»Question about the ending (Smith).«

I am confused about Agent Smith and Neo's "ending".

1) How was Smith defeated? Did Neo do it? Did the Machines (mainframe/architect) do it? How was it done?

2) If it was Neo taking Smith "to the source" so he could be deleted, wasnt he already at the source by taking over all the people's (batteries) minds? They are all directly jacked into the mainframe. Right? Why does the mainframe NEED Neo? (Why did the mainframe ask Neo "what if you fail"? That means the mainframe needed Neo, right?)

3) Again on the needing Neo, why didnt the mainframe just reboot the Matrix? Problem solved. Like with a virus on your PC, whipe the HD and reinstall the OS, voila! Problem is gone. Don't need Neo/Mcafee.

4) Did Neo die at the end? If so, how? He did the mainframe kill him? Did Smith? If smith did, then wouldn't EVERYONE else have died too with the infection of Smith?

Help!
-CE-

neo is the exact opposite of smith (according to the oracle). he is the inverse of neo. so when smith took over neo's body, they "cancelled each other out." (1+(-1) = 0)

the machines need neo because even if they kill all the humans that smith took over, the original smith (the virus itself) will always exist because it still had its agent shell. so all the machines can really do is to destroy all the copies but the original can simply wait until more humans are replugged.

the matrix cannot be rebooted until the One code is reassimilated into the source. that is the purpose of the One - to reload the matrix. but before he can do that, he has to correct the system anomaly inherent in every version of the matrix. in this version, the anomaly is smith.

i dont think the physical body of neo died, just the One code. his physical body would be probably be replugged into the matrix, but he would be "normal" like all the other humans probably with no memory that he used to be the One. this probably happened in the previous versions of the matrix. but since the end of M3 where all humans (inside and outside the matrix) are free, who knows what they did to his body. maybe send it back to zion? the other humans all survived because smith's core programming is still of an agent. Enter the Matrix showed that if an agent leaves the body of a human being (without being killed), he would feel as if he woke up from a daze or dream. so after smith was ejected out of the humans' bodies, they probably feel like they woke up from a daze.