Pre-empting the release of GNU's operating system Linus Torvalds of Helsinki has written an operating system (Linux) for the IBM-compatible 386/486 platforms which conforms to the Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) standards of the IEEE. In collaboration with hundreds of other users around the world he has developed this system so that much of the GNU software now runs on this complete Unix-like environment thus providing an alternative to many of the commercial such operating systems. Linux is ideal for setting up mail, networking, type-setting, program development etc.