Bible Software Review Weblog

I didn't mean to stop blogging for a few days, but in fact that's what I ended up doing. Not to worry! I'm right here; busy, but here. I will now try to give you a quick update on what has been happening this past week.

First of all, October 30 was my birthday :-), and I got a very nice present: an HP iPAQ Pocket PC. Among other things and niceties, this should boost some of the reviews of Bible software programs for Pocket PC that I am working on. Incidentally, it is quite a delight to be able to surf the Net over a wireless connection. I thought BSR and this weblog looked great on that neat 3.5" screen, particularly when you have the ability to set it to landscape mode (one of the nice additions of Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition). The only problem I had was that the main menu didn't display at all. Maybe there's a setting somewhere that I missed, or simply that the IE version of these devices does not handle certain DHTML menus... If you happen to surf with your Pocket PC and have any suggestions to make, do drop me a line.

I have recently finished a major Bible software project I was working on, and hopefully will be starting another one shortly. Sorry I cannot be too specific about it. As I've said before, most of the time I am working under some sort of non-disclosure agreement, which means I am not free to give details about who, what, and when. But be as it may, I hope to get some more reviews finished in the meantime. So, keep checking back, 'cause you won't want to miss that.

This time of year is really hectic for most Bible software companies, as they are doing their best to present their new features and stuff at the annual meetings of ETS and SBL. But it is also a very exciting time, because we will have many things to talk about in the following months. In general terms, I would venture to say that one of the highlights of this year will probably be the different electronic critical apparatuses made available, although you can never rule out a last-minute surprise.

Among the not-so-good news, I should mention that I've had different configuration and incompatibility issues on two Wintel boxes. It got so bad that I had to reinstall everything on one of them, and I may have to do the same with the other one. I am more than tired to see that the most widely used operating system in the world keeps giving me such headaches after so many years. To make things worse, all kinds of viruses, worms, trojans, dialers, and what-have-you are on the loose. I am revisiting the whole issue of turning one of my computers into a Linux box, which I have already used before, but no matter what distro I look at, I can't help thinking that it is not quite ready yet for prime time. So, I keep being reminded of what is arguably a truism: Mac OS X is the best operating system currently available, hands down.

A major upgrade was released a few days ago, and all the information can be found here, including an interactive tour. Not only have many new features been added to WORDsearch 7, but the whole user interface has taken on a web-browser approach, which will be very familiar to those who have used Bible Explorer before. If the way versions are numbered is usually an indication of the importance of the upgrade, this one's got to be really noticeable, since they've jumped from 5 to 7!

The ability to run Mac OS X on a Wintel box may be closer than we think. Ken Ristau already referred to PearPC (currently at version 0.3.1 - not even an alpha stage!) earlier this year. And now, after an aborted launch (read all about it here), it seems that on November 25, CherryOS will finally make its debut. I haven't personally tried any of these products, but it is exciting to see that progress is being made in this area of software emulation.

Contributed by guest blogger Ken Ristau

As Rubén has pointed out, 'tis the season for bible software companies to start cranking out new versions of their programs and new modules. I'd like to hear from the readers of this blog:

(1) What features do you desperately want to see in your favourite bible software program(s)?

(2) What new modules are you eagerly awaiting or want to see produced?

(3) How should bible software makers make their products more appealing to the consumer?

I look forward to your comments.

Over at Biblical Theology, Jim West points to this article from the The Nashville Business Journal, where it is reported that Nelson Bibles is developing a New King James Version Bible for the Tablet PC market. A somewhat enlarged report can be found at TCMnet.com News. You can also read the press release here.

Tablet PCs are a "blend" between laptops and PDAs, with pen-input, light form-factors, and handwriting and speech recognition. Moreover, it is very much an emergent market. Some people are really enthusiastic about it (see, for example, these blog entries from Michael Hyatt's weblog [Michael is President and Chief Operating Officer of Thomas Nelson Publishers]: Why I Bought a TabletPC, Eight Things You Can Do in a Meeting with a TabletPC - you'll have to draw your own application to the kind of tasks you perform regularly -, or TabletPCs in the Bible).

