Bible Software Review

http://www.fostertribe.org/biblesoftware.html has a Biblical software review. He are some highlights: Product Interface Searching Resources Extensibility Support Value Cost Overall WORDsearch 8 4 2 5 4 4 5 $50 - $500 4.0 The Word 3 5 3 3 3 5 4 Free 3.8 SwordSearcher 5 3 5 2 4 5 4 $50 3.8 Bible Explorer 4 3 2 5 3 4 5 Free 1 3.7 Logos 3 4 3 5 3 3 3 $25 - $1380 2 3.5 e-Sword 3 3 4 2 4 3 Free 1 3.2 QuickVerse 2008 3 4 3 5 2 2 $60 - $800 3.2 Pradis 6 4 3 3 1 2 3 $27 - $225 2 3.0 Theophilos 3 2 2 2 4 3 3 Free 1 2.7 The SWORD Project 2 2 2 3 2 2 Free 2.2 Bible Pro 12 2 2 2 2 2 2 $9 3 2.0 Online Bible 1 1 2 3 2 1 Free 1 1.6 Lightning Study Bible 3 1 2 3 2 1 Free 1 1.3

1 Software and enough books for effective study are free. Optional books are available for purchase. 2 Software engine is free, but payment required for any books. Therefore prices listed are for boxed sets. 3 Technically BiblePro is free, but you can't even download it without paying $8.95 shipping. To me this constitutes a hard cost.

Explanation of categories: Interface - Does the user interface allow you to study unhindered, or does it get in your way? Searcing - How fast can it search? How many options? Search multiple books at once? How are the results shown? Resources - What library resources are available to the program? What comes with the basic package, and what can be purchased later? Are the prices reasonable? Extensibility - To what extent can you put your own mark on the program? Can you add your own notes and commentaries to Bible verses? Create your own books? Modify the program itself? Support - How good is the support, both from the program's authors and from the user community? The latter is just as important, and often more so, in making your software all that it can be. Value - Based on the price paid, do you get your money's worth. Why or why not?

Not Reviewed

PC Study Bible: I was going to purchase the base product for this review, but after perusing their forums it is obvious that the new version 5 is having terrible difficulties. It would appear that BibleSoft will soon start losing long-time customers in droves if the situation is not resolved soon. From BibleSoft staff posted in forums, Jan 9, 2008:

We (at Biblesoft) are not satisfied with where the product is at this point in time. We are fully aware of customer frustrations. We are working on improvements. They will not all appear instantly. We realize that the process of making improvements is taking much longer than we ever anticipated.

As of April 11, the fixes still had not been delivered and the users were in an uproar. The situation is not pretty.

Bible Works 7: Geared for the most serious Bible study, BW has long been acknowledged as having the best original language tools in the industry (though Logos is gaining ground). This product is really intended for a different audience than I am trying to reach in my reviews.

GRAMCORD for Windows: Another software product designed specifically for the Hebrew/Greek scholar.