Microsoft Internet Information Server comes "free" with Windows 2000/2003 Server. (Which means it's part of the reason you pay so damn much for the OS.) It's a powerful system, but among its powers are countless open doors for crackers to take control of your server. Little surprise that its share of sites on the internet has gone from a high of 1/3 down to 1/5. It's the most chronically vulnerable piece of system software on the internet, to the point that even the Gartner Group (who are usually big promoters of Microsoft) have recommended that people who use it should look into replacing it. The problem for many of them is that they're stuck with it, because as soon as you start using some of its proprietary Microsoft-only extensions, the only way to switch to a different platform involves some serious reconstruction of the whole system. But in the long run, it'll be worth it, because it'll protect your server from the constant stream of IIS break-ins. And with most other web software, you have a choice of operating systems to run it on, not just Windows.
	Apache is the most popular web server on the planet, running more sites than all the others combined (and growing). There are two main reasons for this: 1) It's free. 2) It works. Apache is built by some of the best server programmers in the world, and because it's open-source, it's been tested by the best crackers on the planet and you can get help from some of the sharpest hackers just about anywhere. It'll run on nearly any operating system. It can be extended to do just about anything. This site uses Apache, running on a Linux system built from "obsolete" hardware. Apache 2.0 has been out for a while now and features some significant improvements, but Apache 1.3 works so well that most system operators are taking their time switching. (A commercial version with encryption and direct tech support, called Stronghold, is also available.)
	Sun ONE Web Server was the first serious commercial alternative to Apache. It was originally developed by Netscape, who then worked jointly with Sun to develop it (under the name iPlanet), and now Sun is carrying it forward on its own. It's industrial-strength software, and can be counted on for even the most demanding systems, including high-traffic e-commerce sites. The only downside is that you really pay for it. But if you're a business that's counting on vendor support to stay online, you may find that worth it. For Windows and most Unix-like systems.
	thttpd stands for "tiny/turbo/throttling hyper text transport protocol daemon", which is another way of saying that this is one of the smallest, quickest, and most "balanced" high-end web servers available. Aside from its ability to handle heavy loads without slowing down, its unique "URL throttling" feature prevents requests for one page from swamping the whole machine and preventing other pages from getting served. It's free (they ask for small donations) and runs on most Unix-like systems, with a ported version for Windows. It's the 6th-most-popular server on the planet. (And it's pronounced just like it looks: "thttpd!")
	Zeus is another industrial-quality server, designed to handle very busy sites without slowing down, and efficiently support unlimited virtual hosts, making it a good choice for web-hosting services. It costs some significant money, but the quality and technical support you get for that has helped make this one of the single most popular web servers in the world. Runs on most Unix-like systems.
	4D WebSTAR Server Suite is an ideal solution for a Mac-only shop that wants to set itself up as a self-sufficient site on the internet, without depending on a Unix or Windows machine for any essential services. It combines web, mail, ftp, and proxy services, and runs on Mac OS 8 or later. With OS X, Unix-based servers become available, but the OS-X version of WebSTAR still has an advantage in ease of configuration and integration with other Mac software, such as 4D's database products. (Take a look at RumorMill if you need to add a Usenet server to this mix.)
	The design standards for the WN web server are "security, robustness, and flexibility, in that order." It includes capabilities that require CGI scripting on other servers, such as full-text searching of the site and adapting the content to visitors depending on browser, location, etc. It's free, and runs on Unix-like systems.
	Lotus Domino is the server component of their ground-breaking Lotus Notes system. In addition to a web server, it also supports standard e-mail and Lotus' collaboration applications. It runs on Unix-like systems, NT/2000, and various IBM big-iron systems, which means it's damn hard to outgrow.
	Roxen WebServer is part of the comprehensive Roxen Platform for building and maintaining web sites. Although you can download the server itself for free, it's most useful if you go for the whole integrated system. Available for most Unix-like systems and NT/2000. Some former Roxen users, unhappy with the direction of version 2.0, have created Caudium, which forked from the open-source code base of Roxen 1.3 (for Unix-like systems only).
	Coming from an unlikely source, AOLserver is an open-source server for Unix-like systems. Previously known (under different ownership) as NaviServer and GNNServer, it's designed to work with NaviPress/GNNPress/AOLpress development software. It's also designed to work with AOL's commercial hosting service PrimeHost, but the server software can be used separately without charge. It's not the most feature-rich server, but it's worth a look.
	Red Hat Content Accelerator (also referred to as "Tux") is a specialised server available from Red Hat for their Linux distribution. It's optimised for speed by embedding its key functions into the kernel of the operating system itself. It can only handle static data and dynamic data that uses its new system calls, so it's most useful when used in conjunction with another full-featured server (they use Apache as the standard example), to which it can pass off requests it can't handle (such as for dynamic content using traditional CGI or other such technology).
	If you don't need a full-featured, full-powered web server (and even many businesses don't), or simply lack the funds/expertise for one, you should consider one of the various "personal" web server programs available for Windows machines. These are the kinds of things just about anyone can install, and run a low-traffic personal web site or a basic small-business site on a local area network, or a broadband internet connection with a static IP address.
	One of the services bundled into Microsoft's IIS is a Usenet News service, for hosting the tens of thousands of discussion groups that are connected to the global Usenet network. This is a different kind of service from the Web, which is why pretty much everyone but the bundlers at Microsoft offer it as a separate package from a Web server. Usenet isn't as "sexy" as the Web, so the range of options isn't as dizzying, but there are still several good News servers to choose from.

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