They've talked about these for some time now - I thought Linksys already had a similar offering on the market?
Personally, I'd be a little concerned for the security of having things stored on a machine that isn't physically separated from the Internet.
Regarding the "learn *nix" issue: Time is money, but education is priceless. Still, whatever works for you and your situation is good so long as it does what you want it to.
Catch a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish, and he'll kick your butt to steal your fishing rod!