what would u recmoned, microsoft 2003 server or redhat9

i am going to install a server and i need to know what to use?
what would u recommend, microsoft 2003 server or redhat9

10000% depends on what you want the purpose of the server is....

since i have no experience yet, lets put it this way?

i know its a bit general but i will ask...

when would u use linux?

and when would u use windows server?

i have asked this way, so i will be able to find out what is suitable for me???

Well, what do you want to do with it?

What I would want to use it for doesn't affect you

I see, i will share my internet, control my email, and create share folders for me clients.

i am creating a web for my self now, soon am going to finish it, so it will be on my server too.(very simple web)

simply, my target is too learn how to configure a server, its my first time, that way i am not sure from what i want???
simply i have to start something as a beginning??

It seems like you want to learn, and you have no official budget. Go with free software: Linux, or BSD.

Axe is right, it really depends on what you want to do, and how you're capable of doing it. It is a REALLY broad question...

You should definitely go with RedHat 9. If you are starting out and are not really sure how to set it up, there is a lot of tutorials online. And the best thing about RedHat 9 is that it's free.

redhat nine is now officially unsupported i believe...I recommend learning Fedora 1st and after your comfortable..then begin to play around with older versions...if that's still necessary

It's officially unspported, like you said, but that doesn't mean there aren't hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people out there still using it who can help.

Linux as an OS, there are millions using it. The distro RedHat 9 itself I've no idea, but regardless of distro, Linux is Linux. You've used one, you've used them all basically.

And, unless you paid through the nose, RedHat support was basically for installation only - are they still updating the Errata pages on their site for RH9 & older versions?

For what you're doing, and you seriously want to learn Linux, but want to start off fairly simple, then yeah, I'd go with RedHat 9 or RedHat 7.3 (not as many useless bells & whistles, and seems to run a tad faster for me, although you'll probably need to do a few security upgrades)...

There are many other distros you could look at too though. Knoppix, Mandrake, SuSE, Slackware, Debian, etc.

If you just want it up and running, and don't immediately care how it works, I'd probably choose Win2K over Win2K3 for a home network.

When would I personally use a Linux server? When I want something stable, fast, and relatively bug-free.

When would I personally use a Windows server? Windows runs servers?

I've seen previews of that Microsoft server enterprise on the microsoft website...
It looks good for a server used for Hosting, Large Business Network as its excellent.
Some of the features on the microsoft server are just WOW!

I would would use: Microsoft Server Enterprise 2003

David