Founder & Editor-in-Chief Steve Hewitt - steve@ccmag.com VP of Operations Michael Hewitt - mike@ccmag.com Contributing Editors Dr. J.D.

Doc Watson, Terry Wilhite, Yvon Prehn, Nick Nicholaou, Walt Wilson, G Will Milor, Jim Vanduzer Kevin A. Purcell Copy Editor Gene Pearson Corporate Home Office
Mailing address: PO Box 319 Belton MO 64012 Delivery address: 311 Manor Dr. Belton, MO 64012 Phone: (816) 331-8142 FAX: 800-456-1868

Applying Tomorrows Technology to Todays Ministry Volume 18

COVER STORY - Page 6

March 2006

No 3

MyChurch Events Streamlines Church Calendar

by Lisa Jones ing, Inc. EDITORIAL Welcome Internet For Christian Readers New Column! INTERNET FOR CHRISTIANS PRESS RELEASES SPECIAL FEATURE Page 3 by Steve Hewitt Page 4 Page 10 Page 13 by Steve Hewitt INTERNET MINISTRY Calm In The Midst Of The Storm MUSIC & MULTIMEDIA Multimedia Software: Getting It Right The First Time MINISTRY COMMUNICATIONS Communicate effectively about the De Vinci Code INFORMATION SECURITY Digital Rights Management HIGHER POWER WITH KEVIN Support When Things Go Bad NICK AT CHURCH Developing A True Ministry Team Page 18 by Walt Wilson Page 22 by Terry Wilhite Page 24 by Yvon Prehn Page 27 by G. Will Milor Page 31 by Kevin A. Purcell Page 35 by Nick Nicholaou

Copyright 2006 by Christian Comput-

All Rights Reserved Christian Computing is a registered trademark of Christian Computing, Inc. Written materials submitted to Christian Computing Magazine become the property of Christian Computing , Inc. upon receipt and may not necessarily be returned. Christian Computing Magazine reserves the right to make any changes to materials submitted for publication that are deemed necessary for editorial purposes. The content of this publication may not be copied in any way, shape or form without the express permission of Christian Com puting , Inc. Views expressed in the articles and reviews printed within are not necessarily the views of the editor, publisher, or employees of Christian Computing Magazine, or Christian Computing, Inc.

STOP REPORTING SPAM

HANDHELD DEVICES Page 37 Something New? MS Ultra-Mobile PC and Sony Reader by Jim Vanduzer

March 2006

Christian Computing Magazine

Editorial
Steve Hewitt - steve@ccmag.com

Welcome Internet For Christian News Readers!

he Internet for Christian (IFC) news has been reviewing and recommending Web sites, e-mail lists and other Internet happenings for the online Christian community since 1995. IFC has been a ministry of Gospel Communications, and because of their support, many Christians have been blessed by discovering exciting ministries and services online. Gospel Communications has passed the torch to Christian Computing, and we will begin to include a regular column with the same mission, to recommend new Web sites and ministries online.
If you were already receiving Christian Computing Magazine and the IFC, dont worry, we will merge the lists and you will receive one e-mail. It is our hope that IFC readers will enjoy and benefit from the additional content we provide each month in CCMag, and that our regular readers will enjoy the new IFC column. We hope that all of our readers will take the time to help us become aware of new and exciting Web sites and e-mail lists. If you would like to recommend a site that you believe others would benefit from, please drop us a line at ifc@ccmag.com. If this is the first time you have ever seen a copy of Christian Computing Magazine, I encourage you to visit our site at www.ccmag.com and read some of the back issues, a bit about us, and our privacy policy. will be surprised. I cant believe that anyone gets more spam than I do, and while much of it is annoying, much of it is disgusting and offensive. However, the value of a free Internet and its potential for ministry far outweighs the problem of spam. Yet, if we continue to report everything as spam, we will be responsible for causing the demise of free e-mail. Together We Serve Him,

Spam Rant
The feature this month is an article by me on spam. Ok, it is really a rant, but I hope you will give it a read. When someone writes about spam, we all think we know what is going to be said, but I think if you Christian Computing Magazine March 2006

Steve Hewitt Editor-in-Chief 3

Peggies Place, a Ministry Site With Something For Everyone

For many years, Peggie Bohanon has served as Executive Editor of the Internet for Christian News. She has probably looked at more Christian Web sites than most, and has been presenting them to thousands each month for years. However, Peggie has had a fantastic Web site for ministry herself. I encourage you to take a look at the most fun Christian home on the Web! As creator and webmaster of Peggies Place, her ministry includes daily/weekly devotionals, a weekly newsletter, holiday resources and extensive links to Christian and family resources. http://peggiesplace.gospelcom.net/

Add Articles That Effectively Communicate the Gospel and Christian Message to Your Website.
You can syndicate or add articles to your web site without charge from ACTS International web site-articles that are based on the latest methods for effective communication and apply the gospel and Christian message to the needs readers feel-a major key for all effective communications. When you syndicate ACTS articles, they blend into your own web site and match exactly the layout and design of your pages thereby becoming an integral part of your site. Click on http://www.cbmcelkhart.com/message.html for an example of a web site that includes ACTS Current Article which changes automatically every weekday of the year. Daily Encounter, which changes every weekday of the year, can also be syndicated. An example can be seen at: http://www.cbmcelkhart.com/encounter.html Salvation messages and articles that reach people at their point of felt need are also available for syndication. See www.actswebs.org. See http://www.actsweb.org/syndicate/index.php for more information on syndicating articles from ACTS. And click on http://www.actsweb.org/syndicate01.php for How to Give Dynamic Impact to Your Website.

Web Site Promotes Internet Evangelism Day (May 7,2006) By Providing Information and Resources
This site offers downloadable resources with suggestions and background material, to help your church or group create an effective IE Day focus. Our materials enable you to create a mix and match, do-it-yourself program. It can be 5 minutes or 50; and included within a church service, after-church meeting, mid-week home-group, Bible College seminar, or any other appropriate meeting for Christians. Follow the planning link in the left-hand menu bar to view and download these resources. There is also a 17-slide PowerPoint presentation if you need to explain the concept to your leadership or decision-making team. We urge denomination headquarters teams to consider endorsing and promoting IE Day to all their local churches. http://ied.gospelcom.net/description.php

Prayer Site Helps Facilitate Prayer Requests Across The Net

Vital Concern is a tool for Christian congregations and other Christian groups and communities. It can be used by youth groups, missionaries across a country, a charitable organization, or a Christian company. Individuals may also join in open community. Post prayer requests, each with an expiration date. Email urgent requests or information instantly. Update prayer requests 24/7. Select from numerous prayer list formats. Attach encouragement to prayer requests. Design custom prayer lists. Receive updated prayer lists by email automatically. Prepare prayer list for bulletin publication. View prayer lists for groups or zones within a congregation. View Praise Report archive. Set up Prayer Partners and Prayer Circles. Send email to any member and access a picture directory. There is no charge for individuals that wish to participate, however there is a fee for churches and ministries. http://www.vitalconcern.com/capabilities.asp 4 March 2006 Christian Computing Magazine

The FREE Christian Higher Education Resource Center

The Christian Connector offers a one-stop-shop for receiving free information from Christian colleges. There are over 90 Christian colleges and Bible colleges that you can conveniently choose to get information from - all in one place! We also offer a $2,500.00 Christian college scholarship drawing. The site has dozens of links to Christian colleges, as well as admissions and financial aid tips and more. All of our information services are offered absolutely free! http://www.christianconnector.com/

Jesusfreakhideout.com Christian music resource website and ministry

Jesusfreakhideout.com goals are many, as they do our best to bring the latest and greatest in Christian music to the internet masses and beyond. They believe firmly in the positive messages that Christian music has to offer, especially with all the highly negative music the mainstream market is always throwing at the public. In addition to the message of the music in the Christian industry, they believe in pursuing excellence artistically in the quality of the music artists make in the name of Jesus. They also believe very strongly in bringing the message of Christ to the world through music. In addition, they offer prayer requests and devotionals. Finally, they feel share their views on current films through in-depth movie reviews. http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com

The Institute for Christian Worship Offers Past Lectures on Worship and Prayer
The Institute for Christian Worship was founded in 2000 and is part of Southern Seminarys School of Church Music and Worship. Under the direction of Professor Carl Stam, the institute serves students and local churches by providing classes, workshops, guest speakers and other resources that focus on the biblical and historical foundations of Christian worship. They now have links to lectures from the Institute for Christian Worship at The Southern

Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000-2005. All lectures are about worship or prayer. http://www.sbts.edu/icw/ Do you know of a Christian Web site, e-mail list or new Internet service that others need to know about? Then let us know! Send an e-mail to ifc@ccmag.com and include the URL, a brief description, and your relationship with the site. We will give it a review and if it is something we think others would benefit from, we will include it in next months addition of the IFC!

Christian Computing Magazine

March 2006

Having trouble keeping track of things?

