Hello friends
It is an exciting time to be a student of the Bible who is also a Mac user! As you probably know, Accordance version 9 has just been released, and Logos 4 for Mac is just around the corner.
I would like to solicit your help. I am a writer for The Unofficial Apple Weblog, and reviewed Logos 3 about a year ago (link) and have also used & reviewed Accordance, including the new version 9 release. I'm also a full-time ordained minister currently working on finishing my D.Min. at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
I hope to be able to provide a review of Logos 4 for Mac which goes beyond the marketing copy of listing which new features are available to give Mac users a sense of why Logos users have chosen it (first question) and specific reasons why they chose it over Accordance.
For example: I would *assume* that the existence of a Windows and Mac version means that pastors who have a Mac at home and a WIndows computer at the church would be happy to find they could use the same program on both. But are any of you using Logos for that reason?
Although both Logos and Accordance have a dizzying number resources available, it appears that Logos has a greater number of them available. That said, Mac users are used to Windows users saying that Windows is better because it has "more software available" and Mac users generally respond by saying "Yeah, but Mac has *better* software available." My assumption is that it's not just a matter of "more = better" but "Here are some resources that were important to me that were available on Logos but not Accordance."
So there are a few of my assumptions, but you know the old saying "When you assume, you are likely to make mistakes." (I may not have that 100% accurate, but you get the idea.)
I'd like to hear what features of Logos (esp. v.4) make you happy that you chose Logos. What do you like more than v.3? Was there one feature in particular that made you say "I'm definitely upgrading to get _this feature_"?
In my research thus far, the only negative that I have seen about Logos 4 has been the speed/CPU requirements, where even Logos says in their FAQ that you'll want a fairly new computer to get the best performance. Again, my *assumption* is that given how long most churches hang onto computers (at the first church I served {in 1998} I was presented with a 486 running Windows 3.1, and the secretary was using a 386 and DOS), this could be a problem for some pastors. Is Logos 4 running acceptably on your computer, or are you frustrated by the speed (for either situation, I'd be interested to know how old your computer is and any other relevant specs)? Are there other issues new users should be aware of?
Personally I like both Logos and Accordance quite a bit. I found that I, personally, have tended to use Accordance more often, but taking a close look at Logos 4, and so far have found several parts that I like over v3. But I believe that you all can probably illuminate me to things that I might not notice even if I used Logos exclusively for a long time, because you are more familiar with the program than I am.
ps - I know that people are naturally suspicious of lots of things (and perhaps some especially of "bloggers"), so please let me make it clear that I have no financial stake in people using either Logos or Accordance. I have invested my own money in owning the latest copies of both programs on the Mac, and largely consider them to be like Nikon and Canon, each one having different features that make their users love them, and (hopefully) the existence of a competitor makes each one stronger.
ps2 - I'm signed up to get email replies to this thread, but if you'd like to contact me directly, you can email me at GMail (same username as this forum).
