Matt Singley has a great series going on now about New Media.  One of the things that I have begun advocating to our staff and others is the idea of following bloggers.  I know how much power comes with my (albeit limited) interaction with the CITRT.  While I’ve never been to an in-person round table meeting, I read like crazy.  The interaction I’ve received between other Church IT professionals has enable me to function much better in my job.

So, does your children’s minister follow children’s ministry blogs?  Does your missions pastor read missions blogs?  Why not?  Have them read Matt’s post about Google Reader and start subscribing to blogs.

According to PC World, XP Service Pack 3 is on it’s way shortly. The one thing that concerns me a little bit is the update of Windows Product Activation. PC World says that with the update to SP3,

Windows XP will be tracking your hardware configuration in much the same way that Vista does, which could lead to your computer being disabled in the event that you change out fundamental components such as your motherboard or processor.

The download is said to be made available online April 29.

See also:

• Windows XP SP3: A quick, painless upgrade (C|net)
• Windows XP SP3 Set For Release, Microsoft Says (Information Week)

I just found this interesting story on C|net today claiming that:

After years of exploring the matter, Microsoft has finally started offering an ad-funded version of Microsoft Works in some countries. Users who run the software see a small ad as they are writing their document or editing their spreadsheet.

This looks interesting, and I hope that it’s a successful pilot for Microsoft. What do you think about ad-supported software? I’m a big fan when it’s a good product. Spiceworks is my favorite in that category - that’s one piece of software that I consider priceless.

For those who view techlesia as a Web page, I have enabled Gravatar in the comment areas.  Now anyone with a G-rated Gravatar will have it displayed next to their comment.  I’m surprised that more of you computer nerds haven’t created one yet.  It’s a neat service that helps to see a little more personality from commenters.  Also, consider enabling your blog with Gravatars.  Then my face can be all across the ‘net.

I suppose the secret’s out of the bag. I am trying to persuade my church to transition away from Shelby v5 as I am absolutely convinced that it is not currently serving us as it should. I don’t want to bash Shelby. They are a WONDERFUL company with some absolutely stellar employees. Still, there are some serious limitations in the software that force me to evaluate other options.

Today’s post is by no means an exhaustive evaluation of any Church Management System, but I do want to share some thoughts and discoveries that I have found about Shelby’s Arena and Fellowship One.

Fellowship One (http://www.fellowshiptech.com)		Arena (http://www.arenachms.com)
Originally developed by Fellowship Church Now a product of Fellowship Technologies Commercial launch: Jan. 2004 Over 550 customers		Originally developed by CCV Now a product of Shelby Systems Commercial launch: Aug. 2006 Around 20 customers
Key features Web based Hosted by Fellowship Easy to use and learn Toll-free phone support 6 am - 10 pm CST, 7 days Full CASS certification is in active development Check-in system works well with Terminal Services and thin clients Easy link between Web site and database through Weblink Robust contact management system to ensure that people don’t fall through the cracks. Report library contains thousands of reports, and they’ll create more if you need Many areas are customizable, but there are many hard-coded variables and sections Superior event management capabilities, intimately linked with check-in		Key features Web based Hosted by your church Easy to use and learn Toll-free phone support 7am - 6pm CST, 7 days Full CASS certification is not currently available Check-in system is not recommended for use with Terminal Services Built-in content management system for church Web site Detailed graph of real-time church involvement with fully customizable activity meter. Report library is robust, and you can build more with SQL reporting Application is fully customizable and ships with shared source code If transitioning from Shelby v5, an agent allows you to use v5 and Arena simultaneously
Price (based on TWA of 1,000, highest tier of service) First year: around $18,000 Subsequent years: around $1,000/month Price increases with higher attendance Price includes hosting and bandwidth Includes hardware (database servers) Includes unlimited SMTP (outgoing e-mails) SQL Server included		Price (only one option) First year: around $35,000 Subsequent years: around $1,000/month Price is fixed Price does not include hosting/bandwidth Does not include hardware (database server) Does not include SMTP (outgoing e-mails) Req. SQL Server 2005 (several thous. dollars)

So, what’s the bottom line?
Both systems are well built and production tested. I like the interface of both, and I’m hitting myself for not getting screenshots for you all. Part of the decision is a matter of preference. Where do you want your data? If you want it in-house, and you don’t want to develop your own system, Arena is your choice. You’ll have to have a full-time IT person, a rock-solid network, and some serious bandwidth if you’ll be using it for your church Web site. However, the data is completely within your control and you can do whatever you want with the source code. So, Arena is much more customizable -but- F1 is much more affordable as it includes the IT staff to support your database servers, the servers themselves, the bandwidth, and the secured location. If you’re cool with entrusting your data with someone else, F1 is a great choice.

Currently, F1 has more features. It’s a more robust solution, but it is older than Arena. It’s been around a little longer. My verdict for our church is that without a contact managment system, the inability to connect with check-in through terminal services, the extra steps in approving volunteers, the state of CASS certification, and a few other limitations that Arena is simply not worth the extra cost for us. Also, I’m not too keen on being a pioneer for Shelby’s new venture. I’d rather give them a few years with it to see if they make it better or worse than it is currently.

Your thoughts?

(Thanks to Brett for inspiring this post today.)