MyChurch Events Streamlines Church Calendar

by Lisa Johns

aintaining a calendar for an active, growing church can be a monumental task, especially for church staff already stretched to their limits! You need to coordinate schedules of the pastor, lay leaders, ministries, small groups and youth activities. In addition, you have to schedule space within your building(s), plan special events and handle last-minute time or location changes.
budget for regular mailings. We needed to communicate events, times, locations and other details with one another and with the community if we were to function. The only logical solution was to harness the Web. From the start, it was obvious that New Life needed a Web site. My primary responsibility as New Lifes webservant was to make that idea a reality (www.newlifexn.org). Although at first the site served as our virtual bulletin board to all who were interested, as New Christian Computing Magazine

And if youre also responsible for maintaining your church Web site, providing the church webmaster with up-to-date information and distributing ever-changing information to those who need it, you can quickly become overwhelmed. Active congregations have outgrown the calendars that were once photocopied on pastel paper, folded, stapled and mailed monthly. Church bulletins can still help to keep people up to date. Yet, in todays globally connected world with instant messaging and e-mail, even weekly updates seem inadequate. Isnt there a better way for church staffers to maintain, publish and distribute an up-to-date, church-wide calendar? Like other churches, New Life Christian Ministries found itself asking this question. As a new church, however, we didnt have an office in which to work, nor the 6 March 2006

Christian Computing Magazine

March 2006

Life grew so did the number of events to promote, schedules to track and people to inform. Thus, the development and maintenance of our site and church-wide calendar turned into a complex task. As the site changed from merely a means to communicate who we were and what we were doing to a ministry in itself, we needed a simple tool to track what was happening both on- and off-line. Thankfully, we discovered MyChurch Events from Communication Resources. This interactive Web site calendar plug-in is designed to simplify the process of maintaining a church-wide calendar for both internal and external purposes. For a very reasonable price (less than $5/month), it solves many of the distribution problems and scheduling conflicts that can occur with off-line calendars. By nature, it assures that everyone with an Internet connection has access to the events on the calendar whenever they choose to view them. As a Web-based calendar, MyChurch Events is easy for people with minimal computer skills to use. Users just sign up for the service, add in the church name and logo and start entering event titles, times, locations and descriptions on the calendar, similar to the way you would type them for an off-line calendar. You can enter recurring events (such as weekly Bible studies and meetings) once and have them display on all dates you select: daily, weekly, monthly, annually or whenever you want them to occur even years in advance! Not only is this calendar useful to event schedulers, but church and community members find it helpful as well. Site visitors can click on a particular calendar event to view the description, time, length and location; obtain a map and directions to that location (provided by Expedia.com); and Tell a Friend or receive an e-mail reminder of that particular event. Such features give churches a no-cost way to promote activities. You can also hyperlink words in the description to pages in your Web site for those interested in exploring deeper. By linking the calendar directly to your church Web site, site visitors can easily click through to all activities the church has scheduled for a particular time period. You can customize the calendar view to appear as a one-month calendar (in table form), or a list of events by month, week or day. Visitors can view current and future events, making it easy for them to coordinate the church calendar with their own personal calendars in advance. For example, parents can check summer events in time to plan for their children to attend vacation Bible school and church camp, well before they receive summer sports schedules. Say you want to show when Pentecost will be in 2007. By choosing to update your holidays and selecting which ones you want listed on your calendar, you can insert traditional Christian holidays, secular holidays and many other days you probably havent even considered. Much more than an electronic version of a wall calendar, MyChurch Events allows staff and visitors to view the church calendar in several different ways. In addition to seeing the whole month at once, or at-a-glance activity lists for a particular time period, the calendar can also be filtered through special interest groups. This feature allows those interested in recovery ministries or singles ministries, for example, to find the activities that most appeal to them without having to sift through all church events, such as childrens ministries or youth activities. In addition, certain events can be designated for viewing only by the church staff, elders or other authorized individuals. This allows the church secretary to help coordinate each pastors schedule with the church-wide calendar, while keeping counseling sessions and publication deadlines confidential. Church webmasters arent limited to linking to the standard monthly calendar page. MyChurch Events lets them plug an automatically updated list of the days or weeks events into any page of their site. New Life uses this feature to 8 March 2006 Christian Computing Magazine

automatically show each days events on its home page. Not only does this give our home page the appearance of daily updating, but it also saves us the time and energy required to present all calendar events on the most prominent page of our site as they are scheduled to occur. MyChurch Events contains several more useful features. Thousands of clip art images all of those available with an annual subscription to www.ChurchArt.com ($49.95) are included in this calendar package at no extra charge to make key events stand out and give the calendar visual appeal. These graphics allow you to feature special activities or remind visitors of upcoming holidays. You can easily choose from a selection of fonts and colors to customize the calendar to match the style of your church Web site. Going well beyond good graphic design, MyChurch Events helps staff members manage church resources by coordinating the use of rooms and equipment, including audio/video equipment and the church van or bus. This feature helps avoid conflicts that arise when, for example, two groups plan to use the only DVD player in different parts of the building at the same time. Whats more, the calendar can actually help you improve your churchs events by providing a convenient way for attendees to send organizers immediate or delayed feedback about each event. Importantly, MyChurch Events hasnt overlooked the security of your church calendar. Only those with proper authorization can add or edit calendar information. This can include as many or as few people as you deem necessary. Other key features include the ability to view and print calendar pages in a readable format and to download the calendar data into other programs. And if you wish to send out regular printed calendars, you can choose from several different printing options, including vertical or horizontal layout and the ability to print pages with or without private events. If you use Microsoft Outlook, Lotus or any calendar software that can receive comma-delimited text files, you can export the data directly from MyChurch Events to your computer or PDA. Communication Resources recommends that MyChurch Events be used with Internet Explorer 5.5 or later on a Windows-based PC for best results. However, it can be viewed through other browsers and Macintosh computers. To make it as easy as possible for church staffers to determine whether this is the right calendar package for them, MyChurch Events is available with a risk-free trial. For those who decide this is the best calendar for their church, MyChurch Events is a continuous subscription (that can be stopped at any time) billed annually ($59.95). The most you have to lose would be about 10 minutes of your time setting up the calendar and linking it to your site! MyChurch Events is also available as part of ChurchArt Online Plus (www.ChurchArt.com), an online art library that includes a new online Caption Editor and MyChurch Birthdays. Communication Resources offers a full refund for those who are not completely satisfied with their products. For more information, visit www.MyChurchEvents.com or call toll-free 1 800 992-2144.

Christian Computing Magazine

March 2006

Press Releases
Dance Praise Hits All The Right Notes With Christian Youth Groups
Take one of the hottest arcade crazes in recent years, add music from top Christian artists, put it into an affordable package, and what do you get? Dance Praise, the first Christian-themed dance arcade product for the computer. Dance Praise puts a whole new spinas well as sway, shuffle, and hopon the high-energy video dance game trend. Dance Praise combines two of todays most popular entertainment trendsContemporary Christian music and dance arcades, says Tom Bean, CEO of Digital Praise, makers of Dance Praise. Kids love the energetic dancing, and parents and youth group leaders dont have to worry about inappropriate content. Christian youth leaders have found Dance Praise to be a valuable addition to their programming. I took [Dance Praise] to the teen group on Wednesday night and the kids ganged up to play. They had a blast. I had the same experience with elementary age kids, reports Ronnie Caldwell, a childrens minister in Franklin TN. Jerry Storz, program ministry manager for the International Network of Childrens Ministry, recommends Dance Praise as a way to engage kids in a positive way. I have used [Digital Praises] Dance Praise product in the seminars I taught for INCM. Everyone seems to love it! he states. Dance Praise improves on mainstream music video game products by adding many unique features, all while praising God with uplifting onscreen lyrics. An arcade mode, for example, displays scrolling icons that dancers must avoid, while the exclusive Tune Into You feature automatically adjusts level of difficulty to match the dancers developing skills. For added fun, two players can dance at once as the crowd cheers them on; different modes also allow dancers of all ability levels to dance for the highest score Susan Cutshall, director of childhood ministries at a Lexington, KY church, says, Dance Praise has been a great addition to our Wednesday night programming. I have it set up 15 minutes before our start time and the kids cant wait to get there and experience the fun of praising God with their whole body! Church organizations can benefit from a Dance Praise Youth Group Special which combines Dance Praise with two deluxe, heavy-duty foam dance pads. Visit www.digitalpraise.com for more details. About Digital Praise, Inc.: Digital Praise is an independent developer and publisher of family-friendly entertainment software for personal computers. The company produces and publishes faith-based and mainstream titles for families looking to enjoy interactive entertainment software with principled character-building themes and just good clean fun. Digital Praise products have achieved top recognition from leading childrens gaming and advocacy groups including iParenting Media, the National Parenting Center, The Dove Foundation, Dr. Toy and Plain Games.

