You know... it's a question of taste.
Debian or Red hat based.
I use Ubuntu 7.10 at the office. I have found that even the little rug rats who think they know what they are doing,can't get through...
My opinion, U 7.10 server edition, and set it up as per these instructions...
http://howtoforge.com/perfect_server_ubuntu7.10
Fair warning. A Linux Server... white text on black background. Terminal only.
Take a look at Xampp and also look at Webmin. makes for a nice easy front end to keep track of things with.
Onle you have a good LAMP stack running, they all operate about the same..
Welcome Aboard....