Linux is Linux.
If you want to use it as a server, then you can run the appropriate services on top of it.
If you want to use it as a web server, you use Apache.
If you want to use it as a file & print server to Windows clients, you use Samba and CUPS.
If you want to use it as a desktop, then you should disable all of the services you don't need.
Distributions can be targeted towards specific applications, with their standard package sets... but, as an example, you can quickly and easily turn a stock desktop Ubuntu setup into an FTP server.
I hope this answers your question.