First published: Methodist Recorder/Joint Church Press, 10 September 1998
The internet is one 'organisation' (although the ownership of the net is virtually a metaphysical question these days) that has known the kind of growth that churches only dream of. A 1995 report projected annual internet growth at 2,300%! The US now has more than 40 million internet users with 25% of them shopping online. Whilst the UK lags behind in both users and consumers the potential is still staggering. Online banking is becoming a reality, as is ordering your food from Waitrose online, why not Christian software?
The market for computer software amongst Christians has certainly experienced tremendous growth and the net would seem to be ideal for converting limited local purchasers into a national or international market. A local exclusively Christian software shop might never make a viable profit in a small town, hence the need for mail order companies such as Sunrise and Exousia. Both of these have now established an internet presence and are able to take orders online. Other enterprises might set up virtual shops online as their only point of contact with the Christian consumer, just as the American internet bookseller Amazon did with book purchasers to gain 3 million customers in just 3 years.
The internet is a bit like the field full of wheat and tares, there are excellent resources amongst the proliferation of the banal. Unless you know where you are heading, you can end up wasting your time and money. For example, simply typing in "Christian Software" to an internet search engine will not necessarily get you to any of the main UK Christian software providers.
By way of a user orientated experiment I decided to search UK websites for "Christian+Software". The AOL search engine listed sites in order of their 'theoretically' greatest match and relevance to my search request. The first site on the list was American; the second was a software download page but without any commercial or mainstream Christian software, only shareware and freeware; the third called itself a UK Software provider but after 20 minutes trekking through the ordering procedure I discovered that all the prices were in US dollars, the company was in the USA and on a $30 product there was a $59.04 International delivery charge. Many of the remaining sites on the list were irrelevant. Depending on the search engine 1000's of webpages would be listed for this simple search request, but only a minority might be relevant.
What is needed is independent dedicated 'links' sites that will take you to the best Christian software sites and with a review of each site's pros and cons. A UK equivalent of the online and newstand US Christian Computing Magazine which has 40,000+ subscribers would be ideal. In the UK we are catered for by the Church Computer Users Group, a charity which currently has nearly 1,600 subscribers and provides a regular software directory with software reviews online.
The sluggish UK internet scene results from many causes, not the least of which is BT's prohibitive local call charges - in the US they are free. There is also the perennial British scepticism and fear of technology. This is manifested in the fear of credit card fraud/data security on the net, the fear of downloading viruses, of software piracy and of not being able to see the product. What many people don't realise is that on most purchases they are covered by their credit card issuer in cases of fraud or non-delivery.
In the US free calls mean users can log on all day to the internet with an unlimited account and download software without additional charges. In the UK one would have to pay for the telephone and the ISP hourly charges. UK Christian software sites do not yet offer the services online that secular commercial sites offer. These include the UK's only "Download Shop" run by Software Warehouse and offering 5-40% discounts off normal prices, but only on a limited range of software. Other online advantages offered include Simply's free delivery for ordering online, or Action's price discount. The disadvantage and danger of downloads is that they leave you without manuals or program backups for ease of reinstalling should you upgrade your PC or crash it.
Another problem with downloads, already mentioned, is the UK cost. A typical modem should download a 1 MB file in a matter of minutes but internet data does not always flow smoothly. For example, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) may be busy resulting in slower download times, the line may be interrupted by such innocent things as call-waiting or ISP/BT's equivalent of 'leaves on the line'. For example, I downloaded a 1.1 MB program off the net and it took 6.5 minutes, on another occasion a 700kb file took 10 minutes. In reality, large programs can easily take an hour to download at a rate of maybe 5-10 MB an hour. A complete CD-ROM of data may take several hours and is more than likely to be either interrupted or have errors. In the space of this time the user will run up BT and ISP charges unless you have unlimited internet access and someone else pays your phone bill!
Presently, one can download Christian software including midi hymns, limited bible software, games, screensavers, shareware and freeware, but little commercial Christian 'full-product' software. The average size of most modern software makes downloading large programs impractical. One Christian software site, admittedly American, did offer excellent download facilities and the option to download files in smaller units, which can save on errors, this was Logos.
The best online advantage is really to be seen in discounted prices, up to date offers, a cheap 'shopfront' for sellers enabling more information about products to be published, e.g., independent software reviews, and instantaneous price updates, rather than waiting for the next catalogue. Even in the US online sales account for less than 0.2% of total sales. Most people still use the net as a source of information first and, only secondly, of supply.
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
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