Comments on: The best Bible study software worth paying for

By: Robert Hayes

Robert Hayes — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:03:42 +0000

Lets be a little blunt, LOGOS for all it’s wonderful benefits is way overpriced. As compared to what you ask? As compared to what the average Christian household can afford, so its like a lot other things in the secular world, its designed for those who have money, not the Christian masses……..$1300 or more for the top of the line package, common guys this is an elitist pricing mentality and in this recession era, likely heading to depression times, the people who can pay these Cadillac prices will become an ever growing minority. Why do you think they stopped selling their product through dealers and made it a factory direct style. THEY KNOW, so why not make it all yourself while the gravy train last and cut out the middle man………….Logos is little more than a BIG BUSINESS OPERATION, in a Christian format……..All that would be required to prove that would be to see the company’s pay scale and benefits for their top people and their profit margins, all of which I can guarantee will not be made public for all of us to see…….. The product is hard to learn, slow and fixes for those shortcomings would be too costly to pass on to a public that is already paying through the nose. LOGOS in a way is like being hooked on a narcotic. You buy it and your immediately aware that to get to next level will require more…….. And that’s what they want. Get you hooked on those never ending carrots out there beginning you to spend a little more, and a little more, and a little more……….Its knowing about God’s word a little better, for those who can afford it……..

By: Bryant Evans

Bryant Evans — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:44:04 +0000

I have used Logos since it first appeared back in the 80’s. I’ve upgraded and now have the Scholars Gold package with several additions. I have also attended the training sessions that are offered from time to time.

You are correct that there is a rather steep learning curve. But once you master the basics the program just seems to keep on giving.

I think your analysis is spot on and quite useful.

By: Mark Hollingsworth

Mark Hollingsworth — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:14:24 +0000

Logos sounds good. I just use the free Bible software, eSword.
It’s easy to use and pretty powerful. Thanks for your reviews.
Mark

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:36:37 +0000

Thanks for sharing. The tool that has been most helpful for me has been from scripture4all.org (Interlinear Scripture Analyzer).

By: Robert

Robert — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:44:40 +0000

Pastor Mark,
I agree…Logos is indispensable! (Scholars Silver)

I can’t figure out how I ever got along without it!

The true is; before Logos, I wasn’t “really” studying…I was devotional reading and calling it study…sad to say.

bob

By: Craig Rairdin

Craig Rairdin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:42:43 +0000

I think it’s a matter of getting used to how each program does the same thing. In the case you describe I’d consider opening a new dictionary pane, put the two dictionaries in it, then maximize that pane. When done I’d close that pane and everything’s back to normal (or close to it). Obviously you could describe another situation that would be harder to solve, just as you could describe a situation that’s hard to do with Logos.

There’s a fundamental difference in approach, though. Logos offers maximum flexibility at the expense of a steeper learning curve. PocketBible specifically addresses the 99% of Bible software users who aren’t Bible scholars and who don’t live in their Bible software 8 hours a day. They want to have quick and easy access to their resources without futzing around with the UI — even though the results of the latter might be superior. In the time it takes to do it perfectly with Logos, the PocketBible user does it “good enough” and has moved on to another task.

With all this said, one thing I’ve learned in 20 years of doing this is that everybody thinks the Bible software they use and/or wrote is “intuitive” and everything else is a mystery. So it’s not so much a question of good-better-best but rather one way/another way/yet another way.

This was a good series of articles. Glad I ran into it.

By: Mark Barnes

Mark Barnes — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:51:51 +0000

@Craig: Yes, you’re quite right I didn’t express that as clearly as I could. I know it’s possible to change the layout, but you have to configure this – you can’t just drag and drop. For example, when I’m using Libronix, normally I would have open an English Bible, a Greek NT, a commentary and a dictionary. But sometimes I re-order the layout for a few minutes, perhaps because a particular word I’m studying is mentioned in a couple of dictionaries and I want to see both at the same time, but don’t need the commentaries for that point. With PocketBible making a change like that seems much more permanent, so it wouldn’t be worth adjusting the layout just for those five minutes on the one word. Unless I’ve missed something somewhere, with PocketBible, once you’ve got your display as you like it you tend to stick with it.

By: Craig Rairdin

Craig Rairdin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:17:10 +0000

Thanks for mentioning PocketBible for Windows. Just to clarify: You can, in fact, close resources you don’t need, close entire panes (i.e. all your Bibles, all your commentaries, all your dictionaries, etc.), open new panes/books, and rearrange the layout to your satisfaction. What makes PocketBible different is that you don’t have to know this in order to START using the software — it comes up the first time with everything open and available. And we have more content coming all the time.