I'm fairly new to ArcGIS but ben around GIS / mapping a long time. Part of getting up to speed will involve building map services and consuming them, etc, etc.
Can I use ArcGIS Advanced Desktop to host map services? This would be for learning only (at home so no access to ArcGIS server) so no need to be concerned with performance. At most, one other person might take a look at what I'm doing. If this can't be done, any suggestions for alternatives?
ArcGIS 10.1 now and 10.3 in the near future.
Unfortunately you cannot.
ArcGIS for desktop and ArcGIS for server are two completely different softwares, with different feature sets and different use cases.
The gui to do arbitrary analysis is not present in ArcGIS for server and the ability to host and serve services is not present in ArcGIS for desktop.
You asked for "suggestions for alternatives" so you may want to investigate an Esri Developer Network (EDN) subscription.
The link from its home page to Learn more about EDN is currently broken but my recollection is that for an annual subscription you get access to all/most developer (including ArcGIS for Server) software and the option to include ArcGIS for Desktop.
ArcGIS Online, aka ArcGIS.com, will allow you to publish a map service from your ArcMap session.
You can sign up for a free developer license at https://developers.arcgis.com/en/sign-up - if necessary you can then pay for further credits.
