It's just a matter of the right tools for the right tasks. Speed should be only one of many factors in choosing a server (others include stability, cost of setup, cost of maintainance, what kind of aps the server will run, etc). Linux has definately proven itself more stable (ie able to go longer periods of time without rebooting). Linux would do well as say a proxy or mail server. But if your purpose is to run VFP, COM, etc then it would be rather foolhardy to try to manipulate Linux to do that.