Is it sensible that people are still recommending 2003 for new vanilla builds?
Why not it's a tried and tested platform that will be around in large companies for some time and is supported for another 5 years. I contacted QCA the other day and it seems their exams software 'should' support 2008 soon. I'd recommend 2008 DC's now on a new build but if you need 2003 member servers I can see no reason not to use it. It's an excellent platform with low hardware requirements and it virtualizes pretty well.