You are correct that "functionally" there may be no advantage. The value is not the functionality but the architecture. It is resilient to some very powerful attackers, both actual and theoretical. _That_ is where it derives it's power, not necessarily from functionality.
If Bitcoin operated on a centralized database, as E-Gold did, it would have gotten shut down quickly (as E-Gold did).
If Bitcoin operated on a centralized database, as E-Gold did, it would have gotten shut down quickly (as E-Gold did).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-gold