unofficial training for Logos software and apps...

Brent Hoefling

rantings of a tired old man...

Some of you may know that I am a big advocate of Logos software.  Have been using it since the garage days of 1.x and a stack of floppy diskettes.

I have come to an understanding over time, and especially with the release of L5 (the awesome!), I have discovered through relationship-experiences that the biggest reason many people will not buy Logos is because of the costs.

After discussions about the liberal licensing and the compares of printed libraries versus the digital content and Logos saying that they will always have the engine available for folks for their resources, etc. - people are still not very desirous of acquiring a base package.

I worked out a document to help people get the most free stuff - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18272788/Get%20the%20Most.pdf - and it works!  so I have many family, friends and Church family doing this (very excited about Faithlife).  The challenge now is that I have been using my Logos for so long, I have come to take for granted some of the "basic" features that isn't available unless you spend 1-1.5k!  wow!!!  no wonder why people are dismissing me when I talk about what L5 can do.  It can't, based on the free stuff I have been promoting.

I tried using my wife's account with the free stuff to see what I could use for training, and there is a lot, don't get me wrong, there is a huge amount of great resources.  However, the main functionality for doing a word study or Bible Study is very limited.

So, the biggest issue isn't "really" money, it is only indirectly money.  the big issue is that people have a perceptions that software is "disposable" now a days.  they get free apps, and cheep apps on their "post-PC" tablet devices and even downloads on their laptops (nobody has actual desktops anymore, unless they are gamers, it seems).

Because of that perception, not many want to spend a grand and a half or more on software that they perceive won't be there when they get their next greatest computer/tablet device upgrade.  the perception is int accurate, but it is real to them nonetheless.  to help break that, I have offered myself to train on the use of L5.  but then it comes back to training with the free resources, which is extremely limited.

I can show my library and L5 abnd what it can do with a clause search or special filtering, or even the "simple" people, places, things, and events "pretties".  but none of that works with the free stuff, and so far, all the people I have been working with (that have the free stuff), are not "impressed" with their install enough to make a purchase.  they need to be able to do some of this "basic" workings with the free resources.

They see me do it, but it isn't "truth" (real) to them, unless they can do it and have that mindblowing experience of what the tool can really do.

I have bought many of the video training (for myself) as well, but it all requires the 1k package or more.  so again, that training is not relevant to the common folk either.

So, there it is.  The best I am doing now (and don't get me wrong, this is HUGE) is going through working with the faithlife app and bible.faithlife.com.  it is all (currently) free, so at least I can teach this.  maybe after a while of seeing the locked links in the faithlife notes, people might feel like actually buying some more resources - but still won't have the capabilities of the priced like a car tools of L5.

I want to teach more.  I want to be more in depth, and lead people in the use of the tools.  I will have to be satisfied with my wife and a friend that dumped two Christmas's worth of presents to have a base package, not quite the same as silver (original languages, with cross-grade to get all the data-sets)

/ranting

DMB

You don't look like a tired old man to me.  Plus I don't think your wife agrees with you (the tired old man part).

But I agree with your points. Logos is an unbelievable tool. But I'm convinced the Bellingham folks aren't convinced of that.

We probably need to work on them.

Dave Hooton

Brent Hoefling said:

people might feel like actually buying some more resources - but still won't have the capabilities of the priced like a car tools of L5.

Not quite 1k worth, but to get the essential data sets + worthwhile resources is roughly $350.

I was fortunate enough to have an unused Starter Library (Libronix) with resources and datasets sufficient to provide a worthwhile Passage Guide (although it needed a couple of decent commentaries for good study). Good enough for someone who does not desire original language studies.