an important thing to note here is that ASP is such an amazingly bare platform. the only way to make it do something significant is to rely on ActiveX/COM controls and objects. that being said, it is equally important to note that PHP on Windows allows you to make use of the COM objects used with ASP. so one can migrate away from ASP in a piecemeal fashion. you can for a time retain the COM controls/objects while in PHP. eventually you'll need to search out replacements for these. once you do, you're on your way to freedom. you can then deploy your PHP app on non-Windows machines.