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Help!! My church has gone to the dark side!!

A.Nonymous said:
This guy leaves this weekend. He came in just to install the sound system, got them to install a new projection computer as well and then he'll be off somewhere else. I'm the one who will be pressured to fix this thing if/when it breaks. That's what sucks the most about it. I hate, hate, hate people purchasing systems with no input from me and then not understanding why I can't/won't/have problems supporting said system 6 months later.
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Let him leave.
Let them scramble to figure out how to fix it.
People need to learn from their mistakes, it's part of the process.

Just so I understand this...
You have a guy that showed up in your church for a week, sold them on some Apple kit and is gone just like that?

Man I am really in the wrong business.
I don't know who is worse.. the iFan or the church management for being fly-by-nighted.
 
LoyalServant said:
Let him leave.
Let them scramble to figure out how to fix it.
People need to learn from their mistakes, it's part of the process.

Just so I understand this...
You have a guy that showed up in your church for a week, sold them on some Apple kit and is gone just like that?

Man I am really in the wrong business.
I don't know who is worse.. the iFan or the church management for being fly-by-nighted.
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Basically yes. Long story short, old sound system was 30 years old and had all kinds of issues. This guy came in to put in a new sound system. Did the driveby while he was here. We were doing training on the system tonight (which was not particularly helpful as the guy is not a good teacher. I'm sure he's an amazing sound tech, but he's just not a good teacher) and the person in charge of this project at the church has decided that they're going to go with the Windows computer for now because have have no idea how to transfer all of the songs, music, etc.... out of the program we're using and into the Mac. I got to hook up the Windows computer in the back and was kicking myself the whole time for not upgrading the CRT monitors to flat screen monitors. Somehow I had forgotten just how freaking heavy and clunky flat screens are.
 
A.Nonymous said:
So, my church has been putting in a new sound system/multimedia system. The guy installing the sound has everyone all gung ho about Apple and Apple products to point where everyone involved with them is being pressured to buy them. We had a Windows computer running the overhead projector before. No one had any complaints about it. It just worked. This guy came in and told the music director that we need to purchase a mac because "it's better."

How is it better I asked? It just is. But the one we had worked just fine and no one had any complaints about it. The Mac is better. Why is it better? Because it does the job better. Macs are better at multimedia. How so? Examples please? It's just better. It just works. Umm, our Windows computer just works and it's only a year or so old. We've had no problems with it. The Mac is better.

Then came the iPad pitch. Everyone needs an iPad. They're only $400. You can link them together so they all display the song lyrics. Can't everyone see the song lyrics on the screen you've put 6 feet away from them? The iPad is a better multimedia experience and worth the money. How so? It just is. Everyone must buy one. Why would you not? It's the best tablet on the market anyway. Why do you say that? It just is.

I don't know if I'm more irritated at the people pushing products on us that we don't need (Seriously, we have no one in our church who knows how to support a Mac. If that thing breaks once this guy leaves, we're up a creek. No one cares.) or the fact that these people have no clue about the products they're pushing. I don't see the logic in replacing a system that has worked fine for years. We wore out one computer, replaced it with another one, that was a year or so ago and the current computer runs with no issues. Yet we're replacing for something that is some undefined version of "better". Ugh. Lord have mercy on our souls.
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I have tried to find the link but I couldn't. I have read an article on techrepublic.com which demonstrated that apple products do have a higher up front cost BUT have a lower longer term cost of maintaining.

Mac products are generally better then Windows because they are more stable and more simple to use. I used to be a long time windows user but I bought a macbook about a year ago. I can tell you that my macbook can run circles around my old notebook. I am not comparing processors what I am talking about is how I use my notebooks. I generally have many windows and programs open at one time. I am constantly switching back and forth from one program to another. When I use my notebook I have it running the at least 8 hours. I get rid of extraneous crap like logs, cookies, temporary files, etc on a regular basis. When I had my pc notebook...I was lucky to get 8 hours of that type of use out of it. Bear in mind I set my notebook to "performance" profile. I had windows vista that looked like windows 95. I had no frills or excess programs running in my notification bar on the task bar. Most of the time I was having to shut my notebook down and restart it because windows was being evil and decided to punish for no apparent reason. Most of the time I had some issue with my windows notebook right on start up which cause me to learn how to fix it before I could even do my work on it. And don't get me started about Windows being compatible with more software...please. Exactly how does windows define compatible?! I lost count of how many times was told by microsoft, software, and HP that my issue was not due to their product but it was caused by someone else's. Really?! Hence I learned how to fix my own notebook. Just a bit more info on my use of my windows notebook...I did upgrade the ram to 4 gigs and I had a notebook cooler pad generally at all times. I even had an extended battery which raised my notebook up for more air flow. I constantly had to deal with a hot notebook.

