The Linux® operating system (OS) has recently enjoyed extraordinary amounts of media coverage. It has gained almost fanatical acceptance as an alternative to Microsoft® Windows®. As a result, programmers and developers worldwide have been investigating how they will develop systems for their end-users and customers that take advantage of the many benefits of Linux. Borland® Delphi™ does just that. Delphi has long been recognized as being one of the top application development tools for Windows. With Inprise’s Kylix™ Project (“Delphi for Linux”), developers using Delphi are on the fast path to cross- platform Windows/Linux development. Visual Basic® (VB), the flagship development product of Microsoft Corporation, is its most popular development plat- form for the Windows OS. VB is a Rapid Application Develop- ment (RAD) tool that traces its roots to the BASIC language. Currently, over seven million developers use VB worldwide. Delphi is also a RAD tool, and Visual Basic developers will find it to be remarkably similar to VB. Both tools enhance program- mer productivity, resulting in shorter application development times. The key difference, however, is that versions of Delphi will be available for both Windows and Linux.