First published: Joint Church Press: Methodist Recorder, Baptist Times, Church Times, Church of England Newspaper, 14 September 2000
VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE
A year ago we reported on the phenomenal growth in Christian software availability. Over the last twelve months there have been both exciting new products and improved versions of old ones. All this in a year when the secular software market has become increasingly dominated by just one manufacturer: Microsoft and its Office suite, hence the now famous legal battle in the US over Microsoft dominance, and the loss of market share by companies such as Lotus, Corel-WordPerfect and Netscape.
In the Christian sector healthy competition and multimedia creativity have led to continued increases in the software titles available, now numbering several hundred.
The comparable Jewish religious software market also consists of over 150 biblically orientated products ranging from Hebrew alphabet learning to Talmud study, from Jewish Kabbalah to Bible Code software, not to mention the clipart and photo collections which any Christian Sunday School teacher or Church magazine editor would be keen to lay their hands on.
THE BEST
On a Christian software note we should mention that 'the best has just got better'. A year ago we outlined Master Christian Library 6 with its 400 plus resources on one CD. Now on version 8 (£63) and having had to move on to two CDs with more electronic reference materials than ever it still includes the 39 volume pre and post-Nicene Church Fathers collection. Apart from the previously available works by Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Spurgeon, Finney, Moody and Edwards, recently added material includes Philo, Josephus and more literature and commentaries including Keil and Delitzsch's Old Testament commentary and Barnes' Notes on the Bible as well as several new Bible Dictionaries and 120 extra Biblical maps.
THE REST
We cannot hope to cover the full range of Christian software here but just to demonstrate some of the areas that software now covers here is a brief survey.
With continually changing tax and giving rules church management software may need updating and Churchill Systems and others have the latest products available to make the best use of your church's time and money.
Christian clipart is both varied and often over-priced. Everything from the Good News Bible illustrations through Christian comic clipart to artists' images and stained glass windows is on the market. If you need something specific, traditional or eye-catching, you might have to pay as much as £10 for a hundred images. If you can settle for more general Christian and religious images then you can either purchase them as part of the 13,000 Christian Clickart Collection or the mammoth secular half a million IMSI Masterclips bundle both of which include more than 3000 religious images and for less than £50.
Music and liturgy software have also developed apace, though they can never fully take over from inspiration and planning. Song management and MIDI hymnal software enables searching and playing of over 3000 hymns, CCL licence integration and ease of print out to acetates.
Dozens of software titles are also available for children starting at less than £8. Sunrise Software probably has the largest collection of these to get your kids into the Bible through multimedia adventure and enjoyment.
THE DEAREST
Bible Commentaries and Dictionaries are useful things but they just take up so much room and you never have enough fingers to keep every page open that you are currently researching. Well, most of them are available as CD Roms. You can also get the renowned Encyclopedia Judaica and Encyclopedia Britannica as CD Roms.
The 54 volumes of the Word Biblical Commentary will take up nearly 6 feet of shelf space and set you back well over £1000. The CD Rom version will save you a lot of space and a little of your money, though it still retails at around £700. You will gain from instant electronic access to all the volumes, 9 Bible versions, Greek and Hebrew texts and lexicons and a pop-up program that enables you to enter any of this information straight into your word-processor or other applications.
THE CHEAPEST
A fair amount of Christian software has always been available as shareware or freeware for download or on floppy disks. Now much of this has been gathered on shareware CD Roms obviating the need for timely software downloads. There are many titles about but one example the Essential Bibles collection contains over 70 programs and nearly 300 items of free Christian clipart and all for less than £10.
THE SMALLEST - PALMTOP PARADISE
Psion, Palm and Windows CE (Pocket PCs) devices all now support Bible software in their pocket sized formats. For the Psion the NIV bible is available whilst for Palm and Pocket Windows other fully searchable Bible versions are available including KJV, NKJV, NASB, and the Greek New Testament, with Strong's Hebrew and Greek support under development. (See http://www.OliveTree.com).
To sum up, the future looks bright for Christian software, even if we have been a little slow catching up with the IT and internet revolution we are certainly making up for it now with an amazing array of software titles out there for Ministers, teachers, Bible students and children. Perhaps the only thing holding us back now is a lack of Christians with computers!
Article by Jonathan Went (BMSoftware)
jonathan@bmsoftware.com
Jonathan Went advises on and supplies Christian software, acts as an IT consultant and web designer, and runs a correspondence Biblical Hebrew made easy course. He can be contacted by email (jonathan@bmsoftware.com) or by phone on 01603 667393.
Unless indicated otherwise all software titles mentioned and hundreds more besides are available from BMSoftwareDIRECTORY OF SOFTWARE PROVIDERS
LINKS TO AUTHOR'S SITES
Web Hosting, Design & Promotion: www.bmsoftware.com/webdesign
Biblical and multilingual software: www.bmsoftware.com
Biblical Hebrew correspondence course: www.biblicalhebrew.com
Christian study courses, resources and articles: www.biblicalstudies.co.uk
Roots and Branches - the Hebraic Journal: www.rootsandbranchespress.com
Christ for England Bible School: www.cfebibleschool.org.uk
Christian Comment: www.christiancomment.com
This article with its connecting links should be available online at: www.bmsoftware.com/articles/christiansoftwaresurvey2000.htm
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