I think they would be referring to a peer-to-peer network versus client-server. In a P2P use just cable a bunch of pcs together and let them share each others resources.

The big difference is security. In client-server, security is based on the users rights when they login, in P2P it's based on the resource that gets used.

See the following for more info:
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/networking/lan.htm general small network info
-and-
http://www.linksys.com/faqs/default.asp?fqid=15 see the Client-server vs peer-to-peer link.

>Hi all,
>
>A few days ago, I finished a recently developed programm and installed to
>customer's P.C for testing. This programm is for multi-user's environment
>and customer will soon connect about 5~6 p.c with one file server.
>So,i recommend to use Win2000 server or Novell, but customer asked me what
>is the weakpoint of using Win2000 professional,called workgroup style ? i'm
>don't know how it is called. Because I've never experienced that kind of
>networking, i can't fully explain the difference.
>Would anyone give me an advice ?
>
>Regards
>H.K.Lee