Half a decade later, I have decided to use FreeBSD on my server machines (instead of Gentoo) - where, in 2003, I had a brief encounter with the highly unstable FreeBSD 5.0. Back then, I was more at home with Red Hat Linux (with the newly introduced RHCE program); and the ever-fussy FreeBSD 5.0 Release - which seemed more like a developer preview with its pronounced instability - had left a bad taste in my mouth.
Now, the problems that plagued FreeBSD 5 are all but forgotten. Earlier today, FreeBSD 8.0 was formally released to the public (the announcement can be found here,) and having installed it soon after, I can certainly say that all bodes well for the future of this Internet-serving superstar.
As a side note, several OpenBSD-on-Soekris boxes still manage the IP routing in my household. FreeBSD has managed to incorporate a lot of the security features of OpenBSD, but for routing purposes, the much slimmer and more efficient OpenBSD still reigns supreme.