Thursday, January 27, 2011

Other Things You Can Do With Your Web Server Other Than Installing WordPress

There is more to life for a blogger other than WordPress. And there's more that your web server can do other than hosting a WordPress blog. In essence, you have at your disposal a very powerful and super fast computer that's running constantly 24/7 without interruption.

In other words, for about the same price of lunch, you are renting a computer that is far more capable of handling programs compared to your own desktop or laptop computer at home. The is only a few minor differences.

Three of the most obvious is that your web server is located in some random data center and you can't do things using a graphical user interface. You don't have complete control over the entire computer. Other than that, the sky is the limit with how or what you use your web server for.

Do you need a place to store your data? No problem, upload it to your web server. Most web hosting companies offer unlimited space. Need a place to share your pictures with your friends and family? Once again... no problem. There are many open source applications similar to Flickr or PhotoBucket that allow you to create online photo albums and share them with people.

Want to add a second hard drive to your computer? Creating a web based network drive is a feature offered by many web hosting companies. You can easily map space on your web server to your computer and register the space as your D drive, E drive, etc.

Ask yourself what is something you would like to do with your computer at home. The chances are that your web server will probably do a better job doing it and that there will be more application options available, especially free ones.