Thanks to Shaun Tabatt over at BibleGeekGoneWild. I participated in his 1st Annual Thanksgiving Book Giveaway.
I can’t wait to get reading “More than a Skeleton.” I hope you’ll take the time to visit Shaun’s site, especially as his 2nd Annual Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway is coming up soon.
Recently, Logos 4 came out. One of the main comments was that the design was not intuitive. What exactly does intuitive mean? What must something be to be “intuitive”?
While I’ve been home for Thanksgiving, my mother has been playing around with my iPod touch. And then, last night, it hit me.
Intuitive: Adj. – def. Something my mother can pick up and do without instruction.
The iPod incident was remarkable. She was checking calendar dates, looking up things online, and typing on a virtual keypad. Amazing!
So, does Logos 4 meet this criterion for “intuitive”? Certainly not. Personally, I have used Logos 3 for over 2 years, and this upgrade has come as quite a surprise.
To be entirely fair, an important part of my Logos 3 setup was Phil Gons’ toolbar. http://philgons.com/resources/files/
Phil’s toolbar has been an incredible help in Logos. I only hope that the quick links and tweaks that he brought to the Logos 3 engine will either be included in 4, or that he will soon produce a similar product.
Logos 4 require time, patience, and a certain number of hours spent watching the instruction videos on the Logos website. http://www.logos.com/videos
Setup
I opted for downloading Logos 4, before I realized that it would take several hours. An estimated 5.4 GB of data had to be downloaded to my computer. Now, that was fine for my laptop, which I could take to a location with better internet speed. For my home desktop however, the download took nearly 2 days, 24 hours a day.
Other than the time factor, it was reasonably easy and required little input on my part.
Resource Intensive
Here’s my biggest problem with Logos 4 – It’s a huge resource hog. I decided to run some clock tests on my Netbook to see exactly how much more intensive Logos 4 is than version 3.
From clicking the Logos 4 Icon:
55 sec to the Login startup.
1:20 the Program window opened.
2:00 Book Loaded
From the time I clicked my Logos 3 Icon:
40 sec to home page
60 sec to book open
Technical Details: I am currently running Logos on an Acer Aspire One. Windows XP Home on an Intel Atom Processor, 1.6 Ghz, 1.5 MB RAM, 160 GB hdd. For this specific test, I was running Firefox, as well as various background programs including DropBox, Google Desktop, Zonealarm, and AVG Anti-Virus. Typically in class, I will also be running Bibleworks.
The fact of the matter is, I run these programs all the time. For Logos to be valuable to me in a class room, I often need it to load quickly. For example, something the prof says will spark something in my mind, and I will pull up one of my commentaries, or another reference book to check on something. If I’m waiting two minutes for the program to load, the professor is already onto another topic, and I’m behind in the discussion.
For more detailed research, I’m typically at home running a Desktop, Windows 7, P4 3.06 Ghz with HT, 1.5. GB RAM, 750 GB hdd. When I’m working on this computer however, the number of background programs jumps. While I have not done any timed tests on my desktop, I believe it is similar.
These are just startup times. The memory and processing power required to navigate through the program has also gone up. To be fair, they are including a great number of features that were previously unavailable. But they cannot entirely account for the slower speed.
Aesthetics
From a visual stand-point, Logos 4 is incredible. It is definitely the next step toward the newer standard for Program design. With Windows 7 out it’s a whole new ballgame, and I believe Logos 4 is a legitimate contender.
Features
I still cannot really comment on this. I haven’t had the time necessary to watch all of the videos available on the Logos Website. Hopefully over Christmas break, I’ll be able to soak up some of the available features. At this point however, it continues to look promising. So far, the ability to create your own handouts has potential, especially for local church ministry. The quick search feature will require some tweaking, but it seems to be a help that will prove useful once it gets ironed out.
Updates and Syncing
Two features not available in Logos 3 is the automatic updates and the Sync feature. For those like me who use Logos over multiple computers, it was always a hassle trying to remember what book you had open where, and almost impossible to carry over markups or highlighting. With Logos 4, that is all automated. For those of you familiar with Logos 3, you know that you had to manually start the update process, and while it was running you could not access the program. That has been changed to a background system in Logos 4. You will get a notification that Logos is downloading, and then it is reduced to a small icon in your system tray. No further input it needed until it is ready to be installed.
In Conclusion
I have no regrets upgrading to Logos 4. I do expect it to continue to improve, and the updates to continue to provide speedier program performance.
As for my part, is it just time to upgrade my computer? Perhaps. I realize my Netbook is vastly underrated for Logos 4, as is my desktop. But I look at recent technology, mainly Microsoft as a cue. Windows Vista OS failed to catch on because it was so hardware intensive that it could not be run on people’s existing computers. As they began upgrading to better, faster computers, things started improving. Eventually however, Windows 7 came out and is highly acclaimed. In fact, I even installed it on my old Windows XP desktop and it runs like a dream. I see Logos 4 slimming down at the same time people upgrade their hardware. In short, things can only get better from here.