Now, My macbook....blows my windows notebook out of the water. I can have my macbook running for almost three days straight 8+ hours and by the third day I might, key word...might, notice some problems. The only issues I have with my mac are associated with the microsoft office program. I have yet to have any serious issues. I have yet to experience temperature issues with my macbook and I use my macbook the same if not heavier compared to the windows notebook. I have 4 gigs of ram in my macbook

In my opinion what's better....
1) mac/apple os uses memory better then windows does.
2) with the same amount of ram my macbook blows the windows notebook performance out of the water...it's like if my windows notebook was a ship that received a surprise broadside attack.
3) mac os is virtually virus free. In fact, what tends to happen is windows users pass viruses to my mac and I don't know because they do nothing to my macbook and then I or other mac users pass those viruses along to other windows devices.
4) I don't have to purchase and run anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-etc etc on my macbook --- all those things take up precious memory and slow the machine down. I do still "wipe" all extraneous info from my macbook like history, temp files, cookies, logs, etc. I think every user should do that, as most of that data is useless and takes up precious memory which slows your device down.
5) newer intel chip macs let you run windows via bootcamp or via virtual setup. windows tends to run better on boot camp then virtual setup but boot camp requires the user to start up in windows. I do this my self but I always have some issue with windows when I start it up. So I don't bother with it because I don't have to.

Now to be fair...windows does do things that mac doesn't but I can tell you that mac is compatible with windows. My corporation uses virtual desktop software. I have full access to my virtual desktop which is win xp professional on my mac.

I am an long time windows user that has decided to leave the dark side and join the jedi's. Bringing people back to life is totally over rated (this is a star wars pun if your not familiar star wars and are thinking this is unrelated to the post.)

Seriously...I would encourage switching to a mac and dumping the 1 year old pc. Now the guy pushing all the ipads on you...yeah that's overkill.
 
Well if you're paying $2,000 out of your pocket I guess you want the thing to work. I paid $800 for my PC over the summer, plan on having it for a few years too. I got my last laptop when I was a junior in high school, almost 5 years ago. I paid $400 for it :D
 
I paid $1200 for my first laptop. This was way back in 1998/99 or somewhere around there. It runs Windows 98. I hauled it out of the closet the other day. It still works. Still runs. Takes a long time to boot up, but once it does, I was still able to get into that 4 gb hard drive and run Office and other programs without any huge lag. I was trying to find something to do with it other than paperweight, but came up with nothing. I think it's a Pentium II with 96 MB of RAM. Blazing!
 
Apple products intrigue me. They are sexy.

They are also over-priced, IMHO. Yeah, I know... you pay for quality, and all that... still, I think they are rounded up. Greatly.
 
apple is sexy....

my daughter loves the show "icarly" on disney channel.
they use the i-pear laptops and computers... i want redo my house with "Pear" devices... where can i get them????
 
dan330 said:
apple is sexy....

my daughter loves the show "icarly" on disney channel.
they use the i-pear laptops and computers... i want redo my house with "Pear" devices... where can i get them????
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icarly is on Nickelodeon. Major Fail
 
I just ran across this fascinating thread (I mean that, really!). A.Nonymous, I seem to agree with you mostly. I just received my 20-year pin today from the IT organization that I work for, so I've been around a lot of technology. In my 20 years I've worked with many, many operating systems. Someone once asked me which operating system was my favorite (ah, the intellectually challenging conversations we IT folk have). My reply was, "None of them! I hate them all equally!"

My actual answer to such a question is that my favorite operating system is the one that best meets the requirements for the particular application. In your case it sounds like your church's requirement was "fancy and cool" more than anything else. I have heard and believe that there are really cool things about Apple's products. The cost of ownership may be lower over the full life cycle in an organization where there is adequate support for Apple products, but I don't believe that is true for an organization that doesn't know how to support them if you consider the expense of time wasted trying to fix a problem you don't know how to fix or the money spent hiring someone to fix a problem with unfamiliar equipment. In most organizations (including churches) the chance of finding someone to solve a Windows (I hate that one too, by the way) problem is much higher than your chance of finding someone to solve a Mac problem.

I don't support Macs - not because I don't like them; simply because I've never had real world experience in an organization that uses them significantly. Mine does, but they only make up about 1% or less of the total machines that we use. So, I know more about the machines that are most abundantly used.

I agree with the person who suggested that you let them move in this direction if they choose and you find another way to serve. Don't let them pressure you into supporting something that you don't know how to support. To do so will take time away from areas where you can serve effectively, from time with your family, and from time with your God. My church has a couple of Macs, and I do not support them because I have way too many other things to do. The guys who use them struggle because, like in your situation, someone convinced them to go in a direction they didn't understand. That person left. Now, our youth leader asks me if I can help him with problems fairly often. My reply to him is, "Sorry, but I don't have time to learn a new OS."

Ya know, some might say that traveling by helicopter is much better than traveling by car. Helicopters are cool. They don't have to sit in traffic. And, the view is incredible. So, I should go buy a helicopter, right? Well, problem is I don't know how to fly a helicopter. I've already got a car. And, I'd rather use the money I would spend on a helicopter to put a roof over my head and to tithe to my God.

I find most interesting the poster who said:

Most Christians, especially ones who are wanting to be 'relevant' to non-Christians prefer Macs and iDevices.
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Really? Most of the Christians I know don't give a rip about the operating system or the hardware specs of the devices they use.


How about another easy question: KJV or NIV?
 
My church barely uses technology. We have live music, and instead of using a projection system to show the lyrics, we just have books. I did not know churches were so technical nowadays haha, not one church I've been to has ever used projection system or anything like it.
 
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