Church Management Solutions Survey

Finding the right church management solution can be a daunting task. It used to be hard enough just choosing between the many church management software packages available. Now there are also a variety of Online services to take into consideration. The market research firm Campbell Rinker is addressing this by collecting opinions from hundreds of churches and publishing them in an easy-to-read buyers guide. If you are a church employee or volunteer, you can receive a copy of the guide in return for taking the 15-minute survey. The survey even examines the Sunday School and Vacation Bible School curricula used by churches- for those of you interested in that area. Investing a little time now can save hours of searching later. The survey closes April 6th. Take the Survey - http://www.campbellrinker.com/research/h/ 10 March 2006 Christian Computing Magazine

Shelby Systems Passes Milestone

Shelby Systems is celebrating its 30th anniversary. In the world of computer software, this longevity and stability could be comparable to that of an elder statesman. In the world of church management software, there are no peers. Begun in 1976 with one mans dream to make a difference, the company has been true to the original purpose to be a support to the ministry of individual churches and parishes. Daily, the company serves over 8,500 users around the globe. And the customers now include other faith-based organizations such as denominational headquarters and schools. During the growth in the late 90s, the strength of the company allowed it to remain steady in the face of losing its founder, Ernie Hamilton. The companys first programmer, Frank Canady, became president. Frank knew the programs, knew the customers, and fully understood how to continue the mission and vision of the company. The effectiveness of Canadys leadership was recognized by the Memphis Business Journal in 2003; it named him Executive of the Year in its annual small business awards ceremony. Important to the companys stability has been its alignment with stable hardware. Partnering early with IBM personal computers meant that churches and their non-technical staff were assured of having reliable machines with excellent customer support and assistance. This partnering has continued; Shelby software has developed with assistance and tools from Microsoft. It is the only church management product to be named a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, based on software stability and customer satisfaction. Stability also comes from the fact that Shelby provides answers to expanding ministry needs. For example, in the last few years churches started incorporating more small groups in their ministry activities. They also realized the value of encouraging volunteers to support these and other projects. Consequently, church leaders welcomed the software Shelby designed for specific management needs. Some of the newest programming includes refined tools for churches that have multi-site campuses and venues. Up-to-date reporting uses the dashboard concept; current data is generally one click away. The company has proved it is committed to supporting customers with stable and reliable software, with fresh solutions, and with unsurpassed support and training. The record of interacting with business partners and prospective customers based on honesty and integrity shows the Christian foundation on which the company is built. As is clear from its 30 years of history, Shelby Systems will continue to provide innovative and unique applications, reflecting advanced technology. Shelby Systems provides management software for faith-based organizations, including churches, denominational offices and other ministries. Located in Cordova, Tennessee, Shelby serves over 8,500 users in more than 40 countries. For more information, visit www.shelbyinc.com or call 800.877.0222.

Latest Version Of Unique Church Software Has More Features, More Power And New Design
People Driven Software (PDS), an innovative church software developer that focuses on the spiritual development of individual members as well as church administration, has introduced its Version 2006, which has more features, more power and a new graphical design, the company announced today. There is an increasing need to provide church leaders with leading-edge tools that can be used to communicate with their people and to aid in their spiritual growth, said Mark Kitts, president of the Research Triangle, NC, area Christian Computing Magazine March 2006 11

firm. This revolutionary program allows churches to communicate with people instantly, helping individuals pursue spiritual maturity by tracking their involvement in the church and their own personal discipleship development. Its versatility and multi-tasking ability give churches the power to accomplish more than ever before. Kitts said other church software on the market places too much emphasis on business and accounting which though important and necessary is not the core purpose of the church. PDS software, particularly Version 2006, is designed to help churches develop people through a disciple-development process, incorporating many of the popular church models today, he said. PDS will target and communicate with people at each step of the process, encouraging them to take the next step in their spiritual development. For example, churches can send newcomers an automated welcome letter or ask people to sign up to help with a ministry, join a small group or attend a particular class each week, said Kitts. The program also can send a message to the leaders of these activities, attaching a list of people that signed up for the events, so that follow-up and assimilation can occur. In addition, the new software: runs on the Microsoft Access 2003 runtime engine. This means better performance, stability, security and capability with the Office 2003 suite. supports automated check readers, which means contribution data entry time can be cut in half. has been updated with an entirely new graphics design. assigns an ID number to everyone including children so attendance data entry can be automated with a bar code scanner. Rosters and check lists have been redesigned to include a bar code. For more information visit www.peopledrivensoftware.com, or call toll-free 1-866-737-9273. 12 March 2006 Christian Computing Magazine

STOP REPORTING SPAM

Steves rant on why you should NEVER report an e-mail as spam!

hate being so dogmatic, and I am sure that even after reading this article, someone will probably come up with a scenario that I havent thought about, but at this point, I am going to hold to my statement that you should NEVER report spam. Reporting spam does not do anything to stop future spam, but can in fact actually hurt your church and ministry. How? Read on.
To understand why reporting spam is not only a waste of time, but it might actually be hurting your church or ministry; I must make some things clear. First, what is spam, and second, how does it end up in your e-mail box and where is it coming from. After you understand these two things, I will show you the danger in reporting an e-mail as spam. So, lets start by agreeing on a real definition for spam emails. 1) It is spam if the header information is false. In other words if it lied about where it came from. You see if someone sends you something you dont like, you can simply set up a filter and refuse e-mails from this person in the future. However, illegal spam gets around this by not revealing the true return email address, preventing you from using such filters.

First, what is spam?

Since spam is relatively new, the definition has been developing over the last 10 years. Many have held that spam was an unsolicited email. Some even used to hold that spam was an The reason illegal spam continues to flood our e-mail boxes is email from anyone you because most of it is sent illegally, breaking the rules of the Can did not already know. Spam Act. However, these definitions no longer apply since email has become 2) The subject line has lied. An example an accepted form of mass communication. Yet, emails that promote of this is when an e-mail says it is about one frivolous or offensive products and services can be more than just ansubject, but when you open it, you discover it noying. Therefore the Can Spam Act (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/ was about something completely different. conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.htm) was established by the US Many spammers send out e-mails with subject government to help define spam, and to provide methods to penalize lines that read RE: Here is your photo even those that fall into the real definition of spam. Christian Computing Magazine March 2006 13

though you do not know the person and never sent them any photos. 3) Legal broadcast commercial e-mails must give you a legitimate method to opt out of ever receiving an e-mail from this person or company in the future. Some e-mails claim to do this, but when you try to opt out, you are directed to a Web page that is not working, or is very confusing. The opt-out process must be easy, and must really remove you from future emails. (Special note many of us in the past have warned people to not use opt out options because it would only verify that an e-mail to you was read, and will increase your chances of receiving future spamming e-mails. Please read the sidebar on this for a better understanding of what to do in the future.) 4) The final requirement for sending out commercial broadcast e-mails is that you provide your complete and valid physical address and identify the e-mail as an advertisement. This is the definition of spam. Any other definition works against a real solution to the problem of spam. After all, if you receive an e-mail from someone you dont wish to hear from again, you can easily filter their e-mails and not be bothered with hearing from them in the future IF they are following the rules. Spam is an e-mail that you cannot stop from bothering you because they have broken the rules given in the Can Spam Act.

Can You Safely Unsubscribe To Questionable E-mails? Yes!

When you receive a legitimate broadcast email it must contain an unsubscribe option within the e-mail or it is illegal. In the past, many people warned others to never unsubscribe to suspected spam e-mails because it would simply inform the spammer that your e-mail is valid and that you did indeed open it and read it. The theory goes that the spammer will simply sell your e-mail to many others because you have proved that you read spam! There are several problems with this approach. First, it is very easy for spammers to tell if you opened their e-mail. You should never open any e-mail unless you are sure it is safe, viewing it first in a view window, such as provided within Outlook. Second, those that do studies in this area have determined that the chances of you getting increased e-mails from unsubscribing from fraudulent companies is small. In October 2004 Lashback (more on this company in a bit) president and CEO Brandon Phillips reported that only 1.7 percent of the 27,719 unsubscribe mechanisms hed tested led to spam. However, that number has grown to 7.5% as of January of this year. So, how can you tell who you can unsubscribe from and who you cant? In the first place, if they are indeed using the same IP address, name or subject line, it is easy to simply filter them out and have your junk file delete them as they come in. However, if you must unsubscribe, please give some thought to who you can trust. I say this because I have listened to the frustration of many in ministry who end up with people reporting their emails as spam, even after being requested, and yet they operate legit methods to unsubscribe. However, there is now a great way to know for sure if you can sincerely unsubscribe, or if you should be suspicious. Remember that company Lashback? They run a Web site where you can check on an email to find out if you can safely unsubscribe, or if the e-mail was sent from a company that they have blacklisted because of unscrupulous e-mail practices. If you receive something questionable, use your e-mail program to look in the messages header section for the senders IP address (e.g., 255.255.255.255). Then enter this into the box on the following Web page: http://www.lashback.com/register/ UnsubsafeLookup.aspx Christian Computing Magazine

Why do you keep receiving spam, and where is it coming from?

The reason illegal spam continues to flood our e-mail boxes is because most of it is sent illegally, breaking the rules of the Can Spam Act. They lie about the return address, so as soon as you filter that address you find you receive the same e-mail again, only from a different address. The big question is, since the Can Spam Act is now law, why are we still receiving spam that breaks all the rules. The reason is because the people sending it are not playing by the rules. They take great efforts to use technology to hide where the spam is coming from; mixing the IP addresses to prevent ISPs from blocking, and even spread Trojan horse programs that turn home computers (maybe yours) into zombies that help send out their spam e-mails in the background. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that 30% of spam is sent using zombie computers, E-mail security vendor MX Logix estimates that 44% of spam comes from zombie computers, yet a study by network management firm Sandvine reports that around 80% of all spam is sent using zombie computers. Since it is virtually impossible to know how many computers are being used to send out spam without the owners knowledge, the exact number will probably never be known. It is obvious that most spam, as defined by the Can Spam Act, is being sent in ways that cannot be blocked or prosecuted. In the past, hackers designed computer viruses and worms to damage your files, now they seek to infect your computer in order to use it to send out spam to millions, making them14 March 2006

selves rich. The problem is worldwide, with a recent report showing computer users in China being the most vulnerable to these Trojan horse programs, turning their computers into spam zombies. Recently, I read a report of a Website in Russia selling a spyware kit for just $15, with instructions on how to set up a bogus Website that will infect people with a Trojan horse program when visited. You can obviously see why it is hard to stop spam, even with the Can Spam Act.

