Favorite Posts [3] : (Mostly) Loco for Logos

If I was collecting posts based on the number of hits they've generated for this bloggity-blog, this would be the top of the heap by a wide margin.

Shortly after purchasing my copy of Logos Bible Software, I decided to post a simple, 'new user' review. I was sure there were people like me out there - aspiring seminarian/pastor types - who didn't know enough to compare BibleWorks and Logos rigorously, but knew they could make real use of something. My hope was to offer something that might be helpful to those kinda folks.

Surprisingly, Logos picked up the review on their blog, which generated a flood of immediate traffic. Later, they were even gracious enough to put a permanent link in their reviews. I hardly think that this merited that, but it was pretty cool to have the attention.

So, if you're considering buying Logos - Do it. Then read these reviews and I'll tell you why I'm glad I did.

(Mostly) Loco for Logos [1]
(Mostly) Loco for Logos [2]
(Mostly) Loco for Logos [3]

(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*

(Mostly) Loco for Logos [2]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Well, the first part of this review got picked up on the Logos blog, so let me start by offering a welcome to the flood of readers who are clicking in. For the rest of you, you should catch up by reading the first part to this post here.

Picking up where we left off: I selected Logos as my Bible software package mainly because the idea of an integrated, interlinked digital library gave me geekbumps. Logos also seemed to be perfectly capable of doing hardcore interpretation/exegetical text-work even though other packages might be more 'optimized' for that pupose.* In the end, Logos seemed to offer surf and turf, so I jumped. I purchased the base Scholar's Library package then added BDAG/HALOT and Spurgeon/Calvin bundles for starters. (I'm also preparing to purchase a Carson package and Grudem's Systematic as soon as I get around to it.

So, in your opinion, what are the strengths of Logos now that you have it on your desktop?

Again, I'm still a newbie-user! So this list really represents "cool things I've found helpful so far with little/no customization" rather than an exhaustively informed list of power points. Also, I know some (if not most) are available in other packages - my intent isn't to offer an 'A vs. B' thing here. With all that out in the open...

1) The digital library concept largely delivers on its promise. First off, the resources that come from Logos (whether in the base packages or snapped-in later) are really very tightly integrated. A simple passage search quickly brings up a ton of grouped resources from your library. When you're reading a particular resource, references to other library books and passages are hyperlinked appropriately, so you find yourself very quickly moving out on a never ending trail of breadcrumbs. In addition, resources can be linked together (like a bible and a commentary) so they scroll in unison as you read. Search speeds are reasonable, given the amount of data that's being sifted and accessing specific texts from the search results is very fast.

On that note, the amount of material included in a package like the Scholar's Library is pretty ridiculous. It's true that a lot of the title count delta between different packages are probably things you don't really care about... For example, there is a big difference in title count between the Scholar's Library and the Silver edition. However, in looking closely, there were probably only a handful of those titles that really interested me. Nonetheless, the amount of resources that comes with any package is really impressive. People buying the entry-level pack won't be disappointed.

As mentioned before, the breadth of resources that can be linked in is as impressive as the functionality. To be able to quickly pull together a verse in a couple translations, a couple solid commentaries, and a Spurgeon sermon on the text is pretty simple and wicked cool. I'm just informed enough to know what my go-to resources are for studying a text. As such, I think I need to work to customize the searching a bit so I'm wasting less time plowing through resources I will rarely use. Still, the broad sweep has obvious benefits for other users.

One final note here: Logos makes citations a breeze for us as well. Clipping text into M$Word automatically gets footnoted and is formatted very nicely.

2) Personal Books (PBBs) are the absolute bomb. While the Logos books are great, the wealth of material out there in the public domain is massive. Logos offers a builder tool which allows you to mark-up, or mark-up and distribute, 'slimmed down' book files for Logos. Thanks to the folks in the PBB newsgroup and the crew at StillTruth, I've added a ton of solid Puritan stuff to my library for free. While these books are not as elegant nor as thoroughly tagged as a genuine, Libronix release, the wealth of material and the ease with which they can be added to your library is awesome. Check out this thread to get an idea what I mean...

3) The parallel bible and 'compare passage' functions are just fun. I'm a sucker for a good parallel Bible, but I haven't seen one in a long time that combines versions I like. Now, I can quickly bring up a particular passage and compare the readings in as many versions as I'd like. Assuming you choose solid translations, you should be able to get a good grasp on the text quickly.

If you switch to the COMPARE view, Logos highlights word choice differences between the texts.

4) The text markup tools are slick. If you ever borrow a book from me, you will see that it's well-marked. I'm constantly underlining, jotting notes in the margin, etc. Thankfully, you can do the same thing with eBooks in Logos. Logos has several different palettes which supply varied ways of marking up the text in any 'official' ebook (marking up pbbs is not supported). With it might be campy for some folks, I like how some of the visual markups 'mimic' what a real person would do... See how the pencil underline and highlighter aren't straight?

I've only recently started using the NOTES feature. But it's been handy. Basically you can link a note to a single book, to a verse in any bible, etc.

5) The ability to port your personal settings along with you. I currently have Logos installed on a computer at the office and one at home so I can 'be productive' in both places. The trick is that personalizations like new collections, mark-ups to text, and the like are stored on the local machine. So it's possible for my two computers to get out of sync with each other, and that would be sad.

Luckily, Logos stores these prefs in a folder under MyDocs. By simply porting that back and forth, I'm able to keep both computers running with the latest version of all my notes, etc. Even cooler, I've been told there's a way to hack Logos so it looks to a different disk (like a flash drive) for all those files. If that's true, then I could just port them around on my flash without needing to backup/overwrite all the time.

