19-Aug-00
Technical Issues warning - SAR and beta software

The technical support group announced today that users of Sing and Read should be cautious about obtaining and installing beta versions of any software. Mr. Peter Morgan, Technical Services Director of SFW, the owners and developers of Sing and Read, said today,

"Many computer users do not know what beta software is and who should be using it. Beta versions are those that are in development and are for testing purposes only. Only those computer users that are expert with testing software should attempt to install and use beta versions. In addition, under no circumstances should they be installed on mission critical systems, that is, computers that are used regularly by an organization which are needed to accomplish tasks that are important to meeting the organization's goals."

SFW reminds users of Sing and Read that failure to follow this rudimentary rule could cause data loss and/or severe difficulties with Sing and Read and/or other mission critical software. SFW cannot be held responsible and/or liable for any interruptions, disablement and/or or other damages to computer hardware and/or software, including Sing and Read and any of its installed components and/or options, should any beta software or unlicensed (pirated) software be installed on a mission critical computer system. Further, SFW cannot be held responsible and/or liable for loss of use of any computer and/or other asset(s) or properties or any other consequential damages when any beta software is installed on mission critical systems and/or users of Sing and Read fail to heed the advice and warnings of the technical support group.

SFW was informed today that the developers of "The Online Bible" have discontinued all further development of the original "The Online Bible". The current version is 8.11 which was updated as recently as July, 2000. The author and developer, Mr. Larry Pierce from Ontario, Canada, has also advised SFW that he is about to release the replacement called, "The Online Bible Millennium Edition".

"The Online Bible Millennium Edition" is a result of over one year of rebuilding the program from the ground up. It includes a modified user interface which Mr. Pierce says,

"...will be more familiar to Windows users. The original "OLB" was written more than 20 years ago before Microsoft DOS or Windows existed. When they arrived and became dominant in the P.C. market, we ported the program to these platforms but chose to place functionality ahead of cosmetics. We have now come to the place where Microsoft Windows has dominated the global marketplace as one of the key components of the P.C. platform. Users are demanding a consistent look [interface] between applications so that the they do not have to spend any more time than necessary to learn a new program. The new interface was based on Microsoft Windows compliancy to meet this common need."

Mr. Pierce also informed SFW that the re-engineering of the source code improved its efficiency and ability to operate with the newer P.C. processors that have been coming into the marketplace in the past two years. One major efficiency involved rebuilding O.L.B.'s core proprietary search engine so that searches are now faster than ever before.

Mr. Pierce expects that the official release of "The Online Bible Millennium Edition v.1" will occur by the first quarter of 2001. In the meantime, the first release of the beta version (v0.9) is now available at the Online Bible's official North American website: http://www.onlinebible.net. For the official European website and for information in languages other than English go to: http://www.onlinebible.org

Sing and Read was designed as a unique product for the church and parachurch community that allow the flexibilities required to manage a presentation, especially those involving congregational worship. It includes special links to the original "The Online Bible" so that a church worship team can display Bible text easily with the same one-touch control that is used to present songs and hymns. Sing and Read licensees must install any commercial (non-beta) version of the original "The Online Bible" prior to installation of Sing and Read so as to gain the full benefit of having easy access to scripture text from "The Online Bible".

SFW does not support the use of its software when it is installed on any system that has any beta software or unlicensed (ie pirated) software installed on the same machine. (See disclaimer)

1-Jun-00
Announcement - Sing And Read FREE of licensing fees

Mr. Peter Morgan, Director of SFW, announced today that effective immediately, Sing and Read v.1 is free of any licensing fees. Mr. Morgan said:

"This does not mean that the software will become open source or enter the public domain. SFW will continue to hold all copyrights on the software. SFW recognizes that the concept of using video projection continues to be rather new to many church and parachurch organizations. They realize that moving in this direction involves making the same decisions as they did over 30 years ago when the first overhead projectors were introduced. The primary decision was, could the organization afford to invest in this new and relatively expensive technology when they already had hymns and song books? As the popularity of the overhead projector increased, the prices came down and it became the logical choice of affordable technology for doing any type of group presentation.

Today, the church is at the same crossroads. The technology is available and becoming more affordable, however, the initial investment continues to be out of reach for many churches and parachurch organizations. SFW wants to help the church advance their work and invest in the new technology by making the software component available to any church or parachurch organization."

Mr. Morgan also announced that a site license could still be obtained after downloading the software from their web site. Although not required, those who elected to request a site license would benefit from having access to technical support from SFW's technical support group in addition to being placed on an exclusive email list that would provide advance notice and news of new features of Sing and Read.

