Multiple users profiles

I made this suggestion a long time ago and at the time, Logos had other fish to fry. But since that time, the software has advanced so much, it would seem that it would a no lesser but even more compelling feature to offer and perhaps something that can move up the priority list.

I am sure that are numerous users like me who have different family members using Logos in the household. It goes without saying that just as I would not purchase a print copy of the Anchor Bible Dictionary for each family member, so also we share the same library in Logos. But it gets to be a bit difficult when:

1. Different users use the same resources: page read indicators, last page and other features start criss-crossing.

2. As everybody adds their user documents, the list becomes long and crowded. Why have to sort through what is not yours to find what you want?

3. There is always the possibility that a user accidentally deletes content mistaken as his/her own when it is not.

4. Especially for children, there are resources that are not appropriate. If put in the hidden list, they are not visible to those for whom they are both appropriate and useful.

All of the above and more show that it would be really useful to have the ability to set up different user profiles in the same household for one customer account.

Would you look into it, Logos staff, pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase?

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Comments

Bradley Grainger (Logos)

"We license the software to one user." Thus (tautologically) there is no need to implement multiple user accounts in the software, because it's licensed to just one user.

You've listed some useful improvements, but I hope you can see that the potential for abuse (in such a system) is extremely high. For example, what would stop unscrupulous people from setting up a "book buying club" where they all log in with the same account but use different user profiles? That is, how would we enforce that the user profiles are being used in the same household?

Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/556850#Comment_556850

Thank you Bradley for the reply. I understand that it could lead to abuses. Logos would not be the first company to have to wrestle with this issue. Microsoft and other companies have limitations on how many installations they allow. Some companies identify devices on which the software is installed. Users within a household could be registered under an account and should have the same physical address. While it may not stop everyone, having to register and understanding that misinformation is a crime, would heighten the accountability factor. Whatever the means, they are controls that can be implemented.

Of course, no control is ever infallible. But this is already the case even without profiles. I am sure that there are already copyright infringements and abuses of user policies. I don't know if Logos can afford to reason that way, but I personally think that if someone feels they need to cheat in order to have access to Bible resources, one of two things can happen 1) the very resources may lead them to repent and make things right or 2) the kind of person who does not fear God enough to do this, will not stop at whatever limitations you put, but will certainly have to give Him an account.

Jayson Williams

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/556896#Comment_556896

I have been searching for a solution to this exact same situation. My scenario is this. My wife and I are both enrolled in a bible college that requires Logos. I purchased Logos, and have it installed on my laptop, and my wife's as well (I am assuming that is acceptable). While working on any class project, involving for instance visual filters in a passage of scripture, I must customize my filters to point to a different translation so that they don't appear on the resource she's working on as well. For now I am turning the "Use Internet" setting off so that I must manually sync, which prevents my changes from being seen on her screen immediately. But once I do sync, whatever my wife was working on will be replaced with whatever I was working on. It seems that profiles would solve this problem. But there is another question I guess. Am I in violation of the licensing by allowing my wife and I to both to use Logos? Is the intent that literally one user only has permission? Not sure I could afford to maintain two installations. If it's ok for both of us to use the Logos I purchased, than the profiles would be a very appreciated feature.

Thanks,

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847015#Comment_847015

Welcome to the forums. IIRC the statement Bob made on what was permitted on a single license explicitly excluded the case where both husband and wife were professional pastors. I suspect two students is very murky ground in the one license=one user world.

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847015#Comment_847015

My wife and I are both enrolled in a bible college that requires Logos.

Welcome [:D]

Do you get one grade for both of you in all classes ?

Do you have individual email addresses ?

Not sure I could afford to maintain two installations.

Two libraries allows different set of resources, documents, layouts, visual filters, ... (and needs two email addresses for creation of two Faithlife accounts)

Seem to remember best academic discount being when Logos is required for college classes.

Welcome to the forums. IIRC the statement Bob made on what was permitted on a single license explicitly excluded the case where both husband and wife were professional pastors. I suspect two students is very murky ground in the one license=one user world.

Logos wiki => Logos Speaks includes Logos’ EULA—Single user link to 18 Jul 2009 licensing reply by Bob Pritchett, CEO that has:

Well, now it depends. Are you and your spouse "one user"? I know lots of people who have a single email address like JoeAndMary@somemail.com. They have one computer, one email address, one copy of Windows, (one car? one cell phone?) etc. To me, they're "one user." Same thing when little Joey uses the family computer.

Later the End User License Agreement (EULA) was updated => https://www.logos.com/support/eula with license clarification for one human being:

The short version is this: "The license goes with the user. Every user must purchase their own package. If you have a work machine and a laptop and they are both yours for your personal use, you may load it on both for your personal use - because the license goes with the user." Can you purchase one package and have two people use it? No. The license goes with the user. The license is a single user license.

