Let's discuss austerity

The financial climate we find ourselves in require we adopt an attitude and practice of awareness of value. There was a time when the cost of items allowed for a broader budget. The cost of goods and services are more of a constraint these days.

Keeping the above in mind, let's ask ourselves what are the defining attributes of Logos that distinguish it from its competitors. In my opinion the following are paramount:

Search
Book Catalogue esp. Bibles, Lexicons, Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Commentaries, Atlases, etc.

Again in my opinion, catalogue can be easily constrained with a cost saving mindset. Search with all the tagging required can be simplified for the greater extant of the catalogue.

There are features that I find, though helpful in some instances, extraneous e.g. Canvas and Bible Sense Lexicon for instance. There are others, but I will leave room for others to comment.

I support the cost saving efforts of FL and what's more I assert that more needs to be done along these lines for the good of the brand. Hopefully, belt tightening will leave room to pass savings on to the customer. But, if not, I completely understand.

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Comments

DMB

I'm not quite sure what to make of your comments, Beloved.

In a business, there's expense reduction, and revenue expansion. And sometimes belt-tightening to take out some fat (finances are otherwise great). Which is which at Faithlife, hard to say ... they're like a drunken sailor (metaphor) in adding new business lines, only to change their minds and unload employees (over the years).

Unfortunately the absence of anything interesting over the last few major updates, has reduced me to 'books'. And even there, I austerity'd that (refunded/cleared-prepubs) in favor of a new deck and roof on our abode. Choices.

abondservant

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1252025#Comment_1252025

I'm not quite sure what to make of your comments, Beloved.

In a business, there's expense reduction, and revenue expansion. And sometimes belt-tightening to take out some fat (finances are otherwise great). Which is which at Faithlife, hard to say ... they're like a drunken sailor (metaphor) in adding new business lines, only to change their minds and unload employees (over the years).

Unfortunately the absence of anything interesting over the last few major updates, has reduced me to 'books'. And even there, I austerity'd that (refunded/cleared-prepubs) in favor of a new deck and roof on our abode. Choices.

The week(ish) after my church signed up for faithlife giving and website (and had it up and running) we got the email that they were discontinuing both.

Going to be a hard sell to get them to /try/ other faithlife services in the future. Right on the heals of that one of them got an email from proclaim, and the board's response was "why would we want to go through that with them again".

*Shrug*. I didn't find myself pushing this time either, like I had for FL giving, and for FL to handle our website (there wasn't one to speak of before).

We will see how things land, but with two from corporate America, I suspect in our case proclaim will lose out to MS PowerPoint. I don't want to spend my political capital to change that either.

xnman

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1252064#Comment_1252064

No doubt FL has expenses and such. People cost money, it's a fact. Years ago, I proposed a project that I thought was needed in the business I was in at that time. People argued "we can't afford that" and put up good arguements against it. But bottom line is that the project was done because it was for the "good of the company" no matter what the cost.

FL has to make those distinctions. If functions are not used... or used very rarely by just a few people... well we have to trust FL's decisions on that. If they cut the wrong functions.... well the program can suffer. But I would hope they know all that.

P.S. A bible program such as Logos.... will rise or fall by people using it to be able to find what they are looking in a reasonable and easy fashion. I argued in L9 that the Search function was disastrous, and I didn't use it. I had to re-learn Search every time i used it so I stopped. I actually started looking at Accordance but then L10 came along with a much-improved Search. That helped me in my studies. So I forgot about Accordance...

I hope FL will continue to work on Search and work on Factbook next. I believe these two functions will help to sell Logos better then any other function. What good is information, if we cannot find it? But that's the way I roll.... [8-|]

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1252025#Comment_1252025

I am so glad that I've never been interested in business, especially one that is determined to not take on debt. It is freeing to not have to have a well-informed opinion even though I do have a speculative hunch. And having interest in the liturgical and formational aspects of the Church rather than the business aspects, I have no stake in the dropped products. I just want Faithlife to get on with fixing and completing the current product which has so many useful but incomplete features. Note that this is my personal opinion -- in a broader sense I do have sympathy for those caught with discontinued products and the dilemmas that creates.

Kathleen Marie

Things are changing rapidly in the world, and those changes leak down into every choice we make, including our choices about software.

There are a variety of ways that people are adapting to the changes in the world, and therefore a variety of ways that people hope that software developers will adapt to those changes.