In case you’re one of the many who have recently upgraded to Windows 7, you’re probably familiar with the fact that it does not carry over your previous apps. In fact, if you’re upgrading from Windows XP (as I did) then you’re probably even more stunned, as you can’t even use the Upgrade feature, but rather must use the Clean Install.
To make this “traumatic” process easier, I am proud to recommend Ninite Easy PC Setup.
Just select which of the free applications you’d like to download, and sit back and wait. You’ll download a single file which, upon running, opens the Ninite wizard. While the downloads may take up to several hours total, it require no further input on your part.
The beauty of Ninite is that it automatically installs all the programs that you select without requiring your active participation. So give it a try!
Now, for installing GloBible, Bibleworks 8 and Logos 4 I’m going to have to wait a little while longer. Perhaps after Thanksgiving.
Note: At the time of writing this, Logos 4 was not yet out. All the parameters are set for Libronix v.3.0
Perhaps you’ve had a class where the teacher gave (at times) excessive reading study guide questions from an in-depth book. Even after a cursory reading, you were unable to discover the exact answer for the study guide. And perhaps, like me, you realized that the teacher was only going to quiz and test of the study guide answers. What is the most profitable way to find those answers? In short, search Logos.
My case study for this post will be for Hermeneutics class, the textbook, The Hermeneutical Spiral by Osborne. Before I realized this book existed in Logos, I had already purchased the hard copy from Amazon.com. Furthermore, the Logos copy was a bit more expensive. So how to get the benefit of Electronic, without actually purchasing it? Simple.
In Logos, you can download a book file without purchasing it. After installing it in my Resources Folder, I then proceeded to open up Logos, tell Library Management to find new files, and voila! The resource is now in my library.
While you cannot see the actual text, the book is fully searchable! For ease of searching, you must define a new collection with just that book. Then, search just that collection for key words pertaining to the study guide. Presto! You have just narrowed your study down to a particular page, or set of pages.
While this isn’t fool-proof and takes some time getting used to, I have found it to be extremely helpful in crunch times of the semester.
I’ll be looking for a way to update this in Logos 4, and hopefully post that soon.
In Hebrew class, we’ve just finished working through Judges 17. Here is the famous passage, “in those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” (The title today is my own translation.)
It is this interjection that divides the two pericopes of Judges 17. The first involves a man who had stolen silver from his mother, returns it to her, and (after she makes an idol for him) builds a shrine to it, including making his son a priest. The second is the continuing story about this man Micah, who upon finding a Levite passing through the country, persuades him to stay and be a priest for him.
But what about YHWH? The true King of Israel? There is one distinct impression of YHWH, presented both by the mother and the son.
The mother refers to YHWH twice. First in verse 3, “(May) My son be blessed to/by YHWH.” The second, in verse 4, she says “I have consecrated the silver to YHWH from my hand.” To consecrate basically means to set apart for a specific purpose.
So, we have a woman who blesses her son according to YHWH, and sets apart silver to him. Unfortunately, her actions in the continuing story give us a far different picture. In verse two, we find out that she swore or cursed when the silver went missing. It is only the fact that she view her circumstances to be reversed that she considers YHWH. In verse three, we see that the silver is NOT actually given to YHWH, but rather to her son as an idol. It is given over to the metal-worker in vs 4 for this exact purpose.
The son later summarizes his efforts in obtaining and idol, building a shrine, and hiring a Levite as a priest, when he says “Now I know that YHWH will do good to me, because the Levite is to me a priest.” Notice, a priest of an idol shrine in a man’s house. What is the shared problem that is exemplified by this mother and son?
A wrong view of YHWH.
The interlude in verse 6 is the commentary on these situations. The mother asks God to bless her son for doing that which he should have done anyway (return that which he stole). The mother then says that she has saved this silver to the LORD, but it then becomes an idol. The son is certain that God will bless him because he has in fact perverted the proper worship rituals that were given to the Israelites. They were doing what seemed right to them at the time, and with no leadership, they actually acted directly opposite the character of God.
Modern Application: Often in today’s age, even among Christians, you hear God referenced as a basis for our actions. “God wouldn’t want me to be unhappy would he?” “God wouldn’t want me to stay married to someone I don’t love anymore would he?” ” This worship feels good, and I can worship God in any way I want.”
While these deceptive thoughts clearly reflect a wrong view of God, my focus today is not on the people committing these sins. My focus is on the first part of this verse. “There was no king in Israel.” The lack of leadership was, in part, responsible for the false view of God. (Side note: their consciences appear to be completely clear while committing these sinful acts.) There was no real leadership in Israel.
My question is this, where is the leadership today? Hopefully, it is in your pastor. The one who takes the word, faithfully and shows you what God is like; who God is; what He requires from his worshippers. Why don’t you take a moment and pray for your pastor? Thank God for the man who (in part) keeps you from sinning, doing that which is right in your eyes.
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