So how does reporting spam help or hurt the situation?

When spam first started, it was sent by people who took money sending out broadcast e-mails promoting a product or service. However, it was simple to block broadcast e-mails by simply blocking the IP address from where it was sent. Hence, spammers seeking to avoid such filtering, have turned to illegal methods to disguise the IP address, or to use million of zombie computers to do their bidding. ISPs want to provide you some sort or assurance that they are doing their best to prevent spam from getting into your e-mail box. They can set up filters, which search for specific words and content, and they can block any emails that come to a certain number of their users, being sent from the same IP address. The problem with this second solution is that they can end up blocking legitimate broadcast e-mails. In fact, since illegal spam would easily be traceable (and thereby prosecutable) if the IP address was not blocked, about the only thing blocked by this method of spam control is legitimate broadcast e-mails. What is a legitimate broadcast email? There are a large variety of examples. They are e-mails sent to a group of people that have requested the information be sent to their e-mail address. Many churches are now using broadcast e-mails to inform their members of specific information, or to send out the monthly newsletter. I have Christian Computing Magazine March 2006 15

signed up to several broadcast e-mails, such as breaking news from CNN, sent directly to my e-mail box. In addition, of course, WE are a legitimate broadcast e-mailer, sending our magazines out to people that have signed up for them. When you get an e-mail that you believe is spam, reporting it as spam does nothing to stop it since if it is really spam it is most likely coming from a zombie computer and is untraceable. So how can it hurt? Legitimate broadcast e-mails are being reported as spam, and ISPs are blocking entire groups from receiving requested information because of a few. AOLs user interface places the delete button right next to the report spam button. If you are not careful and hit the spam button when all you intended to do was delete an e-mail you have already read, you have given AOL a reason to block all e-mails coming from that source. For the last several years, I have received reports from churches and ministries frustrated with the fact that their legitimate broadcast e-mail gets blocked by ISPs, specifically AOL. Their broadcast e-mail sits waiting to be delivered until the sender can go through the process of getting AOL to release it. I have recently been in touch with several of the largest ministries that send out legitimate broadcast e-mails. They have shared that getting e-mails delivered to AOL users is a constant struggle. Yet AOL is seeking to curb spam because their users have made it a high priority. Part of the solution lies in educating the end user. Be VERY careful when you decide to delete an e-mail that you do not end up reporting it as spam. If you do so, you might be responsible for hundreds or thousands of e-mails from being delivered to people that have requested delivery. In addition, if you believe something is a spam, be sure to think twice before reporting it. If you really want to do something to help stop the spam, forward it to spam@uce.gov and let the authorities do their best to find the culprit and handle the situation properly. All of this concern about spam, and the reporting of legitimate broadcast e-mails as spam, is going to have a very negative effect on the future of e-mail. As I reported last month, AOL is preparing to launch a new service that will charge a fee to legitimate broadcast e-mail senders in order to guarantee delivery to AOL customers. This will have no affect on illegal spam, and it is my belief that it will start us down a slippery slope where we all might have to pay a fee to guarantee e-mail delivery. Whenever you report a legitimate broadcast e-mail as spam, and justify AOLs plan to charge for delivery. They claim that by charging for certified delivery of broadcast e-mails, spam will decrease. The only thing that will decrease 16 March 2006 Christian Computing Magazine

will be legitimate broadcast e-mails. There are many public services, ministries, and non-profits sending out millions of e-mails to people that desire the requested information. AOLs plan to charge for such broadcast e-mails will only hurt legitimate broadcast emails.

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Is CCMag spam?

Speaking from the viewpoint of a legitimate broadcast e-mailer, the reporting of spam can be a frustrating experience. We use a service called Constant Contact to send out our three different publications. Every month we receive a few spam reports. If we receive as few as one spam report per thousand, Constant Contact can refuse to allow us to use their service. Recently we received an alarming seven spam reports in one month. We were able to trace down two of them, both coming from the same church. When we contacted the individual in charge of the church server, we discovered that they had installed a filtering program Mdaemon. While these two staff members had requested our magazine be sent to their e-mail addresses, the filter on their server decided our emails were spam, based upon the color we used in our HTML, the fact that the e-mail contained links, etc. This is a frustrating situation. Due to the concern for spam, people cannot receive e-mails they want, and are not even aware that e-mails they have requested have been blocked and reported as spam. Every month we have around 20 people sign up to receive CCMag or one of our other publications, yet they use a challenge/response spam service. This means that when we send out our broadcast e-mails to our list (CCMag is now up to 50,000) their service sends us an e-mail requesting that we click on a page and verify a password in order to have our e-mail delivered. Whenever you send out a broadcast e-mail, you receive a number of e-mails reporting bounces, full mailboxes, out of office automatic replies, etc., and there is simply no way to weed through the responses from such a broadcast and find and respond to these types of spam filters. The result is we get an angry e-mail from a person who complains that they signed up to receive CCMag several months ago but as of yet to see an issue make it into their mailbox. This might be an acceptable part of using e-mail, particularly in using it to send out broadcast e-mails. However, it is obvious that the problem of getting e-mails delivered to Christians that have requested them is growing. I believe that every church I have talked with sending broadcast e-mails have expressed their frustration with getting deliveries through AOL. Every major ministry I have talked with concerning the problem shares that it is a major frustration.

Where do we go from here?

The level of frustration placed upon receiving offensive or annoying spam will be different for each of our readers. Christianity has always been fragmented when it comes to our level of involvement with the world. While some Christians would be mildly offended by a specific spams subject matter, others would be highly offended. In our history, some Christians have been offended by the trappings of the society around them, and therefore uprooted themselves from society and moved into communes where they were never in the presence of people of the opposite sex, communication with the outside world was limited, and they were safer from temptation. Maybe using e-mail presents a similar moral problem for some Christians today. Certainly, we want to protect our families and ourselves from offensive subject matter. I am sure that those with children are going to react the strongest to this article. They will WANT to report offensive spam to their ISP demanding that something be done, because they wish to protect their children. However, as I have pointed out in this article, reporting an offensive e-mail as spam to your ISP does nothing but help them move to a pay-to-send e-mail system, which will cost ministries as well as each of us individually.

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Internet Ministry
Walt Wilson - waltccm@aol.com

Calm In The Midst Of The Storm

adical discontinuity is a description for change taking place so fast that we cannot explain it. We simply cannot comprehend the speed at which social systems; economics and politics can depart from historical norms and move in a different direction literally overnight. Unfortunately, radical discontinuity often brings with it an inner desire for a radical response when we are confronted with things we cannot understand or rationally explain.
A friend recently returned from a trip to Cambodia saying that leader) who lives in China. He told me that most Chinese who have access to American satellite TV he learned the real definition of remote village. After hours of and American news media on the Internet believe driving along dirt paths full of potholes they arrived at their first that most Americans are homosexual. There is remote village no sewer system, no running water and no elecwidespread belief that the US has lost its moral tricity. Yet as they drove past each of the houses with open front entrances, they could see television sets in each of the homes. compass. Contributing to this are Hollywood movHow could they be without electricity, he asked his host, if ies with an increasing display of decadence distorting what life is really like in America. they have TV? He was told that they are linked to a car battery and the battery man comes by each week to The worlds opinion of America does not come from average replace each one with a Americans but from US based news media that is painting a newly charged battery. What do they watch? picture different from life as we know it. Well, they get their news from CNN in America. They see the worst of America and in these remote locations hear The worlds opinion of America does not come from average Americans but from US based all the left wing arguments about Americas flawed policies. Reporting of this type, about all that is bad and wrong in America, news media that is painting a picture different from life as we know it. The unending attacks has far greater influence than Al Jazera has, because it is coming from American leaders and citizens attacking their own governupon the US president from almost half the memment. bers of the US congress, from newspaper editorials, and TV reports, weaken not only the presiI had lunch this week with a Christian executive (and church 18 March 2006 Christian Computing Magazine

Read the Review of our LogosGiving Service (Cover Story in CCMag, February 2004)! CLICK HERE (for our PDF readers) or visit www.ccmag.com/0205/0205coverstory.pdf

Christian Computing Magazine

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dency itself but also the power of US policy in the world. Authority is always based on justice and morality. Without that foundation, our words and policies are just more noise. However, this is not a Christian issue. If Senator Joseph Lieberman were president, he would be under media attack just as much as George W. Bush would. What we are witnessing is an attack on authority, attack on leadership that stands for value, and an attack upon morality itself. Public school systems and especially US colleges and universities embrace and give platform to those who espouse a weaker and even a destroyed America. Radical professors are not only tolerated but also protected by socalled freedoms allowed by the US Constitution. Is it any wonder they have turned out several generations of news people who are drinking the same bath water they have picked up in the US educational system? US social systems are in disarray. Rather than frame this as a Christian issue, it needs to be framed as an American social issue. This is not about saving the church, as God will see to it that the church not only survives but if we are obedient to the Gospel, it will thrive. We should remember that in the conversation Jesus had with the disciples at the Rock of the Gods in Caesarea Philippi, he told Peter to build the church (on this rock) in the midst of this moral decadence and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. The war for the mind has begun. Computer networks now become one of the most crucial battlefields for the minds and souls of people everywhere. Digital media will play an increasing role in what people think, as witnessed recently with the cartoon riots. The noise will grow louder as the days go on. However, the winners will not be made up of those who shout the loudest, have the most car bombs, or send out the most martyrs for the cause. The winners will become experts in creating a message and marketing a message about hope for a world in cri20 March 2006 Christian Computing Magazine

ses. When we grow tired of the shouting and bombing the world will turn in desperation looking for hope. It will come in the form of a message and in the form of aid for the sick and starving. Bill Hybells was once asked to describe the difference between religion and true Christianity. His answer was that religion was based on dos. All the things you have to do for God to win His favor and work your way into heaven. He stated that long ago people tired of an endless list of dos and donts; All the rules and requirements of religion. Christianity, Hybells explained was about everything being Done. God gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross and settle the sin issue once and for all. It was done. There is nothing else we can do to add to that. It is vital for us to remember the difference between do and done. The battle is done. Justice and mercy are in the Lord. He has already delivered the battle into our hands. I realize this has little to do with Internet ministry, but it has to do with ministry in the age of radical discontinuity, much of it brought about by the relentless march of technology and information. I am reminded of a photo of an Arab family sitting in a hut built on the sand watching television. Soon they will have access to the Internet on their cell phone as Nokia has just announced reaching the masses by 2008. If you will, consider these thoughts as a strategy for your Internet outreach. The world is crying for a calmer voice. While they do not know it, they seek Jesus.