On the large scale, the only way that I know how to adapt to all these changes is to STOP thinking about the "true" value of things. I figure out what I need to do the jobs that I think have been assigned to me by God. I use the money and time that I have been entrusted with. If I do not have enough and someone offers to pay for what I think I need, I accept. If I have any leftover after purchasing what I need, I give away what I have extra: time and money and any other resources that I have. I have no need to hoard and when I try to hoard, the hoarded stuff becomes a burden that I choose to drop and leave behind.

I have stopped choosing what to purchase from Logos based on "value". I purchase what I need. If the resources to get what I think I need are not immediately available, I sit on my butt until God clarifies about the job I thought he wanted me to complete. I act like a teenager that has not been clearly instructed and sits on the couch playing video games and eating chips until Daddy shows up and clarifies. That is how I maneuver though this new world with computers and software and everything else.

The future is subscription based. We will own nothing. Some of use will hang onto things that we thought we had purchased outright but didn't. We will still have the lease, but will not have a way to access what we leased, so it won't matter what we do and do not have a lease for.

We cannot fight what is coming. This is not something that hoarding will fix. This is not something that austerity will fix. This is bigger than the old responses that people have used in the past during hard times.

God is present. God is in control. I think our best life starts when we get humble ourselves and approach him as children. We will be given what we need when we need it. If we don't have the tools for a job, its his bad, not ours.

DAL

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1252110#Comment_1252110

I just hope they don’t go out of business 👍😁👌

Kathleen Marie

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1252240#Comment_1252240

I just hope they don’t go out of business 👍😁👌

If they go out of business, we will have bigger worries than that they went out of business.

scooter

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1252248#Comment_1252248

I just hope they don’t go out of business 👍😁👌

If they go out of business, we will have bigger worries than that they went out of business.

Still, I like them around!!

Beloved Amodeo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1252233#Comment_1252233

Kathleen Marie,

Your view regarding the real big picture appeals to me. When you adopt this attitude, Bible software as a whole is a luxury. All that's really required is our relationship with the LORD and our fellow persons. Most of us have been students of the Word long enough where a Bible is secondary and available enough where we don't really need a personal copy inorder to share the Good News with others.

So, with this in view I'm grateful for the abundance I've been blessed to enjoy and share. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

1Cor10 31

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1252252#Comment_1252252

Bible software as a whole is a luxury.

I recently became an avid user on my iPhone once I figured out how to read the Bible and take Notes with just one hand. Now, the hour plus of commute (walking to the station and in the train) each day is spent reading the Bible. I cannot NOT take Notes when I am reading the Bible, thus Note taking with the thumb that held the phone was a skill that I needed. This extra hour per day of Bible study is all incremental compared to earlier because I still do my Bible study on my desktop at home. Thus, I don't think of the software as a luxury, though I agree that we don't necessarily need all the resources we own.

skypeace

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1252252#Comment_1252252

Kathleen Marie,

Your view regarding the real big picture appeals to me. When you adopt this attitude, Bible software as a whole is a luxury. All that's really required is our relationship with the LORD and our fellow persons. Most of us have been students of the Word long enough where a Bible is secondary and available enough where we don't really need a personal copy inorder to share the Good News with others.

So, with this in view I'm grateful for the abundance I've been blessed to enjoy and share. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

Thank you for a very grand expression of the gratitude and grace we have been blessed with. His Providence has always proved sufficient that the slave of Christ always has what is required for the purpose and will of Father.

Kathleen Marie

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1252252#Comment_1252252

Kathleen Marie,

Your view regarding the real big picture appeals to me. When you adopt this attitude, Bible software as a whole is a luxury. All that's really required is our relationship with the LORD and our fellow persons. Most of us have been students of the Word long enough where a Bible is secondary and available enough where we don't really need a personal copy in order to share the Good News with others.

So, with this in view I'm grateful for the abundance I've been blessed to enjoy and share. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

Personally, I get the most confused and think I need the most stuff when I am enrolled in classes, whether they are secular or seminary classes. When I take some time off, my head gets clearer. These are confusing times. Things change quickly. People are demanding things of people without understanding the shortages and barriers that they are encountering. The church is influenced by the world. Local churches and seminaries are sometimes asking more from individuals than they can accomplish. It is going to get interesting what happens next.

Yes, we have taken Bibles for granted. As copyrights lengthen and translations update as rapidly as the weather and bookstores close, will even hardcopies of the Bible become scarce?