(Mostly) Loco for Logos [3]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Well, welcome to the third post in my 'early review' of Logos Bible Software's Scholar's Library. I really hope to wrap things up today, which I guess makes this 'Part III' the blog equivalent of Return of the Jedi... That's cool.

So, in the previous two posts I laid out the reasons I decided to purchase Logos and what I've found to be some strengths/neat features in my rather early explorations of the tool. If you're coming in late, check the old posts via the links at the top. They'll help you frame what I'm about to say in this rather long post.

Today, I'm going to try to answer three remaining questions starting with:

Now that you've outlined the cool features of Logos, are there any things that have been disappointing?

Of course there are... Nothing is perfect, and everyone has their own preferences that would cause another person to grind their teeth to dust. Please remember that I've not had a ton of experience with any other bible software, so I can't really compare how BW or some other software handles these things. Logos may be best of breed, for all I know. With that preface on the record, here's a list of things that I wish were different:

1) The window management is annoying. I really like what Logos has attempted to do by using small 'tabs' to allow you to navigate through resources that are stacked on top of one another. It works well... However, there seems to be no 'intuition' behind how new windows are positioned if/when the open.

For example, I usually have the ESV, the NA27, a parallel bible window, and at least one commentary open all on top of one another. Logos provides me the cool 'tabs' for navigating (click image to en-big-gen). However, if I open a new resource it pops up in the Logos 'default' position. If I open a slew of books at once, I have to resize each of them in order to have them added to the tab row. Small issue, but really annoying for me. It would seem that if all the books currently open are in the same position, new ones should open that way by default.

Again, while this bugs me to no end it is probably exactly the way other people like it.

2) Customizing Logos is not always intuitive. Logos has training videos that walk you through the basics of setting up Logos and getting to work. In the process of doing so, you discover a lot of the places to change bells into whistles. However, anything beyond basic customization (what happens when you hover over a Greek word, for example) is really difficult to find.

No doubt this is due, in part, to the power of the tool... There are so many things going on and so many things possible that organizing all that information into an interface is problematic. Nonetheless, some things that seem like they should work just don't. For example, I downloaded a pbb file of a commentary set. Knowing the limitations of pbbs, I'd still like to have this set searched (as a commentary) in the Passage Guide. One would figure that there's some attribute flag on the book that marks it as a commentary. Intuition tells a windows user to right-click on the book and look for 'properties'. No luck. The best solution I've found so far is to re-create a customized commentary collection including that book.

3) Speaking of pbbs, it's a real shame that mark-ups don't work in them. I understand the reason here - mark-ups, I assume, rely on a lot of tagging to 'locate' themselves within a document. A pbb probably doesn't have the same amount of tagging and thus can't support mark-ups. While this is understandable, it seems that the book-builder toolset should, by design, build books to support at least some level of annotation. Doesn't have to be the full shebang, but something would be helpful.

But, my biggest gripe is:
4) I'm disappointed with the what's available to purchase for my library outside of the base packages. Now I need to be fair here... Logos did nothing deceptive here - Their catalog is out on the web for one and all to view. The trick is that I like Logos now andI've started to see what else I can buy digitally. I'm finding that a lot of what I want isn't coming out for Logos (at least not yet).

For example: I'm one of the young and restless Reformed types. And, if you're reading this blog for any reason other than having followed the Logos link here, you're prolly Reformed too. Why else would you be here?

Outside of John MacArthur, there's not a lot of titles available from the people I like. Logos has one book about (not by) J.I. Packer in the shop. None of the Banner of Truth editions, none of the 9Marks stuff, none of CJ's books. Shocker of all is that there's only one Piper book (Pleasures of God) available... Piper always struck me as the one Reformed guy who all the non-Reformed people seemed to like! A glance through the pre-pub and announcement lists shows more of the same... What makes this most bummeristic to me is that I just learned (after buying Logos) about BibleExplorer seems to be building stronger alliances with Crossway and other christian publishers who produce the titles I own/want.

I know that there will be tons of people who shrug at this, but it is a big deal to me. I write this here for three reasons:

• To encourage readers to scope out their likes and who has those books available electronically before purchasing.
• To appeal to Logos to continue to build relationships with other publishers in the Reformed space. I recognize that you don't want to niche your product to Reformissialvinuationalists like me, but intentionally broadening your offerings in that area can't hurt (remember that CT story?).
• Urge readers, like me, to contact publishers we like and ask them to consider making more materials available in the Libronix format.

Ok. That's all for the gripes. Except for the last one, all are pretty minor. And, truthfully, if I consider Logos to be strictly a bible study program, the last one is minor too. The trick is that I predicated my purchase on a completely different criteria - namely that Logos is far more than just bible study software. Moving on, then...

What other other cool learning resources have you found since you started using Logos?

In the interest of getting to the finish line, I'll shorten the exposition of all these:

• Every Logos owner, but especially n00bs, should have the Logos blog plugged into their RSS reader. The posts Daniel and the rest of the team make show great tips, tricks, and creative ways to leverage the power of Logos in your study. Top notch stuff.*
• I make a habit of checking almost all of the Logos newsgroups at least every couple days. Just lurking will give you some great ideas and insights into using Logos. And, as I've mentioned before, posting a question (provided you're polite and clear) will get you a quick, accurate answer.
• Watch the Logos training videos... Yeah, I know - Duh.
• If you're really in a bind, email the Logos support people. They were fast and extremely helpful. Logos seems to really, genuinely value their customers - and that's worth a ton right there.
• I've heard several people recommend Morris Proctor's blog (I guess he's a Logos ninja) for good reading. He posts weekly and the stuff is good, but it's not been as helpful to me. Your milage may vary.
• Try to find challenging application for using the software right away. Start using it for your lesson/sermon prep and just stay near to an internet connect so you can fire off a question. You learn faster by doing.

So, let's put this puppy to bed:
Overall, how do you feel about your purchase? And what happens next?

Overall, I'm really quite pleased with Logos. Aside from the 'title availability' issue I note above, I have no regrets... Even with that main gripe in mind, I don't think I would do anything any differently. Ask me again in a year or two.

If I was speaking to a new buyer, my only caution would be to spend a little more time identifying and considering less-known alternative tools out there. I am really pretty confident that, unless you have very niche-y interests, Logos will still emerge as a superior tool. Still, it's important to do the legwork up front in order to be a good steward of your money and to protect (as much as is possible) against the inevitable tinge of buyer's remorse that might slink in.

In the meantime, I'm totally geeking out with my new toy... er, tool. Logos is extremely powerful and ridiculously flexible. I imagine that my satisfaction with the features of the software will actually continue to grow as I learn the guts a bit more and customize the program to suit me a bit better. As I mentioned, perhaps the highest praise I can offer is that I've already placed an order for some other books to add to my library. I'm trying, as much as possible, to follow my own advice and "say it with cash".

Whatever choice you make, let's all remember that the object of our study, the Bible, is the main thing... Cool software is neat and can be helpful. But it is only God's word - whether printed, projected, or proclaimed - that can really accomplish the important work of calling us to Christ and fixing us by the power of the Holy Spirit. There are faithful men of God who've plumbed the depths of Scriptures long before there were computers. Let's not allow technology's power to make us lazy in our pursuit of God's truth.

If you have other questions, feel free to post them in the comments... I'll be happy to interact with you folks as much as I can! Also, if anyone's looking for someone to preach or lead a Bible study - I just happen to someone who "has laptop, will travel". *wink*