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

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

“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.