I can ping in linux without being a superuser? Isn't there another way to do this than with SOCK_RAW, or having to run wine as root?
I think you mean the first sentence as a statement, not a question. And yes you can, sort of: the ping executable is suid root. It runs as root, regardless of whether you are.
In answer to your second question: yes, modify the Linux kernel not to have such restrictions.
--Juan