The “once and future” Microsoft Vista operating system — originally scheduled for 2003, now pushed back to 2007 — will cost acquirers a great deal of money in new software and hardware. Not so much an update but an overhaul: quite costly in cash, learning curve, and environmental impact. (Discarded electronics are quite toxic, and… Continue reading Churches: prepare to jump from Microsoft
Category: Open
Everything open source or inspired by the movement. Free and open-source software is moving to the FOSS category.
Don’t let expensive software stifle your church’s mission
I can’t speak to everything Donner Lohnes, a member of Unitarian Universalists of Puerto Rico, mentions in his comment — and do read it if you you are a seminarian or care about new churches in the UUA — but I can address one thing he notes: We can’t afford the $200 for Pagemaker and… Continue reading Don’t let expensive software stifle your church’s mission
Learn about Creative Commons: an animated story
It can be hard to get your head around the “some rights reserved” ideas the Creative Commons crowd has been advocating for about four years. A short, entertaining Flash animation would help, right? Here it is. I love to watch it just to watch it.
Copyright, licenses and sermons
Nancy at DanceLessons wrote today about the need of small congregations who use the sermon manuscripts of ministers with permission and attribution. Good for her. These churches — many of whom I have in mind when I write this blog — have a need. So do published preachers, the a big reason for getting those… Continue reading Copyright, licenses and sermons
If you enjoy this blog . . .
read Tensegrities. I keep reading the blog by Luther Seminary professor Mary Hess, and want to read more. Sometimes I go, “Oh. I wish I had written that!”
A little tool I’d like to use at GA
OK, this won’t mean much to many, but it is a product that I’d like to see more use of because it would be a light-weight way to share info at settings like GA. And without paper. Did you see the story of the New Orleans health fair story on The News Hour with Jim… Continue reading A little tool I’d like to use at GA
Dial 9 to get out: a reasonable PBX solution for churches
I normally write about the technical needs of small churches, but one resource has been hot, hot, hot in Linux and Open Source circles for the last few months is Asterisk PBX. A PXB is a “private branch exchange” — the kind of “dial nine to get out” and voicemail system that almost anyone in… Continue reading Dial 9 to get out: a reasonable PBX solution for churches
Imagining better churches
Better churches than the ones we have (as a whole) is a slippery, subjective, and potientially insulting prospect. But it still rates better than not clearly prjecting what each of us thinks would be desirable. We do not live in the best of all possible worlds. I was thinking that rather than describing theologically (or… Continue reading Imagining better churches
Open Source Religious Resources is go!
I like the Tensegrities blog a lot. And then the news! Oh, happy day! A brand new project, just the kind of thing I’ve been hoping for and preaching. Open Source Religious Resources This page is the first, very initial web home for a new project that seeks to create a webspace for sharing and… Continue reading Open Source Religious Resources is go!
Fix the UUA: Demand open standards and open licensed resources
Think of a traditional wedding service. “Dearly beloved . . . ” This image of the traditional wedding service (no doubt) became traditional because most American Protestants used some variation (depending on which edition was authorized when the adoption took place) of the US Episcopal Church’s wedding service as their own. To a lesser degree,… Continue reading Fix the UUA: Demand open standards and open licensed resources