Contract work or permanent, which would you take? - any advice?

I got a contract offer for 14 months as an IT help-desk technician and I am unsure whether to accept. I would rather hear the honest version than the polite one. The contract could extend. What would you do?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 8 months ago, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.