How shall we then live?

Not as hysterical, whining Christians, acting as if we had no power. Boycotts, social causes, getting arrested for Jesus, raising the volume of our rhetoric solves nothing. In fact, it makes us appear power-less if we have to resort to behaving as victims. We are not victims. We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. Who are we in Christ? Read with your heart the answer from Ephesians chapter 1: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us. For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him, according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will, we who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Knowing Jesus means we can be confident that we were chosen from before the foundation of the world, made holy and blameless before Him, made destined to be his children, redeemed and forgiven for our sins, given wisdom and insight into His will, destined and appointed to live for the praise of His glory, sealed by the promise of His Holy Spirit and guaranteed our inheritance, as His children, to spend eternity in His presence. In Romans 8, Paul declares, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. We are called to add light not heat to every issue that plagues us. We exist in a storm of radical discontinuity that God may choose not to calm. Instead, He offers to calm us but only if we let Him. Let the world see who we really are people who live in the power of the Holy Spirit. Christian Computing Magazine March 2006 21

music and multimedia

Terry Wilhite - ccmag@terrywilhite.com

Multimedia Software: Getting It Right The First Time

y objective today is to help you get your multimedia software picks right the first time. It has been my observation that ministries typically hone in on the right choice of audio, video and multimedia software on about the third or fourth try. Usually, the first criterion used to make a software purchase decision is price. What happens more often than not, however, is that one ultimately wastes money on trying various brands of software when the industry standard could have been purchased from the beginning. Why do we do this in ministry? Often times, there is just no knowledge of what advertising agencies and corporate graphic design departments are using. Why are they the standard? Professional creative types in these departments know what will give them the best result in the least amount of time.
It may surprise you, but what I believe is the ultimate barrier to gettime-wasting conflicts between software ting software picks right the first time: Fright! Often it appears that the titles because they each reside in one learning curve for industry standard software is just too steep of a hill to happy family. Further, you can often use climb. However, I want to give you the secrets of the professionals to the features of one application inside another. For example, you can edit the audio reduce this fear. Professionals do not spend countless hours in trial and error learning new software. Time is too preBy sticking with industry standard software titles, you can use cious. precious financial resources wisely, save a great deal of valuable Professionals also choose a family of soft- time, reduce your learning curve significantly, and most imporware, such as those oftantly, communicate clearly. fered by Adobe. For example, in Adobes latest release of its video-audio lineup, user interfaces in your video inside Adobe Audition without leaving Adobe Premiere, the video apfor each title look strikingly the same. Learn one, and you pretty much know how to maneuver in another. That is nice. Further, there are no plication, or edit native Photoshop layers 22 March 2006 Christian Computing Magazine

while working inside Adobe Encore, the DVD software. While seminars are certainly one way to learn these applications, I recommend a company called Total Training (www.totaltraining.com). Long-time readers know that I am a big fan of this company and have reviewed its products numerous times. Some of you may be saying, Wait, we cant even afford the software, much less the training! Please hang in there with me. Usually the biggest limitation to quality training for those of us in ministry is not the absence of money, but the lack of creatively managing our resources. Why not go in with other churches to purchase these training products? Many conventions, associations and denominational headquarters already do this for local churches. If this is not offered in your area, you should ask for it or spearhead the cost-saving effort yourself. Heres an idea, why not get all the people who contribute digital photography at your church to go in together to purchase Total Trainings Digital Photography and Adobe Photoshop DVD or Adobe Photoshop Tips and Tricks? Either title is just $49.95. Regarding the concern for the cost of the software, the good news is that lite versions of the full titles can sometimes be purchased at a fraction of the price. For example, when it comes to video and audio editing software, my pick is the Adobe Production Studio Premium which includes Adobe Premiere 2.0 (video editing), Adobe Audition 2.0 (audio editing), Adobe Encore DVD 2.0 (DVD writing), Adobe Photoshop CS2 (photo correction and manipulation), Adobe Illustrator CS (graphic design) and Adobe After Effects (video special effects). Granted, this package is $1,700. However, you can purchase just the titles you need, greatly reducing the price, or buy Adobe Premiere Elements and Adobe Photoshop Elements for around $150. I hope you see that you can stick with industry standard software, but at the same time save a great deal of money! I have found Total Trainings DVD-based titles to be exceptional. Each one allows you to work alongside Adobe specialists. These trainers are industry legends in their respective fields. Another Total Training title that I have reviewed and recommended is Adobe Creative Suite From Design to Delivery. This resource covers the Adobe Creative Suite 2, my pick for print design. It includes Adobe InDesign CS (page layout and design), along with Adobe Acrobat Professional 7.0 (PDF creation and editing), Adobe Illustrator CS2 (graphic art design), and Adobe GoLive (web site design). My preference is Macromedias Dreamweaver over GoLive, but because Adobe purchased Macromedia last year, these web design resources will only strengthen. Total Trainings Dreamweaver training is super. I highly recommend it and my advice to you is not to use Dreamweaver without it. In summary, our message deserves the best presentation. By sticking with industry standard software titles, you can use precious financial resources wisely, save a great deal of valuable time, reduce your learning curve significantly, and most importantly, communicate clearly. Terry Wilhite is a communications and multimedia specialist. He welcomes your input and feedback at ccmag@terrywilhite.com, or visit his website for more information.

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Ministry communication
Yvon Prehn - yvonprehn@aol.com

How to communicate effectively about The Da Vinci Code

t is less than 70 days until The Da Vinci Code movie is released. Almost a third of America has read the book that presents Jesus, not as God, but a good man, married to Mary Magdalene and a father. The books of the Bible are portrayed as voted on by a church that hates women and attempts to kill anyone brave enough to reveal the true story. The movies challenge to the church is huge and following are some ideas on how to respond.

coming series at church (which can be accessed From the earliest days of the release of the book, Christian from my website www.thelionsvoice.com in apologists quickly released books, articles, blogs and commentary the coming weeks). However, while the crerefuting the facts of the book and that cerebral, historical, apologetic ation of specific responses is in process, I approach continues to be the primary response. would like to share some communication prinIt has not been tremendously effective. Just the facts seldom ciples that will help any response you are arethroughout all of history there have been people who have seen working on be more effective. the facts and their hearts were not touched. All of Israel saw the Red Sea parted; only two of them believed God Before you attempt to engage any audience other than an alenough to enter the Promised Land. Thouready convinced church audience, do you understand why The Da sands saw the miracles Vinci Code is so appealing to people? Jesus performed, but only those who walked Define and differentiate your with him were his disciples. audiences It is not that the facts are not importantthey are tremendously The number one rule of any effective comimportant, because we serve a God of truth and true history. But remunication is to know your audience. If, for exciting the facts is not enough, it is a foundation, but the facts alone ample, you are a manufacturer of gardening seldom change the human heart. tools and accessories and want to successfully What follows is not the total solution to the challenges of the market your product, you will tailor your offerbook and moviewe will be dealing with this for a long time and I ings and your message very differently dependam literally in the process of creating teaching materials for an up24 March 2006 Christian Computing Magazine

Evaluate the response of the church so far

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ing upon your audience, whether they are experienced, serious gardeners, weekend gardeners, or total novices who arent sure getting their hands dirty is a fun way to spend Saturday morning. There should be similar audience segmentation for our responses to The Da Vinci Code. Our audiences could be divided into: 1) Christ followers, church members, who believe the Bible and have studied it and the historical background of it. This group immediately saw the plot of the book as fiction and did not understand what the fuss is all about. 2) Christ followers, who know Jesus as Savior, but very little about the Bible or church history. Many of these people have found the book confusing, unsettling and wonder if parts of it could be true. 3) People who are not Christ followers, but who are all created with the God-shaped vacuum in their hearts. Many of these folks consider themselves to be spiritual and have found an explanation of sacred history they accept as truth in The Da Vinci Code. Each one of these groups requires a unique response but for all, we first need to

Respond with respect

A second key communication principle is that how you say something is sometimes more important than what you say. People are not stupid. They can tell when they are being patronized, made fun of, and talked down to, or if what they consider a serious issue is treated too lightly. The tone of a number of many materials Ive read about The Da Vinci Code, that are written even by respected pastors and teachers, could be summed up by a tone that says, How could you be so stupid as to believe that? Even supposed outreach advertisements for sermon series are headlined something like this: The Da Vinci Code, Fact or Fiction? That is not a bad title and it might be great for believers, but do you honestly think anyone not a follower of Christ will be beating down your church doors to find out how wrong, stupid, easily duped they are? Probably not.

