3 Ways to Lock In Your Upgrade Price

| Mon, February 4, 2013 | Misc.

NOTICE: The launch period for Logos 5 has ended. But don’t worry—we have lots of exciting sales planned this year! Recently upgrade to Logos 5? Join us in the forums, and tell us about your favorite features.

Today has been an amazing and crazy day in the Logos offices. Our phones have been ringing nonstop, and you might be having a hard time getting through.

Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. We’ve extended our hours until midnight to make sure we can take as many calls as possible. But if you still can’t get through to one of our sales reps before midnight and need to talk to someone before placing your order, just send an email to sales@logos.com before midnight PST and we’ll honor your upgrade price as soon as we can get to your email.

Here are the three ways you can get the best upgrade price now:

  1. Call us at 800-875-6467 before midnight PST.
  2. Order online at www.logos.com before midnight PST.
  3. Email us at sales@logos.com before midnight PST.

It’s not too late to save big on a Logos 5 upgrade. You still have 3 hours left to get the best upgrade price.

Why You Shouldn’t Wait until Logos 6 to Upgrade

| Tue, January 22, 2013 | Featured, Products

The wait is over: Logos 6 is here! Get it today at Logos.com/6.

* * *

Logos Base Packages
With many products, it makes sense not to upgrade with each new version that comes out. Whether it’s phones, tablets, or software, most people don’t need to upgrade to every new version. As an owner of Adobe’s Creative Suite, I’ve often had to wrestle with the question of whether to upgrade or sit out a round. The only thing I miss out on if I skip a version is the use of the new features for the next year or two. When the next version comes out, I’ll get all the new features from both versions. I’ll have the same set of tools as the person who upgrades with each new version. Some of you may be approaching upgrading to Logos 5 this way. On the surface, it seems like a good way to save some money. And while it makes sense in a lot of categories, I’d like to explain why it doesn’t make sense with our base packages. In most cases, new products exclusively build on top of, add to, and improve old ones. They get thinner, lighter, faster, more space, longer battery life, more features, etc. When products merely add to the ones they replace, you can often get by fine with upgrading every other release cycle—assuming the new features aren’t essential for you to have right away. But Logos base packages don’t work that way. We certainly add many new features, datasets, and books with each new release. But in order to make room for all the new books we add, we also take many books out. We do this for several reasons. Sometimes we just want to freshen our packages up so people who upgrade can add more new books to their libraries. Other times publishers request to have their content removed and want to try selling it individually. Regardless of the reasons, the result is that each new generation of base packages provides a one-time opportunity to pick up thousands of dollars of content for about ten cents on the dollar. Let me illustrate with Logos 4. People who sat out and didn’t upgrade to Logos 4 missed out on the opportunity to get the following content at base package prices:

Books # of Volumes Print Value Logos Price
Semeia: An Experimental Journal for Biblical Criticism 91 $2,195 $49.95
A. W. Pink Collection 40 $603 $249.95
Berkouwer’s Studies in Dogmatics 14 $450 $329.95
Pillar New Testament Commentary 8 $311 $249.95
The Encyclopedia of Christianity: Volumes 1–4 4 $300 $289.95
Great Doctrines of the Bible 3 $45 $29.95
Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament 3 $150 $139.95
Wuest’s Word Studies & Wuest’s Expanded NT 2 $99.95 $75.95
A Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians 2 $59.98 $49.95
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament 1 $49.95 $49.95
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible 1 $45 $45
Bible History: Old Testament 1 $29.95 $29.95
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament 1 $59.95 $59.95
The Teacher’s Bible Commentary 1 $50 $50

You could have purchased Logos 4 Platinum for less than it would cost you to just purchase these 14 selections at Logos.com prices (not to mention the more than 170 other volumes removed from Platinum). If this is content you’d ever want to buy, it certainly makes sense not to have skipped upgrading to Logos 4. In total, we removed over $6,400 worth of content from base package libraries. The same thing will be true with a different set of content in Logos 5 when the next version comes out.

Get Logos 5 now!

Act now and get thousands of dollars’ worth of books at a fraction of their Logos.com prices. This content might not be available in the next iteration of our software. It’s not too late to get an incredible deal on a Logos 5 upgrade, but you have to act soon. Our introductory discounts end February 4. Upgrade now!

5 Ways to Move to Logos 5

| Fri, November 30, 2012 | Featured, Products

Logos 5 is here, and we’ve been thrilled by the response. Customers are loving the books, datasets, and features we’ve bundled together in our seven new base packages. Our teams have been working extended hours just to keep up with the demand.

This post is primarily for customers looking to upgrade, so if you’re new to Logos, you can skip the rest of this post and check out our Logos base packages and the features that make Logos 5 worth getting excited about.

If you’re an existing customer trying to sort out your options, keep reading. Whether your budget is large, medium, small, or nonexistent, there are several options for moving to the latest version of our Windows and Mac software. But before I outline them, I want to cover a few important points.

All-New Custom Upgrade Discount Calculator

We’ve created a brand-new custom discounting engine that takes into consideration 100% of the books and datasets you already own and gives you a corresponding discount on a Logos 5 base package. This ensures that you never pay for the same book twice. To say it another way, when we calculate your price, we factor in only the items that are brand-new to you.

