First off, I apologize for making my first post here a question that has probably been asked over a billion times... however with the ever changing nature of technology, it almost seems like yesterday's answers are no longer applicable.

Basically I am looking to start up a business and am trying to figure out what OS is best for me. I definately want to use Unix over Linux as I am more familiar with Unix. I am not an experienced Unix admin however I am reading as much as I can to try to get up to speed.

My business will be running its own servers for DNS/web/database/proxy-cache/email/etc. I would like if possible to use a single common OS throughout all the servers to make administration easier. I am prepared to buy Sun servers if necessary to run Solaris, or IBM servers to run AIX, etc etc... I also am willing to purchase servers and load FreeBSD/netBSD/OpenBSD on it. What it really comes down to though is power/stability/security/flexibility. I want whatever is the best OS for the job.

I was originally thinking of going with Sun servers running Solaris, however I have gotten many mixed messages regarding whether this is a good idea or not. Most people seem to say that FreeBSD is the best for my purposes and that Solaris's advantage is mainly the ability to run Oracle and to hot-swap CPU's, etc.

Being that I am fairly new to the Unix world, I don't have a preference, and am willing to learn whatever I get. I just am trying to make a more educated decision regarding which Unix is the best for me.

So any help that you guys could offer in aiding my decision would be much appreciated. What are the benefits of each OS, vs the cons of each OS? Is the main draw of FreeBSD that it is free? Etc etc.

Thanks