Blogging Ottinger (tim)Linux for Christians update.
Those of us who like spreading (the) good news are happiest when we find more good news to spread. Today I found a number of interesting developments regarding the use of Linux by and for Christians.
One of the more exciting finds of the day is Christian Ubuntu. Now the very friendly and stable Ubuntu Linux has been customized for Christians. This means that there is now a very Christian-friendly operating system that can be installed and used totally free of charge. It includes web content filtering, office software, bible study and much more. It includes the nice Ubuntu graphical installer, so now installing a powerful, free OS on all your contributed church computers is easier than ever. There are no licensing issue to monitor and enforce, no ugly and expensive outside software audits, no upgrade fees, and no per-machine expenses for the OS! Imagine that. You also lose the need to reboot your machine three times day (the the normal Linux user also boots 3 times, but it is per year, and not because of failure).
I was also pleased by the apparent value offered by Quality Christian Web Hosting. For a little bit of nothing, it looks like you get quite a bit of web hosting. If you try this, please post a followup. I can’t imagine a much better deal. $10/mo is incredibly cheap to have administrators managing your site for you, and it’s the more expensive option. I think I’d give it a shot.
I remember the great free software apologetic article The Penguin in the Pew, and now have other entries in its category. One is The Penguin-Driven Church (Mirrored at The Linux Journal) discusses the use of free and open-source software in the church office specifically.
There is a lot of activity also in the podcasting realm. I found The Sermon Cloud podcast repository, a podcasting site called Christian Podcasting .Com, and even a pod point site dedicated to helping people make their own Christian podcasts.
Honorable mention:
- The Christian Open Development Network is looking to build new software.
- What Would Jesus Download is fun and informative.
- the Freely project is still trying to give freely back to all.
- Think Christian has interesting brain fodder.
- Geeks for Christ has a list of useful software items for your church/home .
- Linux4Christians is still plugging away. It’s fun to visit now and again.
- the church nerd is about using technology in churches.
All together, that is some good news for people who want to spread the good news.
