>However it would be a much more complicated task than porting ASP.

IMO its more of a strategic issue than a technical one. ASP represents an open technology, the more web servers its on, the more market share MS grabs for the web--plus Apache runs in Windows, and my guess is that's the only place you can include COM Objects.

Porting development tools to Linux OTOH represents increasing the marketability of that platform--right now your best bet for linux application development is to be a C or Java programmer (although that is changing). Since these tools are overkill for business apps (VB and VFP are much easier for people to pick up and write DB front ends in than C) it makes Windows more attractive for the business market.

Take VB (or VFP) to that platform, and suddenly people like my boss start saying "hey we could get in on this linux thing" I don't think Bill would like that too much.

Just my .02

Best,
Bill