Bible Software Review Weblog

I apologize for my silence over the past couple of weeks. It was not intended. It just happened. In my experience, blogging intensity fluctuates depending on many different factors. Well, this has been one of those times when I did not seem to find the right moment to sit down and blog.

On the other hand, I must thank you all for faithfully checking out the blog and website on a regular basis. Statistics show that the number of visitors, page views, and so on, has been similar to other periods when I blog several times a week. This is encouraging and very much appreciated.

Since later this month is my birthday, I will join the plea of my fellow blogger Danny Zacharias of deinde. If any kind soul out there wants to get me an iPod, I promise I will find a good use for it :-))

Let's see... I could get Laridian's iPocketBible and read and/or listen to the New Living Translation, or subscribe to PodBible - The Bible Podcast that Tim Bulkeley has been talking about in his blog recently, or...hmm... choices, choices, choices!

I want to give you a general update on some of the version upgrades and new content releases that have taken place over the last few weeks (if you find any glaring omissions, let me know and I'll try to add them to the list):

Accordance 6.8 -
Faster Quartz drawing of smooth text.
Improved copying of pictures.
Support for Speech in the Parsing and Table windows.
Additional keyboard shortcuts for editing text and moving the 3D map.
Upgraded Accordance Widget.

e-Sword 7.7.7 -
A new Scripture Memory tool.
The Commentary verse notes can be browsed using the new toolbar buttons.
Maximized views are maintained at next start-up.
Ctrl+Shift+C will copy the currently selected Bible verses using the formatting defined in the Copy Verses dialog.

Galaxie Software has released the Theological Journal Library vol. 8, which includes the following Journals:
Bibliotheca Sacra (2004)
Trinity Journal (2003)
Master's Seminary Journal (2002)
Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (2004)
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (2004)
Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society (2004)
Journal of Ministry and Theology (2004)
Reformation and Revival (2004)
Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal (2004)
Emmaus Journal (2004)
Westminster Theological Journal (1938-1948, 2004)
Bible and Spade (1972-1983) - 12 more years of back issues
Christian Apologetics Journal (1998-2000) - New Journal
Reformed Baptist Theological Review (2003) - New Journal
Faith and Mission (1984-1995) - New Journal

GMPSoft (Software With You) has released the Greek New Testament, 4th Revised Edition by the German Bible Society and the OakTree GNT Morphology that includes the lexical form and parsing information for each Greek word in the UBS4/Nestle27 Greek text, along with a brief English definition.

Laridian put out some new modules for both My Bible and PocketBible. I'm referring to Today's New International Version, the New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, the New Bible Dictionary, the New Dictionary of Theology, and the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology.

Logos Bible Software has released quite a few new titles too: Holladay's A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, The New International Greek Testament Commentary (12 Volumes), The Works of Philo: Greek Text with Morphology, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture CD-ROM, Volume 1, Critical Review of Books in Religion (1988-1998), and The Earlier Epistles of St. Paul.

MacSword 2.1.1 -
Better module popups for Tiger
Improved service function
Faster progressive Bible display
Zoom preference settings
Module editing fixes
Fixes some searching issues
Spanish localisation

OliveTree Bible Software has released the Amplified Bible, and The Complete Word Study Bible set.

QuickVerse 2006-
New Search Features (including Enhanced Word Form Search, Thesaurus Search, and Phrase Search)
New Reading Plan Features (New Reading Plans, Morning and Evening, and Parallel Bible)
New Interface Features (Enhanced Look/Feel, QuickVerse Advanced InfoWindow, QuickVerse History, Verse Selection, New Notes, Custom Bible Views)
Ability to Create Personal Books (Unlimited Books, Unlimited Topics, Organize it Your Way, Synchronize Your Books within QuickVerse, Create Hyperlinks)

I have posted a review of e-Sword for Windows submitted by Holger Szesnat. Holger has already contributed to Bible Software Review in the past, and I appreciate his insights. Thank you!

I had a serious problem with one of my computers (a PC, of course!), and as a result I lost most of the emails related to Bible Software Review. My latest backup is probably a month old. So, if you wrote to my BSR address and do not hear from me soon, please resend your email. Thank you! Please note that this only affects my BSR-related emails only!

You've heard about problems coming in pairs, right? Right!

The motherboard of the PC with the email problems (see previous blog entry) finally died. It has been out of service for over a week now. The worst part of it is that this particular machine is the one I use for updating BSR. In fact I have a new review waiting to be uploaded when I get the PC fixed. I know, I know... I should have used my Mac instead, but one never learns, right? Right! ;-)

Brandon Staggs has just announced that he is dropping the project to port SwordSearcher to Mac OS X. Here is, in a nutshell, what he has to say (but read it all):

Bottom line: What takes me minutes to code in Windows can sometimes take hours on a Mac. A big company with lots of cash can afford to fund development Mac and Windows concurrently. And if I were designing a trivial application, I could too. But SwordSearcher is not by any means trivial, and I've finally accepted the reality that I need to focus on one platform. So Windows it is.

I can't speak for programmers on the difficulty of coding a Mac OS X application, but I can confirm that it is a wonderful environment to work in from a user's point of view. I guess we ought to say "Brandon, thanks for trying!"