Operating system on dedicated server (for seo software)

I have bought a dedicated server from OVH. It is pretty powerful machine with 32gb ram.

I will use it solely by connecting with remote desktop and configure/run windows based seo software (e.g. GSA, magic submitter etc.). I will not use it for hosting or for any other purpose.

OVH does not offer desktop operating systems such as windows 7. It offers Windows server 2008 and 2012.

Since I dont need any server functionality and i had doubts for running seo software on windows server 2012, I installed ubuntu on the machine. Then using virtualbox, i installed windows 7. Now i am connecting to the windows 7 VM using remote desktop to run seo software.

I gave as much ram as possible to the windows 7 VM but i am still wondering whether i made a good or bad decision by choosing this route. What do you think? Should i remove ubuntu and install windows server 2008/2012 to use the machine with its full potential? Do you have any experience running SEO software on windows server editions? Do these softwares support window server editions?

Thanks for answers.

DISCLAIMER: I am a Linux geek, and haven't owned or used a Windows-based PC or Server in more than 10 years, Windows VPS's (a necessary evil) are the closest I'll go to running Winblows anymore.

Using Linux as your VM hosting solution is probably the best choice you can make, it gives you great power and flexibility to change the virtual machines you are running like re-installing Windows 7, or splitting your server into two VM's. You can also use some of the core free/open-source software in Ubuntu to run your own mail-server (SMTP), or host things like PHP scripts (redirectors/cloakers) in Linux.

I have a dedicated server of similar spec (12-core, 36GB, 2TB disk) and run anywhere from 10-20 virtual machines on it, the based operating system is CentOS (similar to Ubuntu) and I haven't had to reboot the machine in years - its rock solid.

In terms of performance, the native virtualization support in modern AMD/Intel chips make the difference between native and virtual machine performance to be near identical.

I run server 2003 and that's ok for any SEO software I've ever used, scrapebox, senuke and others that I've forgotten the names of..

Also have an OVH server. Linux with Virtualbox and XP as guests. Tried windows 7 once, and it worked ok. Also dabbled with Windows server but found all the permissions to be a headache.

I will continue using Linux servers and cracked Windows guests, cause I find it to be more cost effective. Can't beat OVH for price, but IMHO their custom Kernels are a hassle when it comes to virtualization and VPS's etc. One needs to replace the kernel to get everything working ok.