OFB Community Mailing Lists

[Timothy Butler]

Hi everyone,
	Well, it may be true that there is nothing new under the Sun, as the  
Preacher in Ecclesiastes says, but we're Linux users -- not Solaris  
users, right? Good, because there is something new: ChristianSource  
has been purchased by Google for a tidy sum that I'll use only for  
good causes.

	This is all part of Google's continued attempt to index everything  
-- including as much of God as He will allow. They figured a good  
start would be to buy up services such as ChristianSource to get  
started. Google Christian will also include Blogs4God, GospelCom.net  
and Crosswire.org (which will create a new version of SWORD that has  
integrated Google Earth Bible Maps and also provides search results  
within Google Desktop Search).

	I'll be taking a part-time position at Google as part of the  
transition; namely, I'll be the moderator of Google Christian's sci- 
tech related groups, including ones on Linux, Mac OS X and Java. As  
you know Google's normal motto is "Don't Be Evil," but for Google  
Christian, they've adopted a new one: "Be Good."

	To access ChristianSource, you will need to sign in using your  
Google ID (often your Gmail account). You'll notice some new  
features, such as "Where's Was This Post Sent From?," a feature that  
will show you the sender's home town in Google Earth. Posts will  
include contextual links to appropriate Bible verses and  
commentaries. You'll also be eligible to be part of the limited beta  
testing group for Blogger Christian.

	You may have heard Google also launched Google Romance today. I'm  
pleased to announce the subset of it for Google Christian, Google  
Courtship, will be launched next week. In addition, Google has agreed  
to include Operating System and Bible Translation compatibility in  
their matching profiles so that Google Courtship won't try to match  
CS-FSLUG users with those who use Windows, nor KJV-only folk with  
those who memorize passages from the New Living Translation.

	If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me.

	-Tim

--
Timothy R. Butler    -   tbutler at google.com
Moderator, Google Christian Sci-Tech Groups
http://christian.google.com/groups/scitech
         (650) 253-0000 ext. 7777