It's been several years ago and I don't keep up-to-date on Windows server tech anymore but, at the time, I knew many people (devs, mostly) who chose to run Windows Server 2008 on their desktop instead of Windows 7.
It was quite easy to do because 7 & 2008 shared so much of the underlying code. I'm not sure if the same is still true (e.g., with 10 and 2012/2016).
It's been several years ago and I don't keep up-to-date on Windows server tech anymore but, at the time, I knew many people (devs, mostly) who chose to run Windows Server 2008 on their desktop instead of Windows 7.
It was quite easy to do because 7 & 2008 shared so much of the underlying code. I'm not sure if the same is still true (e.g., with 10 and 2012/2016).