Compare Windows to UNIX

Windows Server, UNIX, and Mainframe are commonly considered the server platforms for mission-critical workloads. As IT organizations evaluate these alternatives, they often make a decision by weighing each platform against a common set of requirements: Will it help reduce total cost of ownership and improve ROI? Will it be reliable in demanding scenarios and scale as usage grows? What applications and partners are available to assist with planning and implementation?

The chart below summarizes how Windows compares to UNIX along these important dimensions and provides links to additional information, including customer case studies and analyst reports.


UNIX
Windows Server
Total Cost of Ownership and Business Value Higher costs across the board
Many older UNIX systems have become very expensive to maintain and upgrade. While newer UNIX systems are closer to the price / performance of Windows, costs for software and UNIX IT skills drive TCO significantly higher than Windows Server. 		Market leading TCO and business value
When faced with replacing UNIX, many customers find Windows Server-based solutions can be significantly less expensive to purchase and maintain than typical UNIX solutions. In addition, Windows Servers provide better business value through increased productivity, reduced operations complexity and broader use of IT.

Mission-Critical Needs Scalable, reliable, and secure—if maintained
UNIX systems are considered highly reliable and secure for most enterprise scenarios however as existing UNIX platforms age, customers experience a lower level of reliability, scalability and security due to hardware limitations and issues with out-of-date software. 		Enterprise-class reliability and performance
Microsoft has made major investments in making Windows Server truly enterprise ready. Windows Server is now considered by many customers to meet or exceed the reliability, scalability and security found in enterprise UNIX systems.

Applications, Partners and Choice Niche solutions, hard to find specialists
Since every vendor’s UNIX system is unique, there are substantially fewer IT professionals trained on each UNIX platform. In addition, not all key enterprise solutions are ported and supported for all of the various versions of UNIX. 		Benefit from the world’s largest ecosystem
With Windows Server now making up more than two-thirds of all new server sales, solutions providers, independent software vendors (ISVs) and independent hardware vendors (IHVs) are increasingly standardizing on Windows as their premier platform. More IT professionals exist for Windows than for any other platform.

Next Generation Technologies Old technology, outdated vision
The UNIX paradigm for computing has remained relatively unchanged over the last couple of decades. UNIX applications no longer provide the business value required by today’s business climate. 		Thought leadership for future needs
Windows, the Microsoft enterprise product family, and .NET have evolved to become the most popular platform for the next generation of business applications. Microsoft is leading the way for the adoption of new technologies, such as Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and virtualization while providing backward compatibility with UNIX via native UNIX tools for Windows.