In my recent article on church databases I made the following comment:
“I’ve discovered that lots of churches use Macs. Not everyone in the staff team will use a Mac, but if there’s any chance anyone ever will, a PC-only, or Mac-only solution isn’t up to the cut.”
I received a comment that PCs are the computer of choice for the majority of churches, and that very few churches use Macs or are in need of Mac compatible software.
I realised we were debating different things. In the past, I think that many churches used Macs (and in fact, most still do). But I was referring to what I have observed now, and how that will impact the future. My experience is that:
- many people in Bible college (and in fact ALL the people I know who are at Bible college – and there are many!) use a Mac. These are the people who will be working in churches in the near future.
- I have been involved in a number of churches (in a lay capacity, on staff, or assisting with marketing/tech issues) in recent years, and in all churches, at least one member of staff uses a Mac.
- even looking at the stats for the visitors to Communicate Jesus (thank you to all of you for your support!) – 61% use PCs, and 36% use Macs (the remainder use Linux or mobile operating systems).
Clearly, there’s change in the air. This is reflected in statistics too – the market share for Macs is nearing 10% (source) – not a lot still, but more than the 3.25% in 2004 (source).
So what’s the lesson? Not that you should get a Mac – this choice comes down to your requirements and budget (however, I’ll discuss some of the benefits of Macs for ministry soon).
No, the lesson is that software that is limited to a particular operating system (either Windows or Mac) will have growing limitations in a world where the market share for operating systems other than PC is increasing. This is why I was (and still am) advocating for web-based databases and other software-as-a-service solutions (read more about this phenomenon here).
To lighten the mood, check out this humorous (i.e. not factual – don’t get too excited!) video – Why a Mac is really the only option. Can your PC do this?
Current Poll
Finally, please add your vote the current poll – “Do your church staff uyse PCs or Macs“?
[Feature image source: CyberNet News.]
I totally agree with you, Steve.
“Yes [our product] is only PC, but contrary to your opinion, PC is the computer of choice for the MAJORITY of churches in our experience. In 20 years of selling to the PC market, you could count in your head the dozen or so enquiries we have had people asking about MAC compatible software.”
That is a bizarre statement.
You didn’t express an opinion that Macs are in the majority (btw, it’s “Mac” not “MAC”), and so he’s making a point (emphatically) that no one disputes.
The issue in quesiton is whether there are a significant number of Mac users in ministry. Consistent with your observations, Steve, I have seen more and more being deployed in churches as well.
I’m in fourth year at Moore College, and more than half the students use Macs now (more than 300 students are currently full time). Most of these people will be in full time ministry in the coming years, presumably still using Macs.
The future of information sharing is online anyway, and developers need to come to terms with this. It’s all very well to stamp your feet and say that you hardly ever hear about people using Macs, but Apple’s market share is increasing, perhaps particularly in ministry circles, for whatever reason.
So it’s a choice between blocking your ears, changing your product, or continuing to provide a PC-only product with the understanding that not everyone will be able to use it.
I agree with Steve. Web based solutions are the way to go. With the HTML5 standard (in particular offline storage) being implemented by many modern browsers, the old arguments of why a web based solution won’t work is going away. You can either develop a Mac and Windows version or build a web application, in which case you only require users to have a browser. I recently posted about this. It’s a very exciting time.
Hi James, would love to get a link to the article you recently wrote about this…
Hi Steve,
It’s just on my website:
http://jameswong.id.au/main/
And just to confirm what has already been said, have a look at this announcement by Google today:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html
Hi Steve,
Do you have any examples other than the church database and website where you recommend SaaS over native software? All the best software for ministry I can think of is currently platform specific, and probably won’t be going web for a while:
* Song Projection (ProPresenter for Mac, MediaShout/EasyWorship/OpenSong on PC)
* Talk projection (Keynote for Mac, PowerPoint on PC)
* Bible software (BibleWorks for PC, Accordance for Mac)
* Tasks & calendar (Things/iCal on Mac, no don’t make me say it Outlook on PC argh)
* Word processing (Word, or better alternatives like Pages, Ulysses, Curio etc on Mac)
* Video editing (iMovie on Mac, can you do that sort of thing on a PC? joking)
* Graphic design (ok well done Adobe you are cross platform)
Many of the above are available on only one platform. I would say great SaaS alternatives exist only for: mail & calendaring. Google Docs and friends provide possible alternatives for word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, but I wouldn’t recommend them over native software currently.
Being platform agnostic sounds great in theory but in reality I suspect most churches would do best to pick a platform (*cough* Mac *cough*) and go for it. Having everyone using similar software has a number of advantages:
* Minimises file format incompatibilities
* They can train each other, share tips etc
* Share licenses where legal (e.g. you can have ProPresenter installed on as many computers as you want)
Well done on a great blog.
Charlie