The New King James Version (NKJV) will be available for download on December 1 at TabletBible.com, and you can get a preview of what it will look like by checking out this screenshot from the already available Young's Literal Translation. Note that for these free Bibles to work you need to use either GoBinder 2005 or PlanPlus for Windows XP. If any of you are already using a Tablet PC with any Bible text, it would be great to hear about your experience with it!

Update (December 31): According to TabletBible.com, the announced NKJV will be officially launched on Friday, January 7, 2005.

This announcement was posted earlier today to the Pedagogy & Technology Group:

Panel Discussion: Exegetical Software in the Classroom
The Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Room #210A
San Antonio, TX

Friday, November 19, 2004
1 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Registration:
Attendance is free and no registration is necessary. This discussion is an offering of The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) 2004 Annual Meeting. You must be registered for the SBL annual meeting in order to participate in the discussion. To register for the annual meeting click here.

The purpose and direction of this panel discussion has been set by a group of educators from theological institutions in the Philadelphia area who met in July 2004 to start an on going discussion that would help those involved make more effective use of computer tools in their teaching. If you would like to join those involved in the July 2004 meeting in an online discussion click here. This online group is also the best place to go with any suggestions or questions you have regarding the SBL panel discussion.

Format:
Each member of a panel will give a brief presentation on his/her use of exegetical software as a tool for instruction. This presentation will be followed by moderated questions and answers.

Some questions panelists will discuss include:
1. How do you ensure students are learning Greek or Hebrew and not just the software?
2. Pedagogically, how does your teaching change with a classroom full of laptops?
3. Whose responsibility (e.g. Greek/Hebrew prof, librarian, etc.) is it to teach the students the proper use of these new tools?
4. How can we use the tools to aid in retention of the languages?
5. Can these tools help in non-language courses, and if so, how?
6. How do these tools fit into our "outcome based" educational assessments?
7. What does a sustainable skill set include?

Panel Coordinator:
Joseph Fleener
Director of Library Services
Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary
Lansdale, Pa.

Panel Members:
Rodney J. Decker
Assoc. Professor of New Testament
Baptist Bible Seminary
Clarks Summit, Pa.

Tom Findley
Professor of Old Testament and Semitics
Talbot Seminary
La Mirada, Calif.

Rodney Whitacre
Professor of Biblical Studies
Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry
Sewickley, Pa.

Bruce N. Cameron shares a personal testimony about how the use of Bible study software changed his whole approach to lesson and sermon preparation. Clear and to the point. Read it if you can.

I must admit I wasn't fully aware of the tremendous potential of PDAs for Bible study until I recently got one. Well, let me qualify this statement. I've owned a Palm device for almost three years now, but due to its limited amount of memory and pretty basic features I never got round to using it on a regular basis, and when I did it was only as a "glorified" phone and address book. But things have now changed with my new shiny HP iPAQ rx3715 Pocket PC. Being able to use such a nice handheld, with plenty of memory, a fairly fast processor, and room for expansion cards, has led me to revisit the whole area of Bible software for PDAs.

I was already familiar with some of the most well-known programs, and my original impression (going back to 2001 or so) that these were the "Cinderella" of the Bible software industry was still firmly rooted in my mind. However, what I have found out is that, generally speaking, Bible packages for PDAs have truly come of age. They look more like a scaled-down version of their "big brothers" than a watered down version.

Both the number and the quality of the products currently available has come as a nice surprise to me. What's more, the fact that it is perfectly possible to carry around a full-blown biblical library, fully searchable and hypertexted, that comfortably fits the size of your hand, is nothing short of a magnificent achievement. Add to that a weight of less than 200 gr (7 oz) and an absolute silence...

