Logos Ending Support for Windows XP and OS X Leopard

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Aug 27, 2012 in Bible Software, Digital Bible Study, Featured, Software, Windows | 0 comments

Logos CEO Bob Pritchett announced through the company’s support forums that they will end support for Windows XP on October 26, 2012. What does this mean for users running Logos 4 on Windows XP?

1. It means that users will still be able to use Logos 4 and their current collection of books and resources. That won’t change with this announcement and policy shift.
2. To use new versions of Logos 4 going forward a users must upgrade or use Windows Vista SP2 or newer which of course includes Windows 7 and the forthcoming Windows 8.
3. To buy books in the future a user might need to use a system with the later versions of Logos that only run on Vista SP2 or newer, although not all new books will carry this requirement.

So why the change? Mr. Pritchett announced that when Windows updates their .NET framework, a development technology that Logos uses in their software, the new version will not run on Windows XP. Since Logos needs the newer version to achieve future functionality, they too will update their .NET framework to take advantage of some bug fixes and performance increases. Quoting from the forum:

Logos 4 depends on a number of Microsoft platform components, including the .NET framework. With the October 26, 2012 release of Windows 8, Microsoft is upgrading the .NET 4 platform to .NET 4.5, which is an “in-place” install replacing .NET 4 (which we’re planning to move to for many reasons, including performance and bug fixes).

.NET 4.5 will run on Windows Vista SP2 and later version of Windows, but specifically NOT Windows XP.

October 26, 2012 is the release date for Windows 8; at that point it will be 11 years since Windows XP was released (Oct 25, 2001), and it will be three full generations (Vista, 7, 8) out of date.

Very few Logos users remain on XP, and continuing to support XP in new releases takes development and testing resources, as well as making it more difficult to use other capabilities only offered on newer versions of Windows.

It looks like some users can possibly persuade the powers at Logos to change their minds. Pritchett stated that people now have a “chance to speak up if there’s a really compelling reason we should not drop XP on October 26, 2012.”

I support this move. It’s hard to move forward knowing that some might get left. However, Logos made it clear that users of Windows XP can still use current versions of Logos. Some in the forum asked if the current versions that still run on XP will receive bug fixes. Logos did not offer an official answer. I can understand the desire for those who want to see Logos improve without their needing to update their operating system. Many users of Logos don’t have the funds or technical skill to undertake such an upgrade. That’s the cost of doing busing in a fast and changing world.

I want to see Logos improve and especially long for some performance advances. Let’s hope this move provides these advances.

For those who need to update before the deadline, I recommend going for it as soon as one can. Windows 8 on a desktop or laptop will not be fun. It’s a tablet OS and doesn’t feel right on my laptop. It was designed for touch not mouse or trackpad! Get a Windows 7 machine. People who buy one now can get a very inexpensive Windows 8 upgrade which will allow the user to try it out, but go back to Windows 7 if you don’t like the new interface.

UPDATE: They also announced an end to support for Mac OS X Leopard as well stating:

Dropping 10.5 support in future releases will free up development and testing resources and allow us to do more in Logos Bible Software.

5 Reasons to Buy Logos Bible Software

Posted by Kevin Purcell on May 14, 2012 in Bible Software, Digital Bible Study, Software, Technology | 2 comments

I read a terrible article that made me want to post a response entitled “5 Reasons to never read [Fill in offending website's name]“. It was so bad it inspired me to do something I don’t do a lot – defend Logos Bible Software.

I’m a Logos user but I’ve critiqued the popular Bible software company and their products lately. Yet after reading this ridiculous review, I had to say something.

The review offers what the reviewer calls 5 reasons to not buy Logos. Here they are with my response:

Thousands of Books You’ll Never Use

Many Bible software packages do the same thing Logos does – offer lots of books you won’t use. The maker includes a bunch of books so they can brag about the fact that they offer “hundred of titles” in each of their base packages. I get that the writer of the original post might not think all the tools available in some Logos packages are useful. One man’s wasted tool is another man’s treasure. I don’t use Matthew Henry’s commentary in any form, but I know others who love it. To me it would just waste hard drive spice. To others, they wouldn’t buy Bible software if it didn’t include it. I love the Holman Christian Standard Bible, but others wouldn’t want it on their hard drive.

Logos offers some interesting collections and throws in a lot of added content. Some will find the added content more useful than others. Is that a reason to not buy an application? Of course not. It’s a reason to say, “Cool! They have a lot of stuff and in that content I’ll find some useful tools.”

Thousands of Dollars You’ll Never Save

I can understand not wanting waste a lot of money on tools you’ll never use. I hang around the user forums for a number of Bible software programs and find that many users buy just about any new book available. One user in one forum literally owns everything available. That program offers more content than on person can read or use in a lifetime.

The original post’s complaint is not a fair complaint to make about Logos. It is a good thing to remember when buying Bible software. Don’t throw good money away on added content unless you think it will be useful.

As for Logos, if you buy software from them and find it’s not useful, they have a fair and generous return policy.

Thousands of Hours You Would Never Spend

The writer of the original post complains that Logos returns too many results when you search. That’s a problem? Sure, only if you don’t understand how to prioritize the tools in Logos.

When I run what’s called a Passage Guide search on my next sermon passage, Logos returns a huge list of useful tools that I can read to study that passage. The same holds true for the Exegetical Guide, which focuses on language study tools, while the Passage Guide focuses more on tools you would use after doing your language study.

