Using competitors products along with Logos when you can't find resources from Faithlife

I have been using Logos exclusively for many years for my study purposes and find it to be the best. But I have a desire for some resources that do not look like they are coming into the Faithlife orbit anytime soon. And I have discovered one set, Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity, by IVPress, is available from another competitor. I haven't seen any sign of this coming in Pre-Pub. And in fact I think there is a significant number of IVPress resources that have not shown up here yet, but that's for another thread.

I was wondering how many folks use more than Logos for their studies. If there are folks that need resources that are only available in another product. I realize that we all use paper books.

I hate the thought of having some resources in another platform and not having them integrated.

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Bruce Dunning

I hate the thought of having some resources in another platform and not having them integrated.

That is my perspective as well. Like you I only use Logos for digital study. But I can see your dilemma as I too continue to patiently wait for some resources to be made available in Logos e.g. Carta products especially the atlas - see this thread - https://community.logos.com/forums/t/25757.aspx

I can only think of three options.

Continue to wait and hope these resources will be available in Logos
Purchase dead tree copies
Purchase them using another Bible software company

For the most part my strategy continues to be to wait but I can understand those who choose a different option.

John Fidel

I have quite a few other software packages, mostly because I have been using Bible Software for a long time. The one thing that makes multiple packages less efficient and effective is that each package requires a minimal amount of other resources for it to be truly useful. If you are willing to invest time to learn the new software as well as money for an effective base package, then it can work. It used to be that there were some differences in what the each of the packages could do, but that gap has narrowed. You also need to be intentional to make sure you open the other software for those resources as they will not populate in the many Logos features and tools. Perhaps there are other resources in the software you are consider not available in Logos currently which could also make it worth the investment in a second software package.

HansK

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/783142#Comment_783142

https://community.logos.com/forums/p/73404/616938.aspx

Dan Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/783142#Comment_783142

I use Accordance, Verbum (Logos), and Olivetree's Bible daily. To a lesser extent i occasionally use WordSearch and an old favourite Online Bible. Now each of these programs offers items not available elsewhere (except perhaps OLB--Lamsa Bible, Phllips NT, Poole, Clarke are it's unique resources and I also realize I could get the last two in Logos but I really do not use them often enough to warrant their purchase). I have no plans to consolidate into one software anytime soon because while I would easily drop the last two if I had all their resources in one of the other three. A, V, and O offer me distinct advantages in their usage , now while A and V offer superb desktop apps and very good mobile apps, O offers me the best in mobile app available. I do not encourage you to use all three because I do, indeed the simplicity of one software would be ideal. But that said there are functionality to all 3 that I value and resources only available in A, V, and O that I do not wish to be without. And while none of the three are in any danger of going anywhere anytime soon I also prefer not to keep all my eggs in one basket so to speak. I was a long time user of WS and they decided to abandon their mac software for more than a decade. At the time they abandoned it, i had a fair amount of resources (by today's standards no but several translations, a couple Bible commentaries and 2 study bibles) there and it had the most elegant user interface of any Bible software I was using. This is just my two cents worth, when I say if there is something you value highly, a second Bible software is not a bad way to go, indeed in OT I also own several resources that are Logos available but were far more economic for my purchase in OT, i do not see them as key resources but I am happy to have them at a price that was ok for me.

-Dan

Joseph

I was wondering how many folks use more than Logos for their studies. If there are folks that need resources that are only available in another product. I realize that we all use paper books.

Buy a used paper edition with no handwriting in it. Keep notes types in Evernote, and when the Logos Edition comes, sell it (perhaps at a profit?) on eBay, Amazon, or abebooks. Transfer notes to Logos via copy-paste from Evernote.

Erwin Stull, Sr.

My personal rule is that, Logos or/and paper. It is just too difficult to study with 2 or more programs open, In addition, the resources and features are not interchangeable between programs.

Joseph Turner

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/783162#Comment_783162

I use Logos mostly, but I use the Accordance Atlas tool, as it shows all known ANE sights and not just ones related to specific biblical stories.

mab

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/783195#Comment_783195

I've still got some other software, some things in Kindle, and print books. To the largest extent, I find myself with a print Bible or Logos. It's not even about integration for me although that's the tidy explanation.

Sure I want it all in Logos, but the truth is that the basic answers are in Logos even if I can't readily footnote or quote them. It's more for citation than anything significant.

