i reccomend a few different products and software for use on servers and desktops. NOTE: i use ALL this software and all these products DAILY in my work. i gurantee you wont be disappointed in any of them.

desktop software

first and foremost i reccomend mac and mac os x snow leopard for any client machine. on regular computers i reccomend ubuntu linux for its ease of use and wonderful support on the ubuntu forums.

for mac editing for websites i use coda for all production work with a combination of nano/pico for command line editing. i use Apple's Webkit based browser Safari for day to day browsing and development. Dont worry though. I also use the wonderful firefox sometimes. finally i run all my clients and servers through opendns for faster load times, better caching and protection from phishing

server software

again for servers i reccomend mac os x snow leopard server on any capable server. i mainly do this for its easy to use GUI and one click setup for most services. on regular servers i prefer ubuntu linux hardy heron (8.04) for its phenomenal support on the ubuntu forums. i use the basic lamp stack (Linux, Apache, PHP, MySQL) for everything.

server hardware

picking a server for your needs is hard because your needs may change over time. but i only reccomend 3 providers which fit any budget.
for shared hosting i reccomend 1and1. they provide reliable shared hosting for a great price and with a broad feature set thats good for any beginner.

for virtual private servers i reccomend vpslink. i reccomend them because they are extremely quick to setup your VPS (3 minutes from time of purchase on average) and after that they are hands off. you can pick a premade vps template from any of 9 os'es or install your own. on some plans you can even upgrade your own kernel.

for dedicated servers i have only ever reccomended softlayer. there are so many good things about softlayer that i love. they run compeitive offers weekly on servers to start. after that your new dedicated server can be provisioned in usually 2 hours depending on hardware availability. then the server is hooked into the softlayer network. the network is the gem of the softlayer network. with free cross connects and at least 3 backbone providers at their seattle and washington d.c. datacenter and with 9 backbone providers at their dallas, texas datacenter and headquarters you are guranteed to get great speeds 24/7/365. and their out-of-band VPN management on a seperate backbone network is uncomparable to anything or anyone. server upgrades are a snap and usually servers will be upgraded within 2 hours depending on availability. the thing that sets softlayer apart from anyone is their support. some "other" dedicated server hosting companies say they have "fanatical support" and charge 600 dollars a month for a set limit of calls. softlayer lets you call directly to the NOC which is available 24/7/365. so when your servers catch on fire they already called the fire department AND saved you a bunch of money!

note: softlayer is pretty expensive. if its too much for your budget i reccomend The Planet for single processor, single core servers starting at 89 dollars a month. they have a very nice network and lots of space to go around!