Microsoft-driven Web servers are gaining ground on the open source
servers from the Apache Software Foundation, according to a survey
by Netcraft, a UK Internet security and network management
consultancy.
Of the 38 million Web sites surveyed in March, 58% were running on
Apache - 4.2% down on February; and 29% were using Microsoft's
Internet Information Services (IIS) servers - up 4.9% on the
previous month.
Netcraft said part of the increase is due to domain name registrars
Register.com and Network Solutions switching their domain parking
facilities to Microsoft servers from Unix.
A domain park is where Web site name redirection takes place when a
company has bought two domains but only uses one of them. This
means that a user typing in www.domainname.co.uk would
automatically be sent to
www.domainname.com.
Once these "dead" sites have been filtered out of the survey's
results, the increase is less marked, with Microsoft gaining by
0.7% and Apache, which mainly runs on Unix and Linux, falling by
0.8%.
Gary Barnett, a principal analyst at Ovum, said he believes
Microsoft will gain ground as more smaller companies realise that
their broadband links allow them to host their own Web sites.
"Because IIS comes with Windows, it is no more expensive than
Apache but has the advantage of sharing a common console with other
Windows servers," he said. "These organisations would not be
willing to pay the price for deploying an unfamiliar operating
system."
Although Apache has a Windows version, the company openly admits
that it is less stable than its Unix servers.
- Microsoft made something of a faux pas when it launched its
anti-Unix Web site at
www.wehavethewayout.com/
using Apache on Unix. After realising that its decision to use the
open source platform could undermine the site's message, the
company switched to IIS last week. The site then disappeared for
two days due to a technical glitch.