts or databases, a Linux database may be everything you need. However, if you need ASP hosting or other Windows-specific features, you may need Windows based server host.