No - Blue Spider^TM uses rigorous mathematics and algorithms to perform analysis.  Link Analysis is based on visual interpretation of data.  Each complements the other.  Please read our white paper on this.

There are indeed plenty of SNA tools.  Wikipedia lists many here.  Blue Spider^TM is unique because of its workflow capabilities that allow a user to perform the same steps again and again with just a few clicks.  Try this:  find a tool and do some simple analysis.  Perform the same steps using a different network.  Social networks change all the time, so if it takes you just as long to perform the same analysis, or if you cannot ensure the same steps are beng done, this is where Blue Spider^TM is unique.

Blue Spider^TM is built using the Microsoft .Net framework and runs natively on most windows systems.  It will only work on a Linux or UNIX system using a virtual environment running Windows.  It does not support Mono.

The analytical environment you would find in Law Enforcement or Intelligence agencies.  In such an environment, reliability and timeliness are critical.

Currently, Blue Spider only runs on Windows 32.  Future versions will support Windows 64.