I'm thoroughly enjoying myself testing some of these programs, and hope to have a few reviews done before the end of the year. Meanwhile, here is a list of general-purpose Bible software packages available for PDAs:

Bible With You (with various plug-ins) and Bible Concordance With You, from GMPSoft
BibleLink, from Device Computing
BibleReader, from Olive Tree Software
eBible, from Thomas Nelson (Palm only!)
MyBible/PocketBible, from Laridian
Palm Bible+, from Yih-Chun Hu (Palm only!)
Pocket e-Sword, from Rick Meyers (Pocket PC only!)
QuickVerse PDA, from QuickVerse/FindEx

Note that the above is not an exhaustive list. Nevertheless, If there are any glaring omissions, please let me know. I can't promise they will all get reviewed, but I'll certainly do my best to keep you updated on this growing and exciting area of Bible software.

Eric Sowell announces that his company (Lexel Software) and the Biblical Studies Foundation are working on the NET Greek-English Morphology and Syntax, a joint open-source project that will be making available a syntactically tagged Greek New Testament. Details about the project can be found here.

I've read with interest Eric's article on Doing Online Collaborative Biblical Studies. I took the time to read it all, and would suggest you do too if you want to know more about the application of open-source projects to the field of biblical studies. He makes some excellent points, which have, in some way or another, been discussed in different biblioblogs (see my blogroll) under the general theme of "Open-source Scholarship" in the past few months.

I agree with the principles of open-source software, but personally I'm a bit pessimistic about the possibilities of producing "good quality sharable data for the benefit of the field of biblical studies, from the scholar to the layman" simply as a result of an open-source development. I'm not saying it isn't possible. What I am suggesting is that, nine times out of ten, is unrealistic (much to my chagrin). One thing is what many of us would like to do, and quite a different one what we can do given our family, job, time, and money constraints.

To me, the key is the trade-off between "free" and "quality." And this applies to both the people involved and the content produced.

Let's start with the people. Eric maintains that only "qualified" individuals should be involved in projects of this nature. That makes sense, but (and forgive me for acting as the devil's advocate here) when are they supposed to work on it? On their spare time, maybe? Do we really want the crumbs of their intellectual energy? Unless they are on a sabbatical leave or properly funded, I don't see how the project can be accomplished within a reasonable time-span.

With regards to the content, well... Houston, we have a problem. To start with, even the "raw data" (i.e., the critical text of the Greek New Testament) is copyrighted. Eric quite rightly admits that "The data of the past is largely controlled by publishers who would not be willing to free up their data without monetary compensation; compensation that many of us just cannot afford (though there are exceptions, but that is often the case)." The problem in biblical studies is that we rely very heavily on "the data of the past", and I believe that unless this situation changes (not the data itself, but the availability of it), chances are that open-source development will be seriously affected.

Let me finish by drawing an analogy with the Bible software industry. There are some remarkable freeware Bible software programs, but none can compare with some of the good commercial packages in terms of features AND content. The reason is quite simple: programmers need to make a living, and their freeware software is not their top priority, but also they are unable (legally, at least) to provide any materials that are not in the public domain. They might be excellent, even brilliant, programmers, but they cannot spend enough time or energy developing advanced features. And since their programs are made freely available, to pay royalties for copyrighted Bibles and tools is out of the question. See the dilemma? Of course you can provide free materials and resources, but unless there is some sort of monetary investment in both manpower and content, you will probably not get very far.

Now, having said all that, I'm all for the NET GEMS :-) I think very highly of the NET Bible, but let's not forget that a lot of money has been invested in that project. I have no doubt that this new project will become a reality. I am equally certain that it will cost quite a bit of money. The bottom line is, somebody has to pay for "open-source" scholarship in order for it to remain scholarship. Or so it seems... at least in this not-so-perfect world of ours.

