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Web hosting has become more of a commodity these days. The main elements of any web hosting plan are disk space and bandwidth. Disk space is the space you have allotted on the web server to store your website. Bandwidth is an amount you have available to transfer web pages from the web server to the browsers of visitors to your site. Web pages and graphics consume bandwidth or capacity on the web. Bandwidth and disk space cost money.

The network lines that carry data around the web (optic fiber, cable, copper wire etc) have a finite capacity. There is a limit to the amount of data that can be transferred at any point in time. Likewise, the hard drive of a web server has a limited amount of space determined by the physical size of the hard drive.

Many hosting companies claim to offer “unlimited” plans (both disk space and bandwidth), but be aware that there are physical limitations to both disk space and bandwidth. Before you buy an “unlimited” plan, know what you’re getting into.

The Attraction to Unlimited
When consumers decide they want to place a website on the internet, they are often unaware of the fact that there are limitations. Unlimited is attractive because it requires no further thought. If it’s unlimited then I never need to worry about running out right? Although this is understandable, there are risks with purchasing unlimited plans.

The Unlimited Myth
Many web hosting companies offer “unlimited” as a plan feature. It is impossible for any provider to actually provide an unlimited amount of bandwidth or disk space. It’s just not possible.

So Why Do Unlimited Plans Exist?
Most websites only consume a very small amount of bandwidth and disk space. Web hosting companies that provide unlimited anything as a plan feature are banking on the fact that you won’t use very much. Unlimited is a marketing trick to get your business. The web hosting market is very competitive. Although selling plans that pretend to be unlimited can seem dishonest, it does not mean that the hosting company will not provide good service. Check in the hosting company’s Terms of Service: there will probably be a note about what “unlimited” really means.

When Are Unlimited Plans Ok?
If you have a small website and know that it will not consume too much space or bandwidth, then unlimited plans make your choices a bit easier to understand. Most plans that offer unlimited will have some restrictions such as no audio or video downloads. The reason audio or video downloads are typically not allowed in unlimited hosting plans is because these types of files consume significant bandwidth and disk space which exposes the host to the risk of having to add more hard drive space and bandwidth, which costs them more money. If you choose an unlimited plan and you know your needs won’t be very intensive then you won’t run into any problems.

So What Is The Best Thing To Do?
The best course of action is to plan ahead. Calculate what type of bandwidth and disk space you will need for your site then multiply it by 2 just to allow for expansion. Remember, you can always buy more bandwidth or disk space if you need – often for only a few dollars a month extra.

Microsoft Outlook earned its place as the world’s most popular email software by making it easier for users to stay connected, manage their schedules, increase their productivity and more. Powered by Microsoft’s Hosted Exchange service, here are the top 10 ways Outlook can work for you.
1. Instantly search all your information.
Having problems finding the information you need? Use Office Outlook 2007 to search for keywords, dates or other flexible criteria to locate items in your e-mail, calendar, contacts, or tasks.
2. Easily manage your daily priorities and information.
Check your priorities for the day by looking at the To-Do Bar where your flagged mails and tasks are clearly laid out.
3. Get better results faster with the redesigned Microsoft Office Fluent™ user interface.
Office Outlook 2007 has redesigned the look and feel so you now have all of the rich features and capabilities of Outlook in an accessible and streamlined location.
4. Connect with people easily and effectively.
New Office Outlook 2007 calendaring functionalities provide easy ways to share your calendar with anyone within or outside of your organization, giving your important contacts immediate access to your information.
5. Enjoy increased collaboration and functionality with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.
Office Outlook 2007, used in conjunction with Exchange Server 2007, offers a rich and complete Outlook experience. Users benefit from a new scheduling assistant that automates time-consuming calendaring tasks, the ability to schedule and customize out-of-office communications, and managed folders that facilitate compliance needs.
6. Manage your shared information and content in one interface.
Office Outlook 2007 provides rich interaction with information stored in Windows SharePoint Services technology at any time. You can connect Windows SharePoint Services documents, calendars, contacts, tasks, and other information to Office Outlook 2007, giving you a central place to manage your information.
7. Enjoy new measures that help keep you safe from junk e-mail and malicious sites.
Office Outlook 2007 has taken new measures to help keep you safe from junk mail and phishing Web sites. To help protect you from divulging personal information to a threatening Web site, Office Outlook 2007 has an improved junk e-mail filter and has added new features that disable links and warn you about threatening content within an e-mail message.
8. Send text messages from Outlook with one easy click.
Outlook Mobile Service is a feature of Outlook that enables you to send and receive text and picture messages between Office Outlook 2007 and any mobile phone.
9. Organize your information in new, rich ways.
Using Color Categories in Office Outlook 2007, you can easily personalize and add categories to any type of information—e-mail, calendar items, contacts, or tasks.
10. Manage all your communication in one interface.
With Office Outlook 2007, you can now read and manage your Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds and blogs right from within Office Outlook 2007, so you no longer have to leave Outlook to read the latest world news, catch up on your favorite sports team, or remain up to date on interesting blogs.

WordPress, one of the most popular of our free Value Applications that come with each of our hosting plans has released the second beta of version 2.8. This was announced on the WordPress blog just one week after the initial beta release. Being still in beta it is not recommended to use it in a production blog and it will only be available for upgrading at Hosting Direct 24 after thorough testing.

The most significant changes in the new version are in widget management and in the installation of themes. From now on it will be possible to browse and install new themes like a plugin without leaving the backend of your blog.

For a full list of new features click here.

Ever since we included support for Ruby on Rails in our Linux hosting plans we’ve been asked by non-techies what it’s all about. Even if you may not be aware of it you’ve probably already come across it while using an application built with it, maybe most notably Twitter.

Ruby as such is a programming language combining syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features and was initially developed and designed by Yukihiro Matsumoto from Japan. Ruby on Rails again is a web application framework based on the Ruby language. It is intended to speed up web development by re-using existing code structures and to allow some sort of “out-of-the-box” programming.

Ruby on Rails has now become popular among developers because it uses the latest web development technology and is said to be suitable to create applications of any scope. At the same time it is still simple and easy to use. Ruby on Rails was created by David Heinemeier Hansson while working on a web-based project management tool called Basecamp. For more information on the Rails project you can visit its homepage here.

Linux or Windows? This question rages often like a religious battle between dedicated followers of each operating system. At Hosting Direct 24 our primary concern is offering our customers the security, stability and performance you expect from a first-class web hosting operation. As our customers enjoy the same uptime guarantee, backup routines and advanced maintenance at exactly the same great price no matter what system they choose we will have a closer look of what really suits your needs. Personal preferences apart, the choice for Linux hosting or Windows hosting largely depends on what you want to do with your site.

Programming Languages and Databases

If you limit yourself to  static web pages in pure HTML you are fine with both systems. However, if you are planning for a dynamic site with interactive pages you’ll have to employ some kind of programming language as well as one or more databases. Such programming languages for the web include Perl, PHP, ASP, ASP.NET, Python, Java, ColdFusion, Ruby etc. Common databases are MySQL, MS Access and MS SQL. PHP and ASP are considered the most popular languages and here comes the first differentiation: PHP is open source and thus more associated with Linux, while ASP is a Microsoft product. The same is true for MySQL and MS Access, respectively. When you’re all out for ASP pages or MS databases your obvious choice is Windows.

Applications

If you are not so much into programming and want to use one or the other (or all, for that matter) of our vast offering of free value applications there are also some choices to make beforehand. While popular applications like Wordpress, Joomla or zenCart are included in both our Linux and Windows packages, others like Elgg or dasBlog require one or the other.

Summary

In conclusion the most obvious choices between the two operating systems are as follows:

Linux

Your website uses

• Open source databases like MySQL
• Pages coded in CGI, Perl, PHP, Ruby
• Pages with XML

Windows

Your website uses

• Microsoft Access or SQL databases
• Pages coded in ASP or ASP.NET
• VB/C# tools for development

With the abundance of web hosting plans it is often difficult for novices to make the right choice. This article describes the most common types of web hosting.

Shared Hosting

An economical way to host anything from personal websites to large-scale web presentations. Shared hosting means that many websites reside on one web server connected to the Internet. Each site though has its own space to keep it separate from other sites. The site owners share only the costs of server maintenance. Depending on individual needs shared hosting plans differ in the provided space and bandwidth. Having a big number of media files will increase the need for space while intense traffic will require more bandwidth.

Dedicated Servers

Dedicated Servers are entirely leased by an individual client and not shared with anybody else. The hosted website has its own resources and works much faster and more efficiently. This type of dedicated hosting suits organizations who run large websites with vast amounts of traffic. Assisted Plans can be provided to help clients managing their server(s). There are usually ready-to-go-plans and custom configurations available.

Virtual Dedicated Servers

Virtual Dedicated Servers (VDS), also called virtual private servers (VPS), are bridging the gap between shared hosting and dedicated servers. In this type of hosting a website resides in its own partition which appears as a server in itself. The website still has its own resources as it would have with a physical server. This allows clients to run large websites with a similar amount of control but at a lower cost.