Al Het

I'm always surprised at how many people respond to these posts about hating to have more than one Bible software open at a time. The people who respond to these questions are really smart, and usually really computer literate, and have consistently great input on how to use Logos. However, I'm surprised at the strong desire for singular sources of electronic code. It seems as if most want to be able to search a word or phrase (for instance) and have it search across all of their resources, regardless of the nature of those resources. Not sure, but that's my guess.

For me, I don't mind having certain resources (or more precisely, certain types of resources) from other companies, and at time actually prefer it. For instance, I've got an ancient (close to 20 years old, I think) program from Parsons, that strangely will still install and work on modern Windows programs. If I want to do a quick look-up of a verse, I'll use Parsons, because it opens instantly, its interface is absurdly simple, and if I miss a word, it will find the verse anyway. It is much faster than using Logos for this. I wouldn't install the software just for that feature, because I also use google for this purpose, and it is even faster and easier, even if I barely remember the verse at all. However, The Parsons software has the best maps I've seen in more than 20 years of computer software. For me, these maps are awesome. So, if I'm studying in Logos, and want to see a map, I'll usually look at Logos maps first. If I decide I want to use a map as part of my teaching, I'll open Parsons and import the appropriate map into Powerpoint, instead of the Logos maps.

I also have an older version of Pradis that has a complete commentary set. I use that program every week, in my studies, usually more than once. For me to open Logos, do my passage work, and then open Pradis to reference the commentaries there doesn't bother me one bit. I could spend $500 to repurchase the same commentary set in Logos, but the additional value to me, the way I study, would be very small. Likewise, I own a few PDF based packages from a company that has gone out of business. Again, I could repurchase these in Logos, for hundreds of dollars, but it doesn't bother me at all to have more than one software package open at once. It isn't a problem, because I rarely want to do a word search of these resources. I type in a passage, and I'm where I want to be.

Having said that, I wouldn't love having a necessary original language tool from a secondary program. When I'm working within a passage, I will look up a dozen or more words on any/all passages I study for teaching, and then might look up a few of those words again, before I'm done. I have about 5 sources that I want to look at for every biblical word I study within a passage. Doing this in a couple of different programs for every time I teach or preach would be much more work.

All of that to say, as long as my operating systems will continue to allow use of my resources, I'll stick with them. Once they don't, I'll probably buy the most reasonably priced replacement, while taking into account a couple of things. One is that it IS usually a bit easier to have all the tools in one tool chest (Logos). Also, most software programs WILL become obsolete eventually, potentially forcing me to repurchase it again. So far, Logos has been the best with this. However, I won't pay a premium for this, as it doesn't bother me much to access certain other types of resources.

In your situation, it depends on what you want to do with the resource you are looking at. If you want it to be part of any and all searches you do in Logos, that counts heavily toward waiting on Logos, to see if they ever offer that resource. You're looking at an encyclopedia. If you just want to look up topics in that, you might want to buy what you want now. For me, I would have no problem buying an encyclopedia in another software format. I've often found that saying about a bird in the hand to be true.

For what it's worth. Good luck.

David Taylor, Jr.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/783388#Comment_783388

I have Accordance, had it before Logos because I was on a Mac. It's on my Windows machine, and the only time I ever open it is if I need the ESV up and running quickly and don't need anything else.

RRD

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/783396#Comment_783396

Sometimes it simply comes down to cost. I just purchased the AYB set for $750. The purchase would never have happened for double or triple that amount. At least the resource is now available to me even if another program has to be used.

James McAdams

I've just decided to invest in a Logos base package but I've built up a pretty sizeable library in Olive Tree that will take me years to catch up with. I'm gutted I didn't get Logos earlier, but the iOS app takes so much of my reading time and it seemed to make sense given my needs at the time. With that in mind, I'm pretty much stuck using both apps whether I like it or not.

Donovan R. Palmer

I started years ago with QuickVerse and then was gifted WordSearch and PCBible at one point or another. For quite a while I had all my STEP books loaded into WordSearch and then used PCBible for things that I could not do otherwise.

The STEP platform began to run out of steam and some of the things I wanted did not appear to be on the way in PCBible, so I transitioned to Logos and Accordance.

So now between L and A, when I am deep into study, they are both running and I run back and forth to each one depending on the task... I can't imagine not having some of the capabilities that both have.

Some don't like doing this and yes, in an ideal world it would be great to have one package to rule them all... but at least for me the cost of being confined to one software platform is too costly. It is down to preference though... some prefer to buy paper books before going this route.