Klaus -
Conversion of a string to a number (be it a float, a fraction, a scaled decimal, or an integer) is not covered by the ANSI Standard (which is too bad). It means that each platform can define the semantics of #asInteger. So, strictly speaking, neither Pharo/Squeak/VW nor VA Smalltalk is wrong -- they are simply different.
Having said that, the fact that #asInteger is implemented in only 2 sort of out of the way places in VA Smalltalk gives us some flexibility to change it if it seems that it should behave differently than #asNumber. It is probably worthwhile to note that #asNumber (which has been around in VA Smalltalk forever with its current implementation) is poorly named since one might expect it to parse out any kind of number from a string, not just integers.
So, we can change #asInteger if there is a good reason to change it. The fact that it behaves differently than Pharo/Squeak/VW is a reason, but not a good enough reason (just my opinion). So give me some more reasons and see if you can convince me to change it.
John