Logos 4.0 is out

[This post is a tribute to the Logos beta program and a part of the Logos 4.0 release blog campaign.  A more detailed Russian text will follow soon.]

For the last two months I have been privileged to be a beta-tester for Logos 4.0, a new release from the Logos Bible Software company.  Today Logos 4 is out.  It is no more called Libronix as in version 3.x, but again bearing the historical name Logos.

Screenshot of the new Logos 4.0

I’ve been using Logos since version 2.1.  I own a Navigators CD, an anthology of 25 years of Discipleship Journal.  It was a long time ago.  But I haven’t got a chance to use Logos much until last year, when I purchased a box set (Leader’s Library).  After that I was really “converted” by Logos.  I’ve spent a lot of money on books from Logos Pre-pub, March Madness campaign, and so on.  The breadth and wealth of the resources provided at Logos.com is vast.  I’ve been helped a lot from the available resources as they helped me in personal growth, in Bible study and sermon preparation.

It should be noted that I am a software developer by myself and, in a sense, a competitor to Logos.  I develop BibleQuote, a free tool for Bible study and a simple librarian for electronic books.  The program is quite well-known in Russia and among Russian-speaking users in the world.  The module format is open (simple texts with little markup) so there are many Russian books made for BibleQuote.  However, since I’ve been using Logos, I learned a lot about how a library should be organized for real work of “professionals”, seminary students and ministers.  So now I am learning and learning from Logos.

Now that Logos 4.0 is finally out, I would like to mention some good points about it, besides the usually rich Bible study features:

- the interface is clean and modern; the general feel is like a Web2.0-website; it’s good for new users;
- the software has tagging, good for sorting and navigation among the vast amount of resources;
- the software can be installed just by installing a small executable; all the purchased resources will be downloaded to the machine using your login/password;
- the same library is now accessible online through iPhone (and I hope, a Windows Mobile client is in the work, too).

The developers have been very responsive during the beta-testing process.  I use a Russian version of Windows XP, so I caught some specific errors.  The Logos team very quickly fixed all problems that I faced.  And I think they also fixed many other problems, too   Great job by Logos and a great experience for me.

Thank God.  Thanks to the Logos team and the good community forum members at Logos.com.