I can see that this question has probably been posted a million times, but not with the structure I'm using here.
Personally, I love distributions which are "fun to use" (this meaning the ability to get into the entrails of the system, customize it and optimize it). Not because I know Linux (I don't) but because I love to learn Linux.

On the other hand, I have this little company (not an IT company, but a firm that provides services in another area altogether) which I'm always tweaking in order to make it efficient.

We use Linux as our OS. My employees are great, but they are not computer savvy (they can handle simple everyday procedures, typical for any end-user, such as email & IM, wordprocessing, groupware usage, faxing, database searches, etc). Therefore, I've initially worked as my employee's part-time system administrator.

So, I'm thinking of adopting one of the commercial Linux distributions.
These are the features I'm looking for on the distribution to purchase, in descending order of importance:

1. Great stability in any setting.
2. Simplicity to use: intuitive interface and very helpful HELP and tutorials within the system.
3. For workstations, very accessible and dependable support.
4. For servers, easy deployment and scalability. Easy upgrade and customization for specialized tasks.

I was initially thinking of Ubuntu vs. RedHat. But I'm sure there are other options too.
I would really with appreciate your experience with commercial Linux distros, in a production environment (the good, the bad and the ugly).
Thank you for reading this.

I am using Debian at the moment for my home server. It is very easy to manage with apt-get (in my opinion). Also CentOS is good, but I can't give you a information about it. Anyway my post is that didn't help you, but I wanted to point your attention on that two distro. It is even more fun to search and investigate features on your own.(as far for me)

Good luck with choosing!

ubuntu would be a good choice (server and desktop) as it is easier to manage. it is like debian but a bit simpler for users and more flexible in software installs, esp. something that is proprietary or packaged by individuals.

Which distribution are you using?

Thanks for answering.
@repo -> Slack on every office computer.

Then I would suggest to go for slack :-)

Id go for whatever you have the most experience using. My personal recommendation would be to use CentOS.

Yes, as a personal choice, I love it.
However, they will keep chasing me to fix/configure these little things they cannot handle because they have not adapted to a Linux mindframe yet (for most, it may take years). And I'm not going to give them Windows. So, some sort of compromise is in order.
I just cannot babysit them and hold their hand all day long.

That's why I thought: maybe a pretty interface, plus a friendly voice on the phone would be the answer.
Then again, maybe not...

You will have this problem with all distro's.
I have configured different slackware computers for windows users.
Once configured correctly, no assistance is needed anymore.

That can get irritating, no doubt about it. It would be doubly irritating if supporting users was not your full-time job and yet it took up most of your time.... A little organisation can help here, but you do have to ask yourself whether it is the best use of your time.

I think I would like to look at servers and workstations separately; if for example, one distro was best for both, that would be great, but if it wasn't, it wasn't.

In particular, your end users don't seem to be the most techie of people; I'd guess that the main thing for them is if they can just switch it on and have it work - work includes just getting on with the job, without having to ask for help. A secondary (maybe I'm underestimating how they really feel about it) is that it should look ok, and they can differentiate their workspace by customising what they look at eight hours per day.

As a first option, for the end users, given that you are happy with slack, I'd look at whether a slack derivative, such as Slax, bluewhite, might not be a bit more user friendly. If you can find something that is more user friendly, I'm guessing that, as a slackware derivative, you be happy that you could administer when absolutely necessary, and you could stop you search for a distro right there.

To me, you'd probably still have some work to do though; setting up a common customised install and preparing some 'how to' guides (as wikis???).

If you can't get there with a slack derivative, then Ubuntu (or Mint or Mepis...I do quite like Mepis, but I haven't seen the latest version) come to mind. Personally, I'd like openSUSE, but not everyone shares that opinion. And then there are the 'paid fors'; RedHat has more or less abandoned the desktop, so SLED comes to mind. Suse have done a lot of work making SLED enterprise-capable, getting wins with some of the 1000 - 10,000 desktop class customers, but how much really helps a small enterprise I'm not sure.

For servers, you don't really have the ease of use requirement; my impression is that you should think about staying with slack and trying to automate (/de-work/de-skill) deployment. Only if you don't think that you can do that adequately (and it may include automatising network config as well as the equivalent of kickstart/autoyast) should you think about changing.

You do have the stability requirement, and it means more than one thing. There is the obvious 'must not crash' requirement, but also you have the 'immutability' requirement; that is, you don't want to have to reconfigure everything because there is a new release every six months, you can't afford to be cut off from updates, and the interfaces to this that and the other change with every release (but exaggerated, but you know where I am going).

The 'paid fors' (and debian itself, and centos....oh bugger, I've got to include Ubuntu LTS, but LTS ONLY) are the ones that do the 'no need for a rebuild cycle, just because we wanted a new release' best, so they would have to form my short list, if you couldn't get what you wanted from slackware.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks a lot for the great pointers, which I'm currently using to do some more research and reading.
Yes, after reading your posts, it does not seem so daunting any more.
I love the fact that there is plenty of choice and I can always readjust things later until getting it perfect (or very close to it).