Update (November 12): Eric Sowell interacts with my comments above. I appreciate his insights, and do think that this exchange of ideas can be really worthwhile. So, here goes a few more comments:

I think he's got it right when he says, "I think that, as a general rule, most things that are commercially produced in the software industry are of at least slightly higher quality, all things considered, than things that are not commercially produced." This, of course, should come as no surprise. There are many reasons for it, and I won't repeat them here. And then he adds, "We are going to be that exception." I tend to think that he's right again (and I certainly WANT to believe he is). But, and this is my whole point, success won't be achieved by following what we usually understand as "open-source development." At least not entirely. Big bucks will have to be invested. It may be freely available for end users, but it will cost a lot of money. Perhaps there is some mutual misunderstanding when we talk about "open-source" in this context. I am using it as opposed to "proprietary." So, my understanding is that NET GEMS will follow very closely the business/ministry model of the NET Bible. That I consider to be a good example of open scholarship, but doesn't quite fit my idea of open-source.

I'm not sure the analogy of Linux is a good one. I bet its founder is not on welfare. Just think for a moment that Bill Gates decided to go the open-source route. He could afford to do it, and his product could still be the same (i.e., buggy, unstable, clunky, etc. ;-)) What am I getting at? "Open" and "free" are two completely different things. You and I may not pay for a given product, but that doesn't mean it's free. Somebody, somewhere, has paid for it.

As for publishers controlling the content, I understand Eric's position. I suppose a case could be made for copyrighting critical apparatuses, but holding the rights to original language texts seems a bit too much. I don't want to open a can of worms here, so suffice it to say that THAT has got to change, or else we'll get nowhere.

Lest there be any misunderstandings, let me repeat that I am not against open-source development, much less open scholarship. I commend Eric for this project. He thinks I'm "a little bit too pessimistic." I believe I'm just being realistic. I know what it means to work for free, to work as part of a team, to work by myself, to make good money, to be unemployed. I've tried them all! I have said it before, and I will say it again: biblical scholarship cannot be considered as mere business. It is also a ministry. However, ministries cost a lot of money, even if you don't get paid for it yourself. If we want quality, then we're going to have to pay for it. It won't come out of the blue.

Thank you, Eric, for a most stimulating blog conversation. Hope you and your wife enjoyed watching the movie last night :-)

MacSword 1.1.2, released earlier this month, has been reviewed by Charles W. Moore at Applelinks (thanks to Jesse Sng for the heads-up). This complements my earlier review of version 1.

Yes, I mean you :-). I've always made a point of answering most of the emails I receive within 24-48 hours, unless there is some good reason not to do it. I usually live up to this self-imposed rule. So, if you don't hear from me within this timeframe, chances are that your email never reached me. That is, unless you want to sell me a pseudo-Rolex, some blue pills, and the like ;-)

Why do I say this? Simply because I constantly find people who don't seem to take emails very seriously. This is particularly sad when we are talking about companies, tech support departments, and so forth. I don't expect everyone to follow "Ruben's rule", but it sure is nice when you get your electronic mails answered in a timely manner.

Sometimes I am asked why doesn't such and such a person, or such and such a program, appear on Bible Software Review. Well, many reviews are in the pipeline, while other may be delayed for various reasons. But in some other cases, I simply do not get my emails answered! I can take a "no" for an answer, but it is disappointing to feel you're being ignored...

I can't think of any good reason why Bible software developers would not want to have their products reviewed and mentioned here at BSR. So, all I can imagine is that either my messages got lost somewhere in cyberspace, or else they don't pay much attention to emails.

So, please, next time you receive an email (at least from me!), be kind enough to answer it at your earliest convenience. Preferably this side of eternity... Thanks!

Contributed by guest blogger Ken Ristau

Google, the leading Internet Search company, has released Google Scholar Beta, a new search engine that catalogues academic articles and research available on the Internet. Using a new alogorithm that identifies citations to separate scholarly work from the rest of the mass of information on the Internet, the Google Scholar engine is a great, new way to search for scholarship on the 'Net. Stephen Carlson @ Hypotyposeis mentions this new feature too. Check it out!

Another full review has been posted today. More are under way... Check out what's new, or go directly to the review.

The venerable Online Bible for Windows is now at version 1.99.01.00. For a complete list of changes and new features, look here. Two improvements come immediately to mind: the ability to highlight Bible verses and to use the program via a projector. If you are an OLB user, this is an important update you won't want to miss.

