There are two primary costs to computers. The first is hardware - that is, the computer itself and any networking hardware you might need. The second great cost is software. In today's world software usually winds up costing at least as much, if not more than your hardware. Then you have to include the cost of keeping your software up-to-date, which is an on-going expense. Although the UMC's Communications has worked out some good software cost deals, it is still costly to purchase and maintain software for church computers. Thus I've put together the below links and ideas that may GREATLY reduce your church's software cost. Specifically, you can reduce your software cost to zero if you are willing to do so.
There are several things computers need to do.
- Browse the internet
- Virus Checking
- Spyware Checking
- Word-Processing
- Publishing Documents (newsletter, etc)
- Spreadsheets
- Presentations
Typically this means the following setup:
- Internet Explorer (part of MS Windows)
- MS Office Suite
- Norton or McAffees Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware
- MS Windows
The cost of all this varies but will run something like $450.00 or so. To keep a windows environment means you keep Windows, of course, and that probably came with your computer. So you won't have to put out any start-up money for Windows, just upgrade costs at around $100.00 each time the operating system software (Windows) is upgraded.
That said - here are the ideas to replace everything but Windows:
- Browse the internet - Internet Explorer (part of Windows)
- Email - Mozilla Thunderbird. If you also want scheduling and contact data you might consider either MS Hotmail or Yahoo Mail which offer all the basic features offered by MS Outlook. Note, however, that this is an Online feature and won't be "on" your computer.
- Virus Checking - AVG Free version
- Spyware Checking - MS Defender
- Word-Processing - Open-Office
- Publishing Documents (newsletter, etc) - Open-Office
- Spreadsheets - Open-Office
- Presentations - Open-Office
Please note that Open-Office is fully compatible with MS Office documents!
If you want to shift to a completely FREE software environment you will replace MS Windows (the operating system) with Linux (a free operating system). There are many versions of Linux available and all have various special tendencies. Given we are trying to make a shift from MS Windows to a free environment with the least trouble, I'd suggest using SuSE Linux from Novell. It is a very stable platform and has a similar look and feel as MS Windows. To be sure, there are some differences. No current version of Linux is as user friendly as is MS Windows. But then the price is absolutely RIGHT - free! Here is the link to SuSE Linux:
Unlike products you can purchase as add-ons to Windows (like anti-virus software), SuSE's installation includes everything you could possibly ask for. I'd strongly suggest using the KDE desktop (Linux is different than MS Windows in that the "kernal," the software that makes everything work, sits underneath the Graphical User Interface (GUI). This means that all the different "distributions" of Linux, such as SuSE are built on the same Kernal but have different GUIs. There are two primary GUI's to choose from: Gnome, and KDE. I'd recommend using KDE as it is closer in look and feel to MS Windows. You get to select such things when you install SuSE. If you are curious about what other distributions of Linux are available click HERE. When you install Linux you will be asked what software to install. If you install the complete KDE package you'll have Open-Office, KDEKontact (a replacement for MS Outlook), and several anti-virus, anti-spyware options - all free and all good. You'll also get to select which internet browser to use. You can use the installed KDEKommander or I'd suggest selecting Mozilla Firefox. This setup will give you a completely free and VERY capable setup.
If you need a server:
Again there are two options, a WAMP or a LAMP setup. WAMP uses Windows as the Operating System for which you will continue to bear the cost of upgrading. LAMP is the same configuration EXCEPT you don't have the upgrade costs. The AMP stands for:
- Apache - server
- MySQL - database server
- PHP - protocol for at-the-server operations for internet and intranet transactions
Each of these packages are free and available for both MS Windows and Linux. You might be asking why you just can't use IIs which comes with MS Windows. The problem is that IIs will limit the number of person who can access your server at any given time whereas a WAMP or LAMP server has no such restriction.
Additionally, if you want to host your own Internet Site on your computer you will need an always-connected internet connection.
