For server best is cent os,either for basic or advanced operations,better then free bsd and anything else.And when it comes to desktop i think there is no best solution here,since distrubutions are based mostly on same applications.
You could try ubuntu,fedora and open solaris for desktop.But if you want to go hardcore on desktop try slackware.(i learned using linux on it since slackware doesnt have gui tools for system configuration)
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