Personally i stick to 2008 R2. Mostly because of its interface, more recent windows server distributions are too bloated for me, also i prefer the bare minimum when i work with an OS. So unless they prove me that there is a real performance and safety benefit, i will stick to the old stuff. As for the OS availability by hosting companies, i get it with non OS and make sure they allow me to connect through KVM over IP. I hope this helps you.