Consider the movie an opportunity for dialog, not just confrontation

Jesus didnt share the spiritual or moral world view of the Samaritan woman he met at the well, nor did he approve of her lifestyle, but he didnt approach her quoting chapter and verse about the falseness of her form of worship nor did he immediately attack the sinfulness of her lifestyle. He engaged her in dialog. First, he asked her for something, a simple drink of water. Then from a time of conversation, questions and answers, he brought up a thirst in her life that was not being satisfied and from there, she discovered spiritual reality. Before you attempt to engage any audience other than an already convinced church audience, do you understand why The Da Vinci Code is so appealing to people? There are ways to find out. You can ask them. Many of your unchurched friends and neighbors have read the book. You can also go on the web Google Da Vinci and Dan Brown the author; and check out www.davincicodeforum.com. This is not a Christian apologetic site, it is a fan site. Join it, read the posts, pray for understanding and to see into the hearts of the people who contribute.

Craft your responses specific to your audience

There is a tremendous amount of material available for already convinced followers of Christ, www.equip.org is just one site and again a Google search of the book will bring up a large number of apologetic articles. These can be the basis for sermons, classes on church history and similar responses. What is lacking is a response to those who love the book and accept it as reality, but for whom we want to share the truth of the Gospel. By the time this article is published, I should have some specific suggestions for responding to unchurched folks about The Da Vinci Code on my website, www.thelionsvoice.com. On the website youll also find numerous other articles and resources for ministry communicators. Until that time, this article will have served its purpose, if those of you who are planning to preach and teach about The Da Vinci Code take the time to do more than go over the facts to the already convinced. You should also take time to talk to believers of the book, to understand their viewpoint, and to pray and work to communicate the true message of the gospel with gentleness and respect.

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Information security
G. Will Milor - blackisle@tampabay.rr.com

Digital Rights Management

So whose computer is this anyway?

.K., right from the get go, I am going to admit that this will be a tricky subject. In essence, I am writing about Intellectual Property (IP), the stuff dreams are made of (particularly if you make millions of dollars a year from your music). We will start with an in depth look at IP law and then move on to the technical implications of Digital Rights Management (DRM). Ahhhh o.k. sure, IP law, right. Actually that is right up there with watching paint crack. Boy, I can tell you stories about getting the popcorn ready and sitting around the old wall for hours just staring at that paint cracking, what a great time that was, but I digress. We will actually leave IP law to the lawyers (which is dangerous enough) and work on the implications of DRM.
As always we start with some definitions, which (by the way) Actually, the second definition is not entirely fair (although its close). An early form of DRM are all readily available on every DRM web site I went to while researching this article. This is my version. The term Digital was CSS (or Content Scrambling System) which Rights Management (DRM), depending on It seems that the only way we can deploy DRM is to create some who you talk to, is either a way to protect the intel- type of trusted computing environment on which we can ensure lectual property rights of that copies are not produced. The question is trusted by whom? authors, musicians and anyone involved in putting their ideas into some digital form or it is the insidious prodwas developed to protect the copyright of the conuct of demons, originally designed to destroy our freedom and tent on DVDs. The movie industry had this idea hold us in perpetual bondage. Yup, that should pretty much cover that only one movie should be viewed per DVD it. In one case I saw it referred to as digital restrictions manage- and not any number of copies provided by the conment. sumer. This led to the confusion that DRM is a Christian Computing Magazine March 2006 27

form of copy protection, but thats not the REAL focus of DRM. DRM is meant to be a means to limit or control the number of copies produced from a digital copy, not necessarily stop copying entirely. I find it amusing that you pay someone money and they tell you how the product you just bought must be used. There is good reasoning behind this (Im a big fan of copyright and will always stand with the copyright holder), but I still find it amusing. Its something like buying a house and being told you can only live there on Tuesday and Thursday or a car that has a governor on it that stops the engine when you leave the state. Its interesting to note that as soon as CSS came out the algorithm was broken. DeCSS was a program that was produced to circumvent CSS and allow the copying of DVDs. Isnt technology great? You just try to tell a propeller head they cannot do something technically and watch the fur fly. It proves the security adage that what one biological unit can do another biological unit can undo, given enough time and inclination. The next issue to enter the scene was the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which made the use of DeCSS illegal. Again, Im not a lawyer, nor have I played the part on television, so Im not going to try to get into a detailed discussion of the DMCA. In passing, I will mention Dr. Edward Felton (of Princeton) whose brush with the DMCA provided the inspiration to setup http:// www.freedom-to-tinker.com/ (a site I can recommend). Dr. Felton and a team of computer maniacs entered a competition to remove a technical watermark from a sound file (without destroying the quality of the sound file). Theres some controversy about whether they were successful or not but when they went on to publish the work and present it to the Fourth International Information Hiding Workshop (in 2001) they claimed the Secure Digital 28 March 2006 Christian Computing Magazine

Music Initiative (organizers of the competition and a forum focused on DRM) threatened them with a lawsuit (under the DMCA). Dr. Felton actually backed off presenting the work and eventually presented the work at USNIX later that same year (after receiving some assurance from the Federal Government that he wouldnt be prosecuted). The point I want to make with this article is that DRM is going to become an issue for anyone that uses computers (or any digital systems) to show or manipulate music, movies and (for that matter) any type of IP. Weve already got a great example of where DRM went wrong with the Sony root kit mishap. If you use iTunes youve probably noticed that buying music is fine (though iTunes) as long as you own an iPod or you plan to use iTunes for playback (the touch of DRM, again). Photography may carry watermarks in the future to distinguish the original owner from a copy holder and I believe DRM will soon be used to protect original ideas in digital ink. If you look around your church (or ministry) youll see that pictures, music and other copyrighted material make up a large part of how you reach and teach people, and Ill wager that much of this material is now digital. You are going to want to be aware of the technologies that are used to protect this information. As Christians we have a requirement to protect the work of others that goes way beyond anything the DMCA or DRM can levy on us. If you are putting together media presentations for your church and youre using copyrighted material improperly you need to visit your Bible. You can start with Romans 13:7-8.

Lets look at some of the methods used to implement DRM.

The Sony rootkit Ill start with the so called Sony rootkit because its a good example of how far companies will go to protect themselves. This is also a great example of how good intentions (the goodness of these intentions is arguable) and bad software still equal bad software. Sony implemented a system called Extended Copy Protection or XCP which, in essence, modified your operating system (Windows only) the first time you listened to a CD on your computer. This software did not affect listening to the CD in a stereo or a Mac or Linux system, just Windows (youve got to love that fact). The software hid itself in your operating system and monitored the copies of certain CDs (protected with XCP) limiting copies to three. Unfortunately they used the same techniques malware writers use and basically infected your system. There was a banner that came up on the screen and required you to click through an explanation that you understood the work was copyrighted. I honestly dont have the exact text but Im told that there was nothing saying they were about to install software on your machine. As soon as the word about this Sony root kit hit the streets there was an outcry. Sony recanted and pulled the CDs (they say) and promised not to do this again. My take is that this is only the start. I started this article with the question so whose computer is this anyway? Have you noticed the spyware craze lately? It seems like everyone that has an ounce of marketing in them seems to thinks this is a new marketing frontier and that installing software on your machine without your permission is, well, O.K. Its not and this wont be the last example of the we know whats best method of control. Product Activation We have been familiar with product activation for some time now. Microsoft has been using it for a number of years, Inuit has used the practice with their products and Symantec uses it (as do many other companies). Activation requires you to take an action to start the product thereby declaring your intention to use it. Some activation schemes will limit the number of times you can activate thereby limiting the number of copies you can make. This method of DRM has also been used to control electronic copies of books (adding a nifty feature to expire the book after a pre set time period). The Brooklyn Public Library requires that you download certain software before you are able to check out digital books (adobe reader is only one of the required systems). Once the software is downloaded you then need to activate the software making the machine on which the software resides authorized. This may not stop you from copying the books, but it does control dissemination. This is another case where I could see an expansion of the concept to include an inability to read the book with any other software and an inability to copy the book to other medium. The Dongle (or physical control) Physically controlling software has been around for a number of years. I cant say Ive seen this method used with music, movies or photographs but its worth mentioning. If you know of some system that uses dongles for controlling something other than programs, and you want to drop me a line, Id love to hear about it. Christian Computing Magazine March 2006 29

This method requires you to have a device in the USB port or the parallel port (if you actually have one) before the software will run. If you only have one device (usually called a dongle) then only one program will run. You can copy the software on as many machines as you want but they wont run without the dongle. Watermarks Watermarking, which doesnt really prevent copies, is simply a way to imbed data into the media that shows where it came from. This method is used to keep track of where you sent the item. Copies end up carrying the watermark and you can then track the work back to the person it was sold to. The catch is that the watermark must be applied at the time of purchase. If false credentials are presented or false information given with no verification process that watermark is less practical then the other methods.

