I am excited for the release of L4 as it is a great program. However, there are a few areas I see that may turn off many who are changing from L3 or starting Logos for the first time. (These are not just ways to improve L4, so much as ways that may be a real problem for those starting to use it for the first time.) These may apply more to the "masses" who don't know the original languages, aren't pastors, etc.
I include myself in the "masses" since I am a school teacher that doesn't know any of the original languages and uses Libronix for fairly basic Bible study compared to many (though I have loved the access L3 and now L4 have given to the original languages).
The top areas of concern I see are:
1. Bible Search Speed - L4 is being hyped as fast. For a whole
library search it is. But for a smaller search range (say 1 Bible), L3
is much faster. I am using an Eee PC 900 so I notice speed differences.
If I typed "God" in speed search in L3 it had results almost instantly.
In L4, if I do a search for "God" it takes 43 sec before I see any
results. In L3, if I refined my search it quickly updated. In L4, it
starts again. If I am looking for a specific verse I used to type key
words into L3 Speed Search, now it is generally faster for me to pull
out my paper Bible and skim through looking than to use L4. Honestly, I
try to avoid searching in L4 as much as possible, especially Bible
searches since they are especially slow and that is an area I want results quickly during study rather than as an interruption from it. In L3, I was searching
regularly. We don't necessarily need the "Bible Speed Search" back with its continual updating the search (though I wouldn't mind), but the speed for searching one Bible does need to be improved to almost instant.
(It's been mentioned before, but is there a way that Bibles
could have a separate index that would search quickly for the "Bible"
search? This is the base of Bible software and is the slowest part of
L4.)
THE NEXT TWO JUST NEED TO BE VERY WELL EXPLAINED TO NEW USERS SO THEY KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT AND AREN'T TAKEN BY SURPRISE.
2. Notes Transfer - a lot of people are going to suddenly lose their notes if they want to use L4. (Bob already said this is a priority. I just think that this needs mentioned at release so others know it is coming.)
3. Indexing - This is a necessary evil (and long term benefit for future searches) and Logos has made many improvements. It just needs to be very clear to the new user what is going on, that it won't need done all the time, etc. It needs to be there, but will need to be well explained so people know it is coming and aren't taken by surprise.
The program is great, and has many wonderful features that do enhance my study. I am exited to see others have access to this tool. It would just be nice if these (especially the Bible search speed) could be improved so people aren't turned off and miss the benefits of the rest of the program.
