I think it's pretty normal to use Windows Server 2003 for development process. It helps with testing sites locally.

I think it depends on what you actually do with the computer and what software you install. Usually, if you have no paranoid antivirus / system cleaning programs, everything runs really well. Personally, I use beta software etc, except for Visual Studio and .Net Framework and run into no greater issues. The only thing that irritated me was when I wanted to try out Vista Business just after release on my older computer (Athlon 2500+, 2GB ram, slow disk) and it was a FAIL. Windows Server 2003 was so much better. Pre-Windows2000 crashes were frequent, but it was long time ago and I'd like not to focus on it. Now I have XP & VS 2005 on my work computer, Vista Business 64bit SP1 & VS 2008 at home and I think it's a good improvement. I think they make better use of my dual-core and 4GB of RAM. In terms of development "speed" local installation of MSDN is a must. It has some errors but it's fast and you have to check online help too, like CodeProject articles. I'd also recommend ReSharper & ANTS Profiler for .Net work, but I don't know if they're useful for web projects. There might be also some problems with Express editions I think.

It's a common problem with el-cheapo LCD monitors. Manufacturer uses cheaper electronics that can't provide enough signal quality. So they use sharpening filters. Such filters boost the contrast between nearby pixels by darkening dark and brightening bright ones around the edge. This way if you have dark-gray text on light-gray background, the text (or text borders if font is big) will be almost black, while the background just next to the text will be almost white. It's a very irritating effect and will stress your eyes a lot. That's why I don't buy cheap monitors and refuse to buy anything that is TN-based or has no DVI. I prefer to save my eyes rather than money. Too bad that most of the LCD manufacturers don't care. So now I use my EIZO T965 (pro 21" CRT) with thick shielded cable. My suggestion - set contrast to around 70%, adjust brightness not to be disturbing, then decrease or turn off the image sharpening. It may be called in other way in your LCD's OSD, but there should be such option. After that you may adjust the brightness and contrast as you want. ClearType might help a bit after you're done with all these sharpness "enhancements". If you decide to use it, download "ClearType Tuner PowerToy" from Microsoft PowerToys page[^]. It will let you adjust the ClearType settings. The defaults didn't work well for me. When set up, it should improve the image quality both on LCDs as well as on CRTs with slit mask.