Three steps to Open Source in the Church
The history and legacy of the Church in the late 1990s and 2000s will be lost in 10 years because we will lack the software to open its’ data. Check out this Microsoft KB article. It describes a (very complicated, very technical) process for reconfiguring your computer after Office 2003 Service Pack 3 quietly disables [...]
Why Open Source Software is like Church Coffee Beans
No organization in the United States has a stronger incentive for using open source software than the Church. “The Church is always asking for money!” – Everyone. In a way, that’s right; the church is always in need of money. Money for ministry, outreach, and evangelism. Money for books and materials. Money to pay salaries [...]
“Freedom Software” versus “Free Software”
“‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy; …O, be some other name! What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…” – Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet Perhaps the most frustrating thing for me as an advocate for the use of Free(dom) software in the church [...]
The Christian Ethos of Freedom Software
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” – Matthew 18.20 The essence of the Christian life is community. This promise of Christ places God’s presence in the other, so that while God is present within each one of us, God’s presence is most available to us in [...]
The Coming Death or Rebirth of Church Publishing
Every church I’ve ever attended has had to spend time, energy, and money contending with copyright infringement. Every duplicated hymn in the bulletin, every extra copy of music for the musicians, etc. is potentially a source of copyright violations. Many churches work hard to prevent this kind of problem with organizations like CCLI (Christian Copyright [...]
Closed File Formats and Christian Ethics
Professor Vern Sheridan Poythress, a Presbyterian seminary professor, has a great website where he has made a huge portion of his lifetime writings available completely free. On his site, he has published an article discussing the ethical implications of closed file formats. Poythress roots his discussion primarily in justice for people in the Third World [...]
Pay per use MS Office on the way?
A new Microsoft patent application was noticed by someone on Slashdot today. They want to offer Microsoft Office services on a pay-as-you-go basis. I took the liberty of fixing it so that everyone can see what this could eventually mean for the church. If you go with a system like this, you are dependent on [...]