Conclusion
The list of products and programs that use forms of DRM is becoming substantial. From iTunes to the Xbox this is going to become an issue with the majority of the digital IP we use. I dont disagree with the concept that the people who create should have some control over how the stuff they create is used, although Im finding DRM is more an issue for the people who distribute the stuff and not the artist (this is probably another issue that can cause a lot of argument). But I do have an issue with the way we see the implementation of DRM. It seems that the only way we can deploy DRM is to create some type of trusted computing environment on which we can ensure that copies are not produced. The question is trusted by whom? Once we give trust over to the selling party to ensure we are using the product according to their wishes, by definition, the system is not longer trustworthy. Check out the freedom to tinker site. How are we supposed to do that? Ive got video of hackers taking an Xbox apart and describing how to copy the games. I use it in my Information Security class to show how vulnerable a system is if you allow physical access to the hardware. It is virtually impossible to control physical and logical access to a system without a very large investment. I dont have any answers to propose and I dont want to suggest that DRM is dead or useless just because its hard to implement. DRM is frustrating, try buying music from iTunes to use anywhere other than on their systems, but it is also necessary given attitudes about creative property (there for the taking). So it is here to stay, I just think we need to have our eyes open when we use digital media. Better to know where hand how it will work before we buy it.

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Higher Power With Kevin Purcell

Kevin A. Purcell - kevin@kevinpurcell.org

Your Best Sources For Support When Things Go Bad

n the early days of home computers, if you had a problem with your PC, you had to fix it yourself. The main reason is that many of these were made by the user as kits. I remember the exposed circuit board with a small display able to show just a handful of characters that my father had on his bedroom workbench. When Apple and IBM started selling personal computers they included a phone number that you could call for technical support. Along came the IBM clones and other computer manufacturers. The competition for consumer PC buying dollars was fierce. One way companies set themselves apart was great customer support. Alas, those days are long gone.
Today, there are just a handful of big-name manufacturers. Competition is more intense than ever. But profit margins are also razor thin. One of the areas they are cutting back is customer support. Dell, HP, or other computer companies have over-worked support people whose number one priority is to get off the line with you as quickly as possible. The long hold time and generic suggestions from automated voice mail menus which almost never match your problem exacerbates the frustration. You must often talk to someone who is hard to understand from another country. This person will usually be reading the same Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) database available on the companys web site. If you get the right support agent, they might know a little more about computers than what they are reading on the screen. But just as often, and possibly more often, you will get someone who knows far less than you do about computers. If you did not pay for an extended warranty, you might be charged from $19.99 to $99.99 for the right to listen to someone read to you in broken English from a FAQ sheet. For these reasons, many of us have vowed to call tech support only when our professional lives depend on it or when we have exhausted all other possibilities. What can we do to help ourselves when computer manufacturers tech support mottos seem to be Just Do It Yourself? This Christian Computing Magazine March 2006 month, I want to give you a few tips to avoid many problems. Next month, we will look for ways solve our own problems helping us kick tech support to the curb. First, let me say that I read a good article that dealt with this same subject. I dont want to reinvent the wheel so here is a link to that article. You can find it at an online computer review site. Give it a read by going to http:// computershopper.com.com/4520-10168_75621441-1.html. Now, here is my process for solving my own tech support problems.

STEP ONE: Make sure you are up to date!

If you are having a problem, that is software or operating system related, it is often due to broken code. Software companies are always updating their code. If you use Microsoft Windows, turn on automatic updates so you 31

will get all the most important updates as soon as they are related. From time to time, you will see a little yellow shield in your system tray or a popup telling you that your computer is downloading updates. Let it do it. These updates fix holes which allow a surreptitious hacker to erase your hard drive or log all of your banking site passwords. If your manufacturer has software that automatically downloads updates or notifies you of updates, let it run. This will prevent some of the problems that could keep you from being productive on your PC. If you dont have that kind of updating software, regularly surf to your manufacturers web site and see if they have updates to drivers and preloaded software that you use. I say that you use because one of the first things I do is get rid of the garbage the manufacturers preload on PCs. I dont want AOL, McAfee or Norton software on my computer. So I uninstall it. If you dont, update it regularly. The message is this: UPDATE YOUR SOFTWARE REGULARLY! Remember to check for updates on all of the following: Windows or Other OS Office Suite Antivirus, Anti Spyware, Firewall Device Drivers, especially video, motherboard and chipset drivers Other Software You Use Regularly, especially if it includes personal information like banking software or church member information

STEP TWO: Clean house!

Clean things up by getting rid of files you know you dont need anymore in your Recycle Bin or Trash folder. Also go into Internet Explorer or whatever browsing software you use and clean up your Internet Cache, which is the local copy of web sites and files your browser shows you when you go to web pages. You can also just examine your files in Windows Explorer. Be careful. If you dont know what it is or what it does, 32 March 2006 Christian Computing Magazine

dont delete it. And never delete program folders. Always go into Add/Remove Programs in your Control Panel and uninstall software from there. You can also get rid of unused programs there. But remember that some of those programs might support software you do use, so be careful. Another way to clean house is physically clean your computer. The first draft of this article included a bunch of cleaning tips. But then I got smart and let Google find some of this information. Here is a very complete article (http:// www.computerhope.com/ cleaning.htm) on cleaning your computer both inside and out. The most important thing to remember is never spray cleaners directly on any computer parts, unless you dont want to use them anymore.

Scott, people matter. Its people that build Bobs Creek Baptist Church, and People Driven Software gives you the management tools that have been proven to help you develop people,

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Roger Walter, Pastor, Windor, CO

People Driven Software is innovative, powerful, and easy-to-use church management software that is used by churches large and small all over the world Challenge people at Bobs Creek Baptist Church to keep growing spiritually. Target and assimilate lost people in East Flat Rock and your community. Leverage the power of well crafted technology to expand the Kingdom of God in your church.

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STEP THREE: Always run three pieces of software AntiVirus, Spyware Removal, and Firewall.

The good news is that free software can do your info@peopledrivensoftware.com heavy lifting here. You 866-PDS-WARE can buy Norton or Software building churches... because people matter to God. McAfees packages. But I www.peopledrivensoftware.com think they are bloated and take up too much memory slowing your computer down needlessly. So I would NEVER recommend any of their programs. For AntiVirus software, go with one of the free programs like AVG AntiVirus available at Grisoft (http:// www.grisoft.com/doc/1) or Avast AntiVirus available the Avast (http://www.avast.com/) web site. If you feel more comfortable with software that you pay for, then use NOD32 (http://www.eset.com/home/home.htm). For Anti Spyware software, again dont pay! Get all three of the following for free. Microsoft Defender (http:// www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx) is very good and does not take up much memory. Another one to get is Spybot Seach & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html). Finally Christian Computing Magazine March 2006 33

get Lavasofts Adaware Personal Edition (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/). Install each of these three. After installing MS Defender, run it and let do a full system scan. Then install Spybot S&D and do full systems scan. Also make sure you run the Immunize feature. Finally install the Adaware and complete another full system scan. This takes awhile, but it is worth it. Unlike AntiVirus software, these three programs will not cause problems if you use all three at once. Next, turn on Windows Firewall. Just click Start and Help and type in firewall. It will tell you how to do this. If you have a home network with a router from Linksys, D-Link or some other company, then you have a great defense against anyone trying to get to your system. It is called NAT. I dont fully understand it, but I know it works. One way to be sure your router is blocking unwanted security breaches is to go over to Shields Up at Gibson Research Center, (http://www.grc.com/) run by security expert Steve Gibson. Steves site will work very hard at safely hacking your computer. Then if he finds a security hole, he will give you advice on how to close the hole and make your computer invisible on the Internet.

STEP THREE: Take care of your PC!

A few things help your computer run more efficiently. First, get a battery backup like the ones you can find at APC (http://www.apc.com/index.cfm?isoCountryCode=us). These are better than a power strip. A power strip might prevent your computer from being fried by a lightening strike. However, a battery backup does two other things. First, it keeps your computer running for a short period of time, if the power goes out. That way you can shut down the PC safely. If you plug the cable from the APC battery backup to your computers USB port and install the driver, you can configure it to shut down if there is a power failure and you are not home. Another thing they do for you is keep the power level constant. Surges can affect a computer even if it doesnt spike enough to fry your Power Supply Unit. Having a good battery backup will keep the power level constant. In my small town, we have frequent surges and drops in power level. I have to have a battery backup. Without it, I went through many Power Supply Units. Second, tell windows to turn things off when you are away from your computer. Right click the desktop and go into your Screen Saver tab. Click on Power and you can adjust power settings to turn off the hard drive, the monitor, or send the computer to either Standby or Hibernate mode. This allows your computer to shut down part of the way. Standby keeps the memory powered but shuts down other things. Hibernate mode saves the memory contents to the hard drive and shuts down the computer. Both modes will require less time to restart. Standby is faster, but uses more power. Hibernate is a little slower but your memory is safely saved to the hard drive. The only reason not to do this is if you need your computer accessible on a network. For example, I have my printers hooked up to my desktop and hate to have to go into the office to turn on the computer just to print something from my laptop via the wireless network, so I run my computer 24/7. If I were smart, I would invest in a Print Server, which hooks up to the network and allows me to print without keeping one of the networks PCs running all the time. At this time, I have not invested in one. I do set things up in the Power settings to shut off my monitors and hard drives. This saves power, money, and hardware. Finally, make sure your computer is not running too hot. If the fans are not working, then have them replaced. If you boot your computer and go into the system setup (usually by pressing the delete or shift key or one of the F keys) there will usually be a screen that displays the temperature. Find out what your manufacture says is acceptable and see if your computer is running hot or not. Following these tips will help prevent many of the problems that can affect a computer. But what if the problem already exists? Next month we will look at how to troubleshoot some of the common problems computer users face. Until then, send me your tips for preventing or solving common computer problems. If your tip is unique and creative enough, I will print it in my next article and if I include your suggestion, you will be given a free $5 coupon for Christian Book Distributors.

