Nick Rout wrote:
On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 11:50:30 +1300
Patrick Dunford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Steve Bell wrote:
Just thinking out loud here, but there's a big opportunity for the open
source community within churches.
Many churches use Powerpoint and a data projecter to project song lyrics for
the congregation. And those who don't already, want to.
Small churches often have a desire to grow, but a very small budget. They
dream big dreams but can't afford to buy them. Morally, they can't use
pirated software, and $$wise, they can't afford WinXP, and MS Office.
I'm not sticking my hand up, just having an idea, but if someone invited
local churches to an installfest with the goal of getting a working
"Powerpoint" machine operating for "free"...
Personally I do not think this is a true representation of the
situation. A projector will cost around $3000 minimum of a suitable size
/ light output. The computer will cost maybe second hand $500.
Powerpoint costs a few hundred dollars. The cost of powerpoint in those
scenarios is but a small part of the overall cost. And the reason we use
powerpoint is because everyone uses it. There's no scope for using some
other incompatible system that won't be able to read powerpoint files.
You don't need XP to run Powerpoint. Windows 98 is perfectly
satisfactory. And you don't need to buy a whole Office package.
while what you say has some validity, you maybe miss the following:
1. even win98 licenses cost money. I saw people trying to sell 95 & 98
licenses in the last Buy Sell Exchange.
People sell computers with Windows already installed. You don't have to
buy it separately. Just buy a PC with an OEM license.
2. even powerpoint licenses cost money.
Not very much. Charities often get it at academic price.
Just because the software is not the most expensive bit, doesn't mean it
is insignificant or should be ignored.
And what if the chruch wants two or three or five licenses, so the
parishioners can tap in new songs in their spare time?
They just come in during the week when it's not being used and do it
then. There's no way you'd need five licenses, purely for the
convenience of being able to work at home instead of going down to the
church and doing it during the week when there are no services on. I
worked in a church of 500, there was only one license for the software
they used, and the several hundred songs were all typed in at that one
machine.