All licenses are single human being licenses. We do not offer site-licenses, shared licenses, co-op licenses, library licenses or multi-user licenses. A church or company may be the purchaser and thus legal owner of the license grant, but may only allow one human being to be the beneficiary of this license grant.

Keep Smiling [:)]

Jayson Williams

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847113#Comment_847113

Thanks for the feedback and the bottom line. So no profiles because any shared use is not permissible.

DivineCordial

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847491#Comment_847491

A possible solution:

Logos could allow for TWO profiles, with the license agreement stipulating that it be used for MARRIED couples ONLY.

This would prevent abuse in the case of people opening "book clubs" or whatever where say, a dozen people all use the same account. But it would allow married couples to use the same Logos account without having to invest in two identical/similar libraries.

Of course, this solution would not cover other family members, so it would only solve part of the problem.

Something just came to mind. What if Logos added an ["Add addition user profile"] for [X price] up to a [maximum number of profiles per account] with the stipulation that they are used only by married couples or immediate family members.

The [maximum number] would vary depending on Faithlife's intended allowance. So if Faithlife determined that married couples ONLY should be allowed to use the same account, then one could add another profile, for a maximum of two. If Faithlife determined that immediate family members should access the account, they could, based on average household size, determine the maximum to be say four or five.

DivineCordial

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847491#Comment_847491

SineNomine

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847616#Comment_847616

A possible solution:

Logos could allow for TWO profiles, with the license agreement stipulating that it be used for MARRIED couples ONLY.

Anything allowing for multiple profiles would require extensive (and often impossible) renegotiation of licensing deals with umpteen zillion(ish) rights holders.

Something just came to mind. What if Logos added an ["Add addition user profile"] for [X price] up to a [maximum number of profiles per account] with the stipulation that they are used only by married couples or immediate family members.

Once you add X price into the equation and don't have it be some trivial $10 fee + y amount (depending on what/how many resources are involved) or something, you might as well just have the second person buy the resources needed/desired. Most resources that people still use/need that FaithLife has ever sold are still sold in some form by FaithLife, and much of what is not can still be purchased used with some patience.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847622#Comment_847622

I don't see any scenario that accepts single-user multiple profile. The programming would be atrocious, ignoring the licensing. Plus I think Bob's tring to walk a fine-line ... be reasonable but avoid abuse.

The easier solution is allowing CS to copy purchases across married accounts (for a price, of course). Granted, duplicate installs. Works for Bob's scenario. But long-term, abuse-able. Oh well.

DivineCordial

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847622#Comment_847622

A possible solution:

Logos could allow for TWO profiles, with the license agreement stipulating that it be used for MARRIED couples ONLY.

Anything allowing for multiple profiles would require extensive (and often impossible) renegotiation of licensing deals with umpteen zillion(ish) rights holders.

Something just came to mind. What if Logos added an ["Add addition user profile"] for [X price] up to a [maximum number of profiles per account] with the stipulation that they are used only by married couples or immediate family members.

Once you add X price into the equation and don't have it be some trivial $10 fee + y amount (depending on what/how many resources are involved) or something, you might as well just have the second person buy the resources needed/desired. Most resources that people still use/need that FaithLife has ever sold are still sold in some form by FaithLife, and much of what is not can still be purchased used with some patience.

Your first point does pose a problem.

Your second point makes little sense, unless it is for someone who only wants access to a few resources. For someone who may have an extensive library, a fee of say, a few hundred dollars, can be a fraction of the total cost of buying the entire library a second time over.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847616#Comment_847616

But it would allow married couples to use the same Logos account without having to invest in two identical/similar libraries.

Bob has explicitly excluded this situation where both members of the couple are professionals but allowed casual use by the partner when only one is a professional. Hey, I'd like to let my professional daughter-in-law use my library - I can afford it, she can't - but no, if I want her to have Logos, I must buy her Logos.

SineNomine

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847666#Comment_847666

For someone who may have an extensive library, a fee of say, a few hundred dollars, can be a fraction of the total cost of buying the entire library a second time over.

Precisely my point. Either you charge a relatively trivial fee ("a few hundred dollars"), or you might as well re-buy the library, or at least the parts of it that the spouse would value.

DivineCordial

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847739#Comment_847739

For someone who may have an extensive library, a fee of say, a few hundred dollars, can be a fraction of the total cost of buying the entire library a second time over.

Precisely my point. Either you charge a relatively trivial fee ("a few hundred dollars"), or you might as well re-buy the library, or at least the parts of it that the spouse would value.

How does paying a fraction of a total library equate to paying for the entire library?

Matthew C Jones

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/847760#Comment_847760

My wife is a stay-at-home mom with no ministry other than homeschooling our children. In 2008 I shared my Logos account with my wife, I was very grateful to Bob that we were permitted to do so.

By 2010 I purchased a separate Logos license for my wife. She decided she did not need access to my large library but would rather have her own reading plans and notes.

The only way I can see publishers going along with multiple profiles is a substantial percentage for duplicate libraries. I certainly could not afford that,