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nick at church
Nick Nicholaou - nick@mbsinc.com

Developing A True Ministry Team

W
The Problem

ell coordinated ministry teams are rare! Min istry staff members are most often best char acterized as entrepreneurial competitors who try to be diplomatic and work with each othersort of. Why is that? How can we help our staff work together in a well-coordinated fashion?
to communicate to the staff: The Concern. The organization has a dysfunction that, if addressed, will make it more effective for The Kingdom. The Goal. Identifying the organizations unique purpose and mission, and then ensuring that each ministry area feeds that purpose and mission, which will translate into maximum fulfillment of the organizations purpose and mission. The Love. The priority is to help each staff member work through the transition. Some may feel this is a corporate re-organization, and in the corporate world that always means cutbacks. Though some personnel changes may result, that is not the preferred result.

Understanding how the problem develops is an important part of identifying how to fix it. Heres what happens: As ministries grow, they can afford to add staff to focus on specific areas of ministry. The charge to these new hires usually goes something like this: Were so glad youre on the team! We want you to do everything you can to grow this area of ministry. Take it and run with it! At first blush that sounds okay. But notice what was missing. They were never told how that ministry area was to feed into the purpose and mission of the organization. The strategic impact of that ministry area was left completely up to the new hire.

The Fix
Its not easy to transform an existing ministry staff into a team. Leadership often means making difficult decisions that sometimes identify a necessary change because a mistake was made. Wed like each staff member to make it through the transition, but this is something we must be willing to give up if necessary. Its the equivalent of being willing to walk away when negotiating. The fix begins with identifying your organizations unique purpose and mission. It then works through how each ministry area helps the organization fulfill its unique purpose and mission. It then re-aligns, as necessary, each ministry area. Some ministry areas will be easy fits, and some wont. The key throughout the process is communication. It is extremely important Christian Computing Magazine March 2006

The Process
First, spend time with the staff and board identifying what God is doing that is unique through your ministry. As an example, God is working through many churches in the community, but each may have a specific focus as to demographics or worship style, etc. What is unique about what God is doing through your ministry? 35

Once you have a feel for how God is uniquely working through your ministry, formulate a simple purpose or mission statement that helps communicate it. This becomes the filter element which helps identify what fits and what doesnt. One at a time, look at each ministry area. Ask how it is feeding the purpose and mission of the organization. Look for aspects that are right on target and for those that are not. Look for the adjustments that would align each ministry area. Look at methods and processes, and set a plan in motion. Review the plan monthly to identify whats working and what needs to be modified.

What If?
You may find a ministry area that is completely outside of what the organizations purpose and mission is. If that happens, the first step is to re-examine the purpose and mission statement to see if it is accurate. If it is, be willing to eliminate a ministry area that diffuses your ministrys energy and focus. Most often staff can be re-assigned, but on occasion they may feel God is leading them to launch a standalone ministry. Ministries are often said to shed light on the human condition. Taking that analogy a step further (I know, this might be dangerous!), a 25-watt laser can cut metal, but a 25-watt incandescent bulb will barely light a room. Whats the difference? A laser is a focused beam. A true ministry team is akin to a laser. The sum of its members is much more powerful than the individual parts. Working on your ministry team will make it more effective at fulfilling what God has called it to accomplish.

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handheld devices
Jim Vanduzer - Jimv@laridian.com

Something New? MS UltraMobile PC and the Sony Reader

like to keep my eye on several new sites because they frequently talk about new gadgets. (In case you havent figured it out, I love gadgets!) Several new gadgets that fit into the handheld category that I find intriguing are scheduled to come out this year.
At the end of last week, Microsoft announced a new portable computer category called Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC). These computers are smaller than most laptops and TabletPCs but larger than PocketPCs. They run full versions of Microsoft XP. The devices will be made by companies other than Microsoft, but made (mostly) to Microsofts standards (very similar to what Microsoft did with PocketPCs). These devices will have screens measuring approximately 7 diagonally (about the same footprint of a paperback book). They will weigh about 2lbs. The primary interface will be touch-screen and the devices will support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. At this point, three devices were announced with more to come. Most will be priced under $1,000 with a $700 target. experience. I believe that Microsoft is trying to go after the PSP, iPod market with these as well. You will be able to listen to music and watch videos, too. At 7, the screen is a bit bigger than your Video iPod screen. It would have been nice to have one of these while I was in Russia last year. Because of the Bluetooth capability there will be many keyboard options (one Ive seen is flexible enough to roll up, but when unrolled its a full sized keyboard). I probably would have left my PocketPC at home and brought this

How will these devices be used?

To answer that question, I started thinking about how I would use one if I had it. The obvious first thing (for me) is using it as a portable Bible reference library. Any of the existing Bible software programs will work on these devices (Logos, Biblesoft, QuickVerse, Online Bible, and any other of your favoritesdont shoot me for not mentioning your favorite please!). The hard drive sizes are in the 60 GB area. This will allow you to install all of the titles that you want to carry with you. The screen size is bigger than a PocketPC so you will more closely approximate the real-book Christian Computing Magazine March 2006

I believe that Microsoft is trying to go after the PSP, iPod market with these as well. You will be able to listen to music and watch videos, too.
instead. Of course that would have made my suitcase slightly heavier, but the screen size and full Microsoft XP capabilities would have been worth it. The screen size will make it nicer for handling email, but Im not sure that the screen 37

size will make it worth the extra size over a PocketPC or Palm. Web browsing will be much better on these than on a PocketPC since youre running a full version of Internet Explorer (or your favorite web browser) instead of a stripped down version on the PocketPC. I believe that this may be more convenient if you travel a lot, carry your laptop primarily for email, and secondly for document editing/viewing. I can picture this being extremely useful sitting in coach on an airplane and equally as useful on a desk in your hotel room or in a clients office. Having the capabilities of listening to music and watching videos just adds to the appeal. We now have the following Microsoft devices (in order of smallest to largest): Abacus (wristwatch), Windows Mobile SmartPhone, PocketPC, Ultra-Mobile PC, TabletPC, laptops, and desktops. Its getting to the point where you can pick your device depending on your situationkind of like picking your luggage based on how far and how long youre traveling. If I were starting from scratch, I would probably be looking at a desktop, a UMPC and a WM SmartPhone and feel as if I was covering every situation. It will be interesting to see if the UMPC catches on or not. The TabletPC hasnt done all that well as a laptop replacement, maybe with the smaller form factor the UMPC will do better.

Sony Reader
The second device that I am looking forward to playing with is the new Sony Reader. The device is priced under $400; it is half an inch thick and about the size of a paperback book. Supposedly, the user will be able to read 7,500 pages before needing to recharge the battery. (I guess that can change depending on how fast you read.) The device will read a Sony proprietary formatted book as well as PDF files. Sony will sell titles from major US publishing houses through its own Sony Connect online store. (Think iTunes for books.) Back when I was working for Parsons, I had a device called an eReader. It was about the size of a magazine and could hold hundreds of titles in its library. It is no longer around. Here are the things that I think will make or break the Sony Reader: (1) the screen is the resolution such that you will want to read a whole book? (2) the weight a paperback book weighs about 12 ounces (1lb, 9oz for my paperback copy of The Brothers Karamazov), if the Sony Reader really only weighs 9 ounces as the web site says, we might not mind holding it over our faces while lying in bed reading it. (Although Im certain it would hurt more landing on your face when you fall asleep). (3) support from publishing houses will I be able to get the books that I want on it or will I have to read titles that I dont really care to; and finally. (4) how long will Sony support it? I hate buying eBooks and building an electronic library only to have support for the reader disappear. What makes this better than a PocketPC with Microsoft Reader? Until I see it, I wont know. Ive always thought the page size on a PocketPC is too small. However, will this be enough better to warrant carrying yet another device. Again, I dont know yet. My gadget loving side really hopes so. My been there, seen that practical side starts to yawn. (There is another electronic book device coming out from Philips that has a cool looking flexible display that folds up like a scroll. Sonys Reader will hit the market sometime this spring. Philips Readius wont be out until later this summer.) Solomon was quoted as saying, Theres nothing new under the sun. Books (in one form or another) have been around a long time. Electronic books are relatively new. However, theyre still words on a page. Will these devices emulate what weve come to love about books? Time will tell. However, to date, electronic books in general have not sold very well. Will Sonys proprietary format catch on? On the one hand, I hope so. I like the idea of electronic books (its how I put food on my table). On the other hand, I dont like the idea of having my library tied so closely to one company. Besides all that, I like sitting in my office surrounded by bookcases holding my library! Do we need yet another computer format? Probably not, but I do like the size of the UMPC. If I didnt need everything a laptop provided, this may fit the bill. Is it new? No, it really is not. It is just a smaller, more compact, lighter laptop. It will be fun to play with though! I just need to get someone to send me one to review.

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