Comments on: Should Schools or Students Choose Bible Software?

By: jonathon

jonathon — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:42:04 +0000

If the point of seminary is to learn how to use a specific program, with the seminary secure in the knowledge that, due to obsolescence, the individual won’t be using that software after they graduate, then mandate a specific program, that only runs on a specific operating system.

If, OTOH, the point of seminary is for a student to learn how to study and analyze the Bible, and related literature, then let the student pick the operating system, and software program of their choice.

How many students, graduates, or seminary professors could successfully do all five items in the SBL Bible Software Shootout, using only dead tree editions?

How many students, graduates, or seminary professors could successfully do all five items in the SBL Bible Software Shootout, using Xiphos and Ubuntu Christian Edition as their operating system?

For Bible Study Software, the crucial elements are:
* The resources that are available;
* The toolset that enables one to produce new data;

At BibleTech 2008, Sean Boisen described the future as being entirely web based. Craig Rairdin, in his talk, proclaimed the future was platform independent licensing. Stephen Johnson, in his talk, described the Bible Study Software future as cross platform development.

All three are trying to get a handle on crucial issues: Data portability; Future Proofing; What happens when you change your platform;

Mobile devices have a half life of almost one year.
The half life of a laptop is just under two years.
The half life of a desktop is roughly 30 months.

What Bible Study Software uses the same file format in 2005 and 2010?

What Bible Study Software was distributed in both 2000, and 2010? (Version upgrades are acceptable.)

By: Robert Schaefer

Robert Schaefer — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 03:36:03 +0000

I notice several readers have expressed reservations here regarding the financial burden of requiring students to purchase Bible software. As a pastor who will be paying off his student loans for a very long time, I can certainly sympathize. But I remember spending ridiculous sums on lexicons, grammars, interlinear Bibles, and other basic references that were required texts. It seems to me that the difference in cost between these books and a Bible software package that would include digital editions is negligible. Assuming professors didn’t require both hard copy and software, I don’t think there would be a huge financial burden to requiring Bible software for all students.

By: Should Schools or Students Choose Bible Software? « LTSG

Should Schools or Students Choose Bible Software? « LTSG — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:11:16 +0000

[...] Should Schools or Students Choose Bible Software? [...]

By: Bible Software Review Weblog » Blog Archive » On Choosing Which Bible Software to Use

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:12:16 +0000

[...] It seems to me that Karyn Traphagen has opened a can of worms, and I mean that in a positive sense. Her question is, Should Schools or Students Choose Bible Software? [...]

By: Daniel Van Minnen

Daniel Van Minnen — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:53:59 +0000

When Bibleworks, Logos and Accordance are all cross platform, and cheaper, then one can think about requiring it.

I got by with a lot (but not all) of what I needed with convenient nav buttons to the right websites before. It’s not as good, but good enough for too many right now. And I am talking about my seminary classmates. The general public (which we presumably are doing this for) is even less inclined.

By: Karyn

Karyn — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:00:59 +0000

Hi Joe, thank you for stopping by. I agree that the next “leap” in the Logos program is planned to make the Mac and PC versions co-equal. I do applaud Logos for this. The only way for Bibleworks or Accordance to be run on a cross-platform machine is with an emulator. I always prefer to run programs native on the local operating system.

Karyn

By: Joe Miller

Joe Miller — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:58:16 +0000

Oh, and quite frankly I may also come down to which books are available. If one company has the resources needed for the coursework, then that software will win out regardless of platform.

By: Joe Miller

Joe Miller — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:55:59 +0000

Good question!

The “I am a Mac” vs. “I am a PC” argument though will be moot in a few months when Logos finalizes development on their Mac platform which will have all the core functionality of the windows version. This would make it easy for a prof to require Logos and they could easily give instructions to everyone no matter which OS they have chosen.

I am not saying I agree they should require one or the other, but just that part of the argument wont matter by mid 2010.

God bless!

By: Timothy P. Jenney

Timothy P. Jenney — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:01:40 +0000

Great post, Karyn!

I have owned Accordance for 14 years, worked for them for the past year. I have also been a college prof for 15+ years. So far, there is not a single Bible software program that meets every need. BibleWorks is for Windows. Logos is for Windows (though they now have an alpha release for Mac). Accordance is for Mac, but runs on Windows only under an emulator. The easiest program to use is Accordance, which is also generally the scholar’s choice. I also like the fact that their levels start so inexpensively and the student can move up with no penalty. [Obviously] it gets my vote.

From a faculty point of view, having everyone on the same kind of computer running the same program would be ideal. [I taught at a seminary that required BibleWorks for everyone. The Mac users were miffed.] Alternately, using a single program that works well on all computers would be fine. Unfortunately, none of us are there yet. Maybe if we all just cross our fingers and pray…?

By: Karyn

Karyn — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:02:17 +0000

Hi Daniel & Tonya,
Your situation is more rare than I’ve encountered. Most people in the institutions I’ve worked in have used PCs and didn’t switch to Mac (a few individuals were convinced, but most could not make the financial and cross-platform investment). But, I’m glad you ended up seeing the light and going with a Mac!

Rick,
Having two tracks sounds like a good idea, but I doubt many institutions can afford to split their language tracks to accommodate that. I do agree that we have a problem of languages not being used after graduation, and that we need to address that issue. Bible software may be part of the answer, but I think we all would agree that there is more to the issue to consider.

Nevada, Thank you SO MUCH for commenting! I really did want to hear from some people who have attended a school that required a certain package. Maybe you can convince some others to give their comments too.

Karyn