The Linux host environment provides you with a basic platform for the easy creation of installation images. Actually, it is not necessary to use Linux. and you can also create bootable microSD cards from within other operating systems. However, creating the master installation image on the microSD card won't be different compared to copying the installation image onto the nodes' internal eMMC memory. Thus, for the sake of simplicity, a Linux environment is highly recommended. Another point of view is that Linux only does what you tell it to do. If you tell it to overwrite every single byte on the card with the contents of a binary file, it will do so, and the command is very simple. On Windows, you need very specialized software for such a task.