i really don't think it would have to be linux, that would be asking too much for the lazy people at greatplanes/knifeedge who make this software. win2kpro is extremely stable (for a m$ os), not in years, but at least in months of uptime (sorry Inorris, but i think the stability problems are definately with greatplanes/knifeedge and not with m$ this time). you can take care of a static ip with www.no-ip.com. that will make it easy. with so many people using cable and dsl, there could be many hosts all the time.