Logos provides too much for me to effectively study in a reasonable amount of time. It also gives me a way to list the most important tools first. I go into my library and prioritize my favorite tools. That way those tools show up at the top of the list. If for some reason I’ve exhausted all of those and still can’t get a handle on the message of a passage I have the extra content to fall back on for further study. Doesn’t happen often, but with Logos I have the help I need.

This problem would still exist no matter what Bible study tool you own, if you own a lot of tools. The original writer brags about Bibleworks. It’s a great tool for Windows users. I used it all the time when I was a Windows user. It also has more content than I can use. So does WORDsearch, PC Study Bible, QuickVerse and Accordance.

You Can Only Read One Book at a Time

Not true! I’m reading about five books right now, not including my Bible and the reference works I access each week as I prepare my Bible studies, sermons and Preaching class. True I can’t literally read more than one book at a time, but I can read a little out of book one, then out of book two and then out of book three before I study my Bible, read a commentary and consult a few Bible dictionaries.

To do all that reading with physical books, I’d need to be Superman to carry it all. On my iPad, iPhone and Kindle Fire I can carry those book and hundreds more.

Sometimes I’ll refer to a book I read last month. With Logos and other iPad apps, I can pull out that book and show it to the person I’m telling about the book.

Technology Changes

True. It’s the reason Bibleworks doesn’t add a lot of extra content and recommends physical books. Books don’t change. They are heavy and gather dust. It can make it hard to transfer from one place to another when you move or travel.

The writer of the original post said he or she is a missionary in a country dangerous enough to make it unwise to name him or herself. I would think that such a person would like the ability to carry Bibles inconspicuously. I’d also think such a person could like to save time and money transferring a library oversees. If I served as an International Missionary, I wouldn’t bring my physical library with me. I’d carry my laptop, my iPad and iPhone and a good backup of my books on a flash drive. That’s it.

Don’t get me wrong. I love books. I have hundreds of them. I just don’t buy them much anymore because I love digital books.

Digital books I bought for use in STEP from QuickVerse years ago are useless to me now. When QuickVerse upgraded and no longer offered STEP as a tool, they did offer to let me transfer them to their new format. WORDsearch did the same. Logos upgraded their format a few times and every time they gave users a new copy of their books for free.

Technology changes and I’m glad. I still own the same books I had before it changed much.

Final Thoughts

I was pretty hard on the review in my opening paragraphs. You should’ve sent he original draft; it was worse. That’s because this review introduced the review in sensationalistic way as link bate, the practice of writing just to get links from other sites. I won’t like to the review. Instead you can find it if you see the wonderful website BS Review the author of which had a similar response.

I must admit that I’ve offered negative comments about Bible software, Logos included. I’ll be more careful after reading this ill-advised screed.

Logos Wins CODiE – The Oscars for Software

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Jun 2, 2011 in Bible Software, Digital Bible Study, Software, Technology | 0 comments

Logos Bible Software announced that they are the 2011 recipient of the SIIA’s CODiE Award for Best Educational Software Solution. Dan Pritchett of Logos tweeted that “Its like winning the Oscars or the Grammys… but for computer nerds.”

This is a high honor and I congratulate them. This means that they are being singled out as the best of the best. From their blog:

In the nearly twenty years Logos Bible Software has been around, winning the CODiE Award is a crowning achievement for an excellent product, but more so, for the world-class team here at Logos who is dedicated to providing the best Bible study tool available.

Again, hats off to Logos and their team of programmers and employees!!

Logos 4 Mac v. Windows on Parallels Comparison

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Mar 22, 2011 in Bible Software, Digital Bible Study, Review, Software, Technology, Video | 2 comments

In the video below I compare how well Logos 4 runs in two different operating systems on the same computer. Thanks to Parallels I can run Logos 4 for Mac and Logos 4 for Windows on the same PC. As you will see the two run almost the same.

But that is not a good thing. A program running under a virtual operating is not the same as running it natively in an operating system. The VM is actually running inside the native OS. It is running using half the memory and has to draw the screens not only in the virtual OS but also in the primary OS. It should run slower. So here is the comparison:

• Boot speed – Mac = 17 seconds; Parallels = 60 seconds
• Overall usage speed – no difference
• Click response speed – Parallels is faster for most things
• Both have same hard drive, video card, and processor
• Parallels is only allowed 4GB of RAM while OS X has access to all 8GB

The above differences show that the only real difference between running Logos 4 on a Mac v. running it on a Windows PC is boot time. If you keep Parallels running all the time or factor that you only have to start it at the beginning of the day, that difference goes away.

My point is that I think Logos has some work to do on the Mac side. I don’t wan’t to beat this dead horse. I believe they are working on it. The only way I was able to make Logos comparable on a Mac was to install a Seagate Momentus Hybrid hard drive which uses a fast 7200 rpm traditional hard drive plus a 4GB SSD combined to add some speed. My research and experience shows that the Seagate is only slightly less powerful and fast than a regular SSD for many things.

Most people won’t be doing what I did; they will just take the basic 5400 rpm drive Apple offers. And they will have poor performance.

Logos 4 on the MacBook Air

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Nov 2, 2010 in Bible Software, Digital Bible Study, Review, Technology, Video | 6 comments

Some of my friends in the Logos Forums wanted to know how well Logos 4 performs running on the MacBook Air. I shot a quick video to demonstrate it. Here it is: