Hello Stflook,

Let me remember you that a keenly administrated Windows NT station is far more secure than lousy administration on, let's say linux or openBSD. The security of the OS is not the only concern. The time took by the administrator to harden his system is also to be taken into account.

Where you're also wrong is that you said him that "all you need is a program to run it". False. You also need programs to ensure that only web server will be accessed from the internet, let's say an host firewall, a program to detect illegal activity/attempt, let's say an IDS or a NIDS, programs to generate dynamic pages (PHP, ASP, ColdFusion or whatever DHTML tools you may think of ...) and so on.

On the hardware level, he must ensure than nobody else than him should be able to go to console, reboot computer, cut off mains, plug an UPS and so on ...

On the link side, he must have an always-on connection with a static IP, or dynamic, but with a dynamic DNS for update.

We are far from "only apache".

Take also into account that added to the cost of the link, is the cost of electricity (or maybe you got a coal-powered computer ?), room (warming, taking care of, ...), piece of hardware (even wonder if your PC is able to run 24/7 for a long time ?)


So, hosting sites is not only a matter of "Will I get hacked", but also of "how much will it cost to me" ...

Jean-Francois