A few months ago, Mr. Rikshaw traveled to Thailand for a few days to meet with Wycliffe/SIL’s leaders in the IT/Linux world regarding the future of SIL Linux development for language and translation software. With Wasta-Linux really taking off (it is being used by 400+ people affiliated with SIL world-wide), it was decided that Wasta-Linux would become the officially supported Linux system used by SIL. This means any software developers will be using Wasta-Linux for their testing and development. This is an important decision because one of Linux’s key strengths is also a weakness: its flexibility. There are hundreds of different Linux distributions in the world today, so ensuring SIL’s custom software works in each one is an overwhelming task. By identifying Wasta-Linux as the official SIL Linux platform, some of the variables in having SIL software run well in Linux can be reduced, giving developers more time to work on other necessary features and bug fixes.

Using Linux continues to be very key in Mr. Rikshaw’s work here in the Hilltop. Just recently, he installed it 7 times in 2 days on old computers with corrupt Microsoft Windows and on other new computers that were purchased without any operating system. Being able to freely install Linux quickly and being able to assure the users they won’t have problems with viruses in the future makes Linux a “win-win” solution for IT workers like Mr. Rikshaw as well as for computer users.

“Walking Street Market” in Chiang Mai, Thailand