Technical merits of Linux
"Everyone's a critic." Too true. So, you may ask, what do we suggest to improve the computing situation? If you have read this far, you probably think we are going to say "Linux!" And you would be right. Linux provides an excellent base to work from for several reasons, and although it is not perfect, we believe it is the best place to start.

Linux is Network-friendly
Nowadays, people are becoming more and more enamored of the Internet and what it can do for them. It is by no means an uncommon thing to see major vendors advertise their World Wide Web addresses during football games and other events; many TV commercials have them, too. The American marketing machine sees the Internet as a phenomenon that is here to stay, and the public wants to take advantage of it. The best way to do that now is with a computer. Set top devices, like WebTV (which Microsoft owns, in case you were curious) have a long way to go before they offer the flexibility and power of a PC with a modem.

Although not a huge movement yet, there will be more networks set up in homes as costs for basic computer hardware and networking equipment continue to plummet. The small office/home office network can now be realized for about half the price it would have cost a year ago. Most industry news sources expect this trend to continue. This will probably be more of a factor when homes and small offices want to get their own high-speed internet connections and need dedicated hardware to manage it.

Thus, one of the major litmus tests of the quality and utility of a modern operating system is how well it networks. Since Linux was developed by a team of programmers over the Internet, its its networking features were given high priority. Linux is capable of acting as client and/or server to any of the popular operating systems in use today, and is quite capable of being used to run Internet Service Providers. In fact, in Southern Minnesota, all of the small local ISP's (I do not know anything definite about the phone companies) use Linux. It is also well-suited to serving as a dial-in network station.

Linux supports most of the major protocols, and quite a few of the minor ones. Support for Internet, Novell, Windows, and Appletalk networking have been part of the Linux kernel for some time now. With support for Simple Network Management Protocol and other services (such as Domain Name Service), Linux is also well suited to serving large networks.

Finally, all these networking options will run quite acceptably on minimal hardware configurations. It depends on what services are needed and in what quantity, but I know that for some time a small college in Southern Minnesota ran a 56k baud leased line (access for a student body of about 300) gateway with E-Mail, DNS, and FTP on a single 486/33 with 32MB RAM and a lot of big SCSI drives.

Linux is Multi-user
Linux is an implementation of the UNIX design philosophy, which means that it is a multi-user system from the word "go." This has numerous advantages, even for a system where only one or two people will be using it. Security, which is necessary for protection of sensitive information, is built into Linux at selectable levels. More importantly, the system is designed to multi-task. Whether one user is running several programs or several users are running one program, Linux is capable of managing the traffic.

Linux is Open
Perhaps most importantly for what we are trying to accomplish with SEUL, Linux is open. That means that for the entire base system, which includes the kernel, the GNU tools, and all the basic utilities, we as programmers and users have access to the source code as well as the right to modify it. Without that access and that right, this project would not be possible. Neither would many of the other Linux projects currently underway, including GNOME, the GNU Network Object Model Environment, a desktop interface; MNEMONIC, a free web browser under development; or many others. If users like SEUL, they will be able to modify it if they wish.

An important aspect of open software is the ability to write kernel extensions and drivers as needed. What if new hardware comes out that we want to take advantage of? We just write the driver -- if someone else doesn't do it first.

Another huge advantage of an open system is a large number of software authors and beta testers. This makes the software testing and refinement process faster and better. Because there is not a lot of commercial software for Linux (though that is an increasing market), most software written for Linux is written because the authors want to do it. Since there are no corporate deadlines, there need be no compromise of quality. Also, I think many programmers relish the idea of showing off some artistry, since others will actually see and appreciate their code.

This means many good things for the user. It means higher-quality software, which means less prone to crash, more efficient, what have you. Often, if you have a question, it is often possible to ask the author of the software him/herself via E-Mail or Usenet Newsgroups. It makes it easier for people to get involved in the development process, which means that even if someone is not a programmer, he or she can have a profound impact on a piece of software by suggesting how to improve it to the development team.

Linux is Reliable
Linux is one of the more stable operating systems available today. This is due in large part to the fact that Linux was written by programmers who were writing for other programmers and not for the corporate system. The only people who made the decisions on what went into the system were programmers. Also, the deadline pressure is not as strong when one is developing as a hobby.

What does this mean in practical terms? In a recent issue of Linux Journal, a feature was run on how long a Linux system has continuously run. Several uptimes of over 1 year were reported. This is because the system is designed to be upgraded and modified "on the fly" -- the only reason one would need to turn off a Linux system would be to add hardware or boot from a different kernel. That means that the end-user can count on Linux to work consistently, day in and day out.

Another factor which touches on reliability is that there are currently two mature program packaging standards in the Linux world. Debian and Red Hat each have their own packaging systems; both will check dependencies (package A needs to have package B installed before it will run, so the installer will install package B), both can upgrade an entire running system without a reboot. this makes it easy to upgrade parts or all of a system, as well as add new software, or remove unwanted software.

Linux is Backwards-Compatible
Linux has superb support for older hardware. In fact, it is often easier to find hardware support for 486-era hardware than the latest gizmos to hit the market. This is because the driver authors need time to write and test the drivers, and some vendors are not exactly forthcoming with the information required to write a driver.

What this means for the user is that they can protect their investment in hardware. When old hardware is rendered obsolete by the latest version of Windows (or MacOS...we try to be fair), it can most likely still run enough of Linux to be perfectly useful. There is no reason for Linux users to try to make hardware obsolete - and every reason for them to provide support for older hardware.