The all-new Custom Upgrade Discount Calculator now allows you to qualify for special upgrade pricing even if you don’t own a Logos 4 or earlier base package. All you need to do is own one or more titles included in the package you want to buy, and you’ll get a discount for what you own (plus an additional introductory promotional discount).

If you’ve been buying individual items for years, now’s your chance to get a base package at upgrade prices.

See yesterday’s post to learn more about the Custom Upgrade Discount Calculator.

You Never Lose Any Books

Occasionally we hear from customers that the one thing holding them back from upgrading is their fear of losing books. And rightly so. Many of you have invested thousands of dollars with us. One of our top priorities is ensuring that your investment is safe. That’s why we’ve committed to making sure all your books will always work in the latest versions of our software. Even books purchased 20 years ago still work in Logos 5 today. And we’ve provided free updates to new file formats and added new tagging and functionality—again, for free.

So rest assured that when you move to Logos 5, you bring all of your existing library of books along with you, for free—and you benefit from the advances we’ve made by adding new tagging. Once you buy books, they’re yours for life. And they just keep getting better, with no additional cost to you.

Upgrading vs. Updating: Books, Datasets, and Code

Every time we release a new version of the software, we get questions about how to get it, how much it costs, what you’re getting with your purchase, and what you’re actually paying for. To help customers understand their options, we distinguish between upgrading and updating.

Upgrading costs money; updating is free.

When you upgrade, you’re paying for new books and new datasets, which enable the new features to work. You’re not technically paying for the features themselves. The features are code, and we deliver that new code as part of the engine, which is free. Many features don’t work without the new datasets, so sometimes we talk about getting new features when you upgrade, but technically you’re purchasing the datasets; the code behind the features is part of the free engine.

When you update, you don’t pay anything. Updating is free. You don’t get any new books or datasets. You get the new code with the free core engine, along with features that don’t require new datasets to work. You get free updates to the software as often as we release them. You also get regular free updates to books as we add new tagging and enhancements and fix typos. Updates to datasets—like adding more people to the Biblical People dataset—are also free.

You can summarize the differences between upgrading and updating this way:

Price Books Datasets Code
Upgrading Not Free New and Updated New and Updated New and Updated
Updating Free Updated Only Updated Only New and Updated

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s get into the five options for moving to Logos 5.

Option 1: Choose a Higher Base Package

Our top recommendation for you is to move up into one of our higher base packages. So if you’re currently at Logos 4 Silver, you might want to take this opportunity to move to Logos 5 Gold. This is an upgrade in two different senses: you’re moving up from 4 to 5, and you’re moving up from Silver to Gold.

We’ve completely reconfigured our seven base packages, which means you’re getting hundreds or even thousands of new books at ~90% off what you’d pay if you bought them separately on Logos.com. Our new base packages are a book lover’s dream come true.

Our higher-end packages also include all the new Logos 5 datasets, which means if you upgrade to Gold or higher, you’ll have access to all the new Logos 5 features.

The value of our top packages is amazing, especially with our new dynamic pricing engine. But to sweeten the deal, we’re offering limited-time promotional discounts. The higher you jump, the better your discount. So in addition to applying an ownership discount based on how much of the new package you already own, we’re also applying special launch discounts that increase the higher you jump.

There’s no better value for building your library and getting access to all the new features in Logos 5—and there’s no better time than now. Remember, these opportunities to upgrade at our best discounts come around only with each new major version every few years and they don’t last long.

Pros: Best value; best discounts; tons of new books; all our new datasets and features1

Cons: Prices may not work for everyone’s budget, even with our new 18-month payment plan.2

Option 2: Choose Your Equivalent Base Package

If beefing up your library isn’t what you need and you don’t necessarily want all the new datasets and features, moving over to the same level you’re currently at may meet your needs. While this is also an upgrade—you’re moving up from Logos 4 to Logos 5—we sometimes call this a base package crossgrade, because you’re staying at the same package level in the new lineup.

Even though there’s not always a one-to-one match between our previous packages and our new ones, each previous-generation package basically has an equivalent Logos 5 package. This table shows our base package lineup since Logos 1 Series X, which was released in 2001, with the equivalent packages lined up in the same row.

Logos 1 Logos 2 Logos 3 Logos 4 Logos 5
Christian Home Christian Home Christian Home Christian Home Starter
Bible Study Bible Study Bible Study Bible Study Starter
Pastor’s Pastor’s Leader’s Leader’s Starter
Original Languages Original Languages Original Languages Original Languages Bronze3
Scholar’s Scholar’s Scholar’s Scholar’s Bronze
Silver Silver Silver Silver
Gold Gold Gold
Platinum Platinum
Diamond
Portfolio Portfolio

As you can see, with Logos 5 we’ve reduced the number of packages and created a more linear lineup that doesn’t attach certain packages to people’s roles or responsibilities. We found that customers were buying the library that offered the books, datasets, and features they wanted at the price they could afford. So we merged Christian Home, Bible Study, and Leader’s into Starter. We changed the name of Scholar’s to Bronze, and we added Diamond between Platinum and Portfolio.

If you