REAL men use Debian; Stable, Secure, and apt-get - what else could anyone want?
Server apps in Debian are the most secure you can get. Installation has gotten a bad rap, if you KNOW your hardware, and do your homework, Debian is JUST AS EASY TO INSTALL AS ANY OTHER DISTRO!!! Mine was up and running, and connected to the internet in 45 minutes from partitioning, not too shabby for an idiot.
I can't say enough about apt-get; it's just in a class by itself. Upgrades are a snap, and they just DON'T FAIL; no dependancy issues, no incompatabilities to piss you off. If you do an apt-get dist-upgrade once a week, your system is always as current as it can be. When Debian does a new release (like "Potato" to "Woody") apt-get dist-upgrade upgrades you to the new release; there's Debian users who have never re-installed, distribution upgrades CAN be done automaticly, and re-installing isn't needed.
The downside is that Debian apps ae not cutting edge; you CAN compile and configure anything if you want to, but Debian won't include anything that they feel isn't stable enough to not cause problems; personally, I prefer stable.
Debian is the most reliable distribution available, and if you use it, you wll learn Linux at the most basic level; you'll be completely at ease with your equipment.