6) The 'fuzzy' and speed search features are teh awesomest. When I grew up, our church did some strange stuff. For example, when we 'memorized' scripture there were a lot of stars handed out for people who barely remembered half the verse. Worse is that we never had to remember the references for the verse we memorized. For a long time I could tell you that "God so loved the world", but I couldn't tell you where in the Bible that was.

Thank goodness for the fuzzy and speed search features in Logos. The speed search quickly lets me pull up verses containing words I know belong (in Greek or English). The fuzzy search uses words fed to it to rate possible matches in any book... This is especially useful to me when there's a hazy childhood memory of a verse somewhere that says something like "something".

7) Lastly, the Logos pro support and user community are really, really responsive and helpful. As I mentioned in the previous posts, each software package I looked at has it's core group of disciples who believe that [insert product here] can do no wrong and cuts bread better than a Ginsu. Usually these people are even more loopy re: a particular product than the company is...

Logos seems to break that mold... I've had a chance to interact three times with Logos support, and they have been immediately helpful and pleasant to deal with. Anyone who has ever tried tech support for some other product knows what a big deal this is. The staff there genuinely seems to love both their product and the customers. Could it be an act? Sure... But I'm willing to believe the illusion, aren't you?

In addition to the company, the Logos users overall seem to like the product they bought and freely offer information. Logos maintains some newsgroups to allow users to interact. There are certainly (valid) gripes and complaints being offered. However, the general tone is positive and questions are answered quickly and creatively. I think Logos appealled to some other people's inner-geek the same way it called to mine. As such, the forums and user community seems to always be trying something new or find some better way to do something. Logos seems to be listening and improving, by and large. And that's a good thing.

Well, I've rambled enough for now... Tomorrow, I'll air some of my disappointments with Logos and try to move us towards the end.

*I know there are some who would even say that Logos offers a superior toolset for this kinda of work (syntax-tagging, etc). At the surface, that strikes me as a bit of a 'homer' opinion, but I really can't judge since I'm not a hardcore scholar. I'd love to hear comments if you have 'em!

(Mostly) Loco for Logos [1]

[Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3]

The promise of technological progress is always "More, Better, Faster". The ability we have today to gather, organize, and quickly search massive amounts of data is absolutely amazing. Think about it: Probably the entire textual contents of the Library of Alexandria would fit on the memory stick I carry on my keychain and be searched in a few seconds by modestly-powered modern computer. Of course, discerning good data from bad data is still left to the readers... But that's another post!

This technological promise of 'more, better, faster' has cool implications for the study of the Bible too. As I mentioned previously, I jumped into the pool of Bible software by purchasing Logos Bible Software's upper-mid-level Scholar's Library back in early April. With a few weeks of using the tool behind me, I thought it would be a good idea to post a quasi-review of the package. I hope it's helpful to others who are considering the purchase of a Bible study package. Up front, it's important that nothing I say be elevated to the level of dogma... I'm still learning Logos, and I have limited experience with the competitors - so your mileage may vary and my mileage might get better with time.

I want to provide my thoughts by answering 4 questions:

• Why did I choose to buy Logos instead of Bibleworks or another competitive product?
• What things do I like or think are strengths of Logos?
• Similarly, what are some things I don't like or would identify as weaknesses?
• What support and resources for learning the software are available?
  
• Overall, are you pleased with the purchase? And what happens now?
  

I'm guessing all this will take at least a couple posts, so let's dive in...

Why did I choose to buy Logos?
For quite a while now, my Bible study involved a lot of surfing. I mean that, while studying a passage, I'd regular go out to sites like zhuberts, CCEL, the Spurgeon Archive, Desiring God, etc to get more perspectives on the passage I was studying. I had already been wishing for a way to pull this all together in one, neat-n-tidy package when Dan Phillips posted a review for BibleWorks 7 on TeamPyro and followed it up on his blog. Let's just say that review spurred a 'holy desire' in me... Sounds better than covetousness don't it?

I'm a highly analytical person, so I immediately started doing some research. In looking out on the web, I started to see people mentioning Logos as a similar product. Comparing the two online, here's what I gathered:

• Bibleworks seemed very popular with the academic set (a compliment!) and really appeared to specialize in enabling you to do interpretive/exegetical work. The speed and functions seemed to be clustered around faster, more intuitive study of the text (particularly in the original languages). Lexicons and other study aids were linked to maximize performance/speed.
  
• Logos represented a completely different approach. The aim here was to integrate a wide variety of resources into a true 'digital library'. The promise seemed to be that you could still do solid exegetical work but branch off quickly into other varied resources (commentaries, systematic theology texts, etc) with a click. Practically any book you might want in your library - like Grudem's Theology - could be digitzed and linked in.
  

The Logos approach of allowing all the varied elements to be tagged and thus cross-linked was really intriguing to me. In addition, I'm very much a geek - so the concept of centralizing my entire library on a computer (where I could carry it with me) and search it quickly made me drool. Our next door neighbor happens to have an older version of BibleWorks and seeing it in action seemed to confirm my gut-feelings...

However, one challenge was that very few people seemed to have used both tools. Both Logos and BibleWorks seem to have 'fanatical' supporters who would never consider switching camps. This made real comparative reviews few and far between... As a result, I just spent a couple months surfing various forums and tried to see which shoe I thought would fit me better. In the end, I think I could've easily gone either way but Logos just seemed the better choice.

So, at that point (around Christmas) I put all my eggs in the Logos basket and started evaluating which Logos version to purchase. I won't go into detail here except to say that no matter what you're looking for, there's a package for you out there. I settled on the Scholar's Library, and then pulled the trigger on the purchase after scratching the funds together.

There's the why... I'll try to get to the good stuff in the next day or so.