no, you're right, you dont need linux! it just makes it that much easier to do something like this for everyone in the house. We have up to 6 computers on the network at times. For a windows machine to do something similar to this we could install a program on each individual computer to do the samet hing, however, this way we each share each others pages, so if someone else goes to a page and downloads items, i will be able to surf those pages fast as well.

Linux is in no way better than windows. It is all 100% an opinion.

My desktop consists of Linux Ubuntu, a fairly easy linux distribution to run as a desktop... pros? well i dont have to run antivirus software... you learn alot, no1 else in the house uses my machine due to the fact that i have it installed...

cons? its slower (well this distribution on this machine is, results vary) you cant run alot of applications straight outa the box, you have to learn in order to do many things with it

i do like it, but when i get my laptop next month i will not be running it on there, i'll have windows.