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I want to run a php server and contemplating running it on a simply windows machine (strong quad core and stuff) but simply on top on a xampp install for windows. (<a href="https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html" rel="ugc">https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html</a>)<br />
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Instead of vmware and an install of cent os 6/4 <br />
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What are the pros and cons of doing this?
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I want to run a php server and contemplating running it on a simply windows machine (strong quad core and stuff) but simply on top on a xampp install for windows. (https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html)

Instead of vmware and an install of cent os 6/4 

What are the pros and cons of doing this?

xampp install vs. cent os 6/4

Linux is a UNIX-like open source operating system with hundreds of distinct distributions, including: Fedora, openSUSE, Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, CentOS, and Arch Linux. Linux is generally associated with web and database servers, but has become popular in many niche industries and applications.

Linux

PHP is a widely-used server-side scripting language especially suited for web development, powering tens of millions of sites from Facebook to personal WordPress blogs. PHP is often paired with the MySQL relational database, but includes support for most other mainstream databases. By utilizing different Server APIs, PHP can work on many different web servers as a server-side scripting language.

The Apache HTTP Server is a secure, efficient and extensible server that provides HTTP services in sync with the current HTTP standards. Typically Apache is run on a Unix-like operating system, but it is available for a wide variety of operating systems, including Linux, Novell NetWare, Mac OS-X and Windows. Released under the Apache License, Apache is open-source software.