The current version of Sing and Read is v1.5 and is available as a full installation or update for existing installations.

1-Jun-00
Announcement - Press Releases

Mr. Peter Morgan, Director of SFW has put up some press releases conserning both SAR 1 and SAR 2 amongst other issues, so check them out:

SAR 1.5

SAR 2.0

Copyrights

Price Removal

Surfers

1-Jan-00
Announcement - Sing And Read v.2

Mr. Peter Morgan, Director of SFW announced today that development of Sing and Read version 2 has begun. After receiving feedback from many satisfied users in the past four years or more, it is apparent that most of them are representing churches and organizations that possess healthy budgets to allow the use of projection technology. Many of these users have been asking for unique features not available. One particular feature that is primarily a function of Microsoft Windows 98 is the ability of a P.C. to drive more than one video card and monitor image simultaneously. Mr. Morgan stated:

"A number of larger churches would like the ability to place Sing and Read's control panel on one monitor that can be seen by the system operator only while the second video card drives both the video projector and a system operator monitor at the workstation. This would allow the operator to manipulate Sing and Read, The Online Bible or other software without having to turn off the video projector so that the congregation is not distracted by what the operator may be doing."

Mr. Morgan restated that this feature is only available to systems using Microsoft Windows 98 and having one video card installed for each required monitor/projector that needs its own signal. It also requires the developer to re-engineer their software to utilize these features of Windows 98. That is what SFW will begin to do today.

In addition, because Sing and Read was designed to operate on any PC system with a minimum technical specification of a 486-dx66 processor and Windows 95, the ability to use the multi-monitor feature requires a technically superior computer system. For those churches that need this feature, they should plan on investing in a PC with at least a Pentium II - 200 processor, two PCI video cards (one AGP card with video out recommended for video projector) and, of course, Windows 98.

As the new version is in the development stage, Mr. Morgan could not predict when it would be available for beta testing or commercial release. Registered users of Sing and Read would receive advanced notice when these versions would become available. A call for beta testers will be announced on the website. Beta testers will be required to register and be accepted by SFW for this unique program. The application process will include the beta tester to sign a confidentiality agreement.

1-Jan-98
Announcement - North American Representation

Mr. Peter Morgan, Director of SFW announced today the appointment of Mr. J. Mark Robinson of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada as SFW's representative to North America. Mr. Robinson has an extensive background in technology, public relations and marketing and will be advising SFW with the marketing administration of the software. In addition, he will be involved in the exclusive distribution of the software to North American clients and, if that wasn't enough, with his technical background, will assist with software testing and technical support. Mr. Morgan and Mr. Robinson were introduced to each other on the Internet in 1995 when Mr. Robinson was the owner and manager of TICTALK - Technology in the Church, a global Internet based help desk service targeted to assisting churches and parachurch organizations with their technical needs.

The frequent email communiqués between these two technologists led to their personal meeting in July, 1997 when Mr. Morgan travelled to Canada and the United States on business. As Mr. Robinson recalls:

"Peter and I were corresponding one day and knowing that I lived near Toronto, asked me if I had ever heard of a place called Guelph. I told him I had and that it was not far away at which point Peter said he was coming there to meet Larry Pierce, author and developer of "The Online Bible". He wanted to develop a closer relationship with Mr. Pierce as he had chosen "The Online Bible" as the official Bible software to integrate with Sing and Read software. I met Peter, and two of his children traveling with him, in downtown Toronto one hot and sunny Friday afternoon and guided them to Niagara Falls. We had a great two hour trip on a cruise ship from downtown Toronto. A few days later, Peter and I met Larry and this is where I first saw Sing and Read. Returning to Niagara Falls, I told Peter that I was so impressed with the software, I wanted to be a part of it. It's something I had been thinking of doing myself for a few years. Peter and I hit it off and we've become very close friends as well as business colleagues."

Mr. Morgan can be contacted here

1-Jan-98
Announcement - Webmaster

Mr. Peter Morgan, Director of SFW announced today the appointment of Mr. Jazz Morgan as the Webmaster for SFW. He is in charge of the Melted website, found at: http://www.melted.com where there are links to Sing and Read software as well as other software and services. Mr. Jazz Morgan is a freelance webdesigner and has already completed other contract webwork, including jobs for 2 Christian organisations, Divine Designs and http://www.elimway.org.uk. He is responsible for all of the site and will carry on the duties of managing Melted and its content. The website is also home to the Morgans' personal web pages. Mr. Jazz Morgan can be contacted here.