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Unix vs Linux- When Unix is compared to Linux a lot of people get confused. The reason is because Linux is an offspring of Unix so they think Unix and Linux are the same. In this Unix vs Linux article, Best Unix Web Hosting will explain the differences.

What is Unix? We have already gone into depth in other articles what is Unix so we will just give you a brief paragraph of what is Unix. Unix was developed and released in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees. Yes AT&T employees! They were assigned to develop and work on an operating system for AT&T but soon released that it was too costly of a project. As a result the employees got together and created Unix for a lot cheaper. Cheap is key when it comes to Unix since it is an open source software and free to the public. While it is free there are some Unix operating systems that do cost money. It is one of three major three operating systems that are used today. While Unix is now controlled by The Open Group there are many variations and offspring’s of it.

What is Linux? Linux is an offshoot of Unix. It is another free, open source software mostly used for operating systems on servers. It is based off the Linux kernel which was first written in 1991. Since the discovery of Linux it has become very popular because it is free. A huge benefit of Linux is that it can be freely used and modified by anybody, including commercially. Perhaps the most popular Linux based programs are Mozilla Firefox and OpenOffice.

Now that you have a very brief history of Unix and Linux, Best Unix Web Hosting is going to discuss the differences between Unix and Linux.

1. Unix uses a lot more resources and requires a more powerful hardware configuration. Linux is a little easier to apply and will work with all types of hardware foundations.
2. Unix is the base for a large number of operating systems including Linux. While that is good, some of the offshoots have more features that Unix. Think of Unix being the strong foundation that the other operating systems build off. Linux does have a few more capabilities over Unix.
3. Unix is the preferred operating systems for medium to large businesses. Almost all of the businesses that more than 10 CPU’s need to use Unix. Unix can handle the larger number of CPU’s and not crash. The key reason is that Unix is able to process data more efficiently that Linux. Linux is great for small- to medium-sized systems that don’t require the huge foundation of Unix.
4. Linux is completely free while Unix can cost you some money. While a lot of Unix operating systems are free, some are expensive to create. The larger Unix operating systems will cost you in the six figures!
5. Unix is geared toward specific applications while Linux is a standard base operating system.
6. Unix is more consistent and reliable than Linux is. Linux tends to crash a little bit more often.
7. Unix commands are more stable and very rarely change. Linux is often modified and new commands are created. It is important that you keep up with the Linux updates.
8. Linux is more secure that Unix. While you would think that Unix would be more secure because it can cost money, Linux has more people "tweeking" it therefore more people are constantly watching Linux. The end result is that the Linux users will often detect security threats earlier than Unix users.

If you sit down with a computer geek you can get more detailed information on the difference of Unix and Linux. The above differences listed by Best Unix Web Hosting are the main differences. While there might be negatives with each operating system they are still very good. In fact many people choose to use Unix and Linux operating systems over Windows operating systems.

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