I don't know whether WMA streaming is faster in Windows or Linux. There are lots of different distributives of Linux, so it is even more difficult to compare. If you use your own server and optimize Linux kernel for your needs, it will be really fast. Another thing is that Windows hosting is usually more expensive. And Google uses Linux on its servers, so I vote for Linux


I don't like WMA streaming. Although it works fine in Windows, it is not that friendly to Linux, Mac OS and other operating systems. While MPlayer and VLC can be used to play WMA streams without any problem, embedded WMA streams don't really work well.

The most popular streaming solutions nowadays are Icecast/Shoutcast MP3/AAC/OGG streams and audio only RTMP streams. I would run an Icecast server in Linux. I just like open source products that allow to use formats with open standards.