iTunes for Linux?

I read tonight that someone was having an issue with iTunes (as I've read many times), but I figured I'd give it a go. So I installed the Windows version through WINE and PRESTO it worked! Well, not flawlessly. I get two errors on startup (one about iPod connectivity, the other about burning CDs) along with a very temporary black screen. And no CoverFlow, and, the killer for me, no iTMS connection at all. I can't authorize my computer for the tracks I already have from iTMS. BUT, this is a step in the right direction, and this is with no tweaking. This suggests two things to me:

1) Perhaps with the availability of iTunes Plus tracks (with no DRM), perhaps Apple is loosening the reigns on iTunes a bit?

2) With some tweaking, iTMS connectivity doesn't seem outside of the realm of possibility.

But this again begs me to ask, "Apple, why not make a Linux compatible version of iTunes?" What bad could come from expanding compatibility and opening up to a small, but growing, group of users? With Dell and others shipping computers with Ubuntu preinstalled, usage of Linux is rising. Certainly it would not be bad in the PR department. It might even atone a bit for the whole locking-iPods-from-working-with-anything-other-than-iTunes (read: Linux users) fiasco. Showing some support for the open source community might even make up a bit for locking down the iPhone and iPod touch.

It's actually a suspicion that I've felt ever since the locking of the newer iPods; locking them to iTunes, Steve obviously knew that Linux users would be left in the dark. This made no sense to me unless there was a Linux version of iTunes in development. And lets be frank here; with the surprise move to Intel, Steve showed us that Apple is constantly playing with alternate technologies in development. So is it farfetched that Apple would be considering, or even developing, something that would increase its market reach? I don't think so, and to me, the signs point toward this, not away. I don't feel that Apple is shunning Linux users the way people initially thought. And yeah, I could be wrong (God knows I am all the time!), but why not?