I'm pleased to announce that another review has been posted today. Bible With You and Bible Concordance With You are two of the great applications for Palm and Pocket PC put out by GMPSoft.

I hope you'll enjoy reading the review as much as I have enjoyed using the programs on my PDA. There's only a problem. I still feel somewhat embarassed when I think about taking my handheld to church. I guess I'll overcome it... It's such a blessing!

A comment by Reinout van Rees on my previous entry (thank you, Reinout!) got me thinking about all the different things one can do in church, Bible study, or Hebrew Prophecy class with a handheld device. Suggestions are welcome!

Reinout says he takes notes during the sermon - presumably he is not the preacher ;-). I don't know how extensive his notes are, but I find it difficult to imagine myself doing it, particularly with the virtual keyboard...

Then, there's the obvious use for Bible reading and occasional searches, as well as for checking some cross references or resources (dictionaries, lexicons, encyclopedias, maps, and the like).

Another interesting thing to do is use the PDA as a recorder. It is even possible to tape the sermon or lecture directly in mp3 format (with third-party software), which is quite cool. The downside is that you can't take notes or look up references at the same time...

If you can help make this short, but significant, list grow, feel free to add your comments. Please let's stick to things relevant to church and class :-)

Update (a few hours later): Check out Reinout's interesting comments on his blog. Now, if I could only read those Dutch sermon notes...

The Companies and User Groups sections of Bible Software Review have been updated. If you have any links that you think should be added, please send them along. The main menu has also been streamlined. There should be less asterisks in the next few weeks :-)

A new version of Pocket e-Sword is out. Among the various enhancements, the program now supports VGA and landscape modes for devices running Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. Also, verse notes can include Scripture and Strong's numbers pop-up tips.

It is exciting to see that Bible software for PDAs is really thriving. There are already a significant number of products available, and they keep improving all the time, as handhelds are also able to offer better performance. I'm currently working on more reviews in this area, and am also gathering information for a forthcoming comparison review of the search capabilities of the main software packages currently available for PDAs.

The innovative product iLumina Gold, already reviewed by David Lang, is now available in an enlarged Parents & Teachers edition, in DVD format. You can see a comparison of the three different incarnations here. This new edition, compatible with Mac and Windows, includes a new My Lessons module, which makes it particularly suitable for homeschooling, among other possible uses. Current users of iLumina Gold can upgrade for a modest fee.

Contributed by guest blogger Ken Ristau

OakTree has announced its annual November sale and new releases. The new releases are primarily modules for the new Scholar's Collection 6.4 CD-ROM.

I asked Joe Fleener for an update on the recent SBL Panel Discussion on Exegetical Software in the Classroom held at San Antonio, TX, earlier this month. Here is what he said:

The SBL Panel Discussion on Exegetical Software in Classroom Instruction went very well. It was an official SBL seminar and hence attendees were required to be registered for SBL. I attended the ETS conference leading up to the seminar on Friday and found a significantly high interest among ETS attendees in the subject. There is a growing interest among professors who desire to learn how to use the various software tools more effectively themselves and then to integrate them into their "traditional" classroom instruction.

When it came time for the actual panel discussion there were 75+ people in attendance at the peak. It was a 1 1/2 hour session and people came and went during that time. The numbers were a very good sign of the level of interest, but not real good for open dialog. I think people would have felt more comfortable to discuss and ask questions in a smaller crowd.

I began the session with an introductory presentation. In it I introduced the panel members and gave an overview of the purpose/need for our discussion. This PowerPoint presentation can be found @ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pedagogytechnology/ Following Dr. Rodney Decker of Baptist Bible Seminary gave a presentation detailing his thoughts on the subject and his use of the exegetical software (Accordance) in preparing classroom work and assignments.

Dr. Rod Whitacre of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry gave a presentation of his use of BibleWorks in the classroom.

Finally Dr. Tom Finley of Talbot Seminary gave a presentation of his use of BibleWorks in his preparation of assignments as well as classroom instruction.

These presentations were followed by an extended Q&A time with each member of the panel responding as needed.

There were several good ideas given. However, at this point the primary outcome was a clarified realization of the need for this kind of discussion and a forum for professors to interact, share ideas and learn from each other. There are a lot of questions. I believe there is a tremendous need for faculty to catch up to the learning styles of this new generation of students, but there are very few places for faculty of theological institutions to have these discussions.

One place for this online is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pedagogytechnology/. In addition we are working on a plan to provide opportunities at both ETS and SBL next year. We will keep you posted.

Thank you, Joe, for the summary.

Out of curiosity, over the past few days I have been looking at the different site tracking sections made freely available by Sitemeter, to see if I could find a pattern for the average reader of this weblog. To be sure, my random analysis has no statistical value whatsoever, but looking at the time zones, organization, OS, and browser share, I reach the following (tentative) conclusions:

1) The readership is very diverse. We get visitors from all over the world. Not very many from Africa or Asia, for example, but nevertheless those two continents are also represented. Of course, there are many visits that are only tracked as an IP address, and others that fall under the generic umbrella of .net, .com, .edu, etc. (I told you the results were to be taken with a grain of salt!)

2) The time zone that takes the lead is almost always EST (Eastern Standard Time), followed by CST (Central Standard Time), CET (Central European Time), and WET/GMT (i.e., Western European Standard Time/Greenwich Mean Time). But again, there's people from all over the place.

3) Most visitors (slightly over 50%) use Windows XP, while over 20% are running Mac OS X. There are also Linux users out there.

4) Internet Explorer continues to be the most widely used browser, but we've seen a noticeable increase in the number of Firefox users lately (currently around 17%), and of course Safari is well represented too (about 18%). I wonder if other bibliobloggers have noticed an increase in Firefox and Mozilla users too.

I'm sorry I cannot be more specific. Since this is not a commercial site, I see no need to upgrade to a paid account. All I know, and this is what really matters, is that we are reaching a good number of people. We don't know who you are (no need to worry about your privacy, not here :-)), but we are delighted you dropped by!

Yesterday, Charlie Gibson posted some information to the Pedagogy & Technology Group regarding Into the New Testament, "a web-based curriculum to teach ten exegetical skills and assist students to engage questions about what -- and how -- the Bible means."

This project, still unfinished, is being developed by Mary Hinkle Shore, New Testament professor at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota (see her blog here).It is a free-standing curriculum that can be followed by a whole class or individually. This is basically a course on Exegesis, introduced as reading skills, where "Activities require the use of a study Bible and reference books (e. g., lexicon and concordance) or equivalent software tools". The project has its own website.

Despite the fact that there are still a good number of placeholders in menus and links, I think the layout and content are good and visually appealing. Just another example of how useful the World Wide Web can be for both teachers and students. All in all, a good way to get people into the fascinating world of studying the New Testament, and another project worth keeping an eye on.

Further to my post on the recent SBL Panel Discussion, I thought it would be good to link to some reports from people who have effectively used Bible software in a classroom setting.

Rodney J. Decker has made available online his presentation at the above mentioned panel discussion, as well as the accompanying PowerPoint slides. He uses Accordance in a "Mac-hostile" (my words) environment.

A.Thomas Kraabel also wrote a few years ago about Learning Greek with Accordance.

Another Greek instructor, Steve Runge, has an interesting piece on Using Libronix as a Teaching Aid in Introductory Greek Courses.

On the Hebrew side, C. H. J. van der Merwe writes on Rethinking Hebrew Instruction, where he tells of his experience with Logos Bible Software.

Over at the Pedagogy & Technology Group there is a file from Philip Brown in which he shares some notes that show the kind of activities his students are required to perform using BibleWorks in a Greek class. Unless I am mistaken, the file is only available to members of the group, but you could always try... or else subscribe (it's free, of course).

These are the links I can think of right now. If you have more (not general reviews, only articles where Bible software is applied in a practical way to classroom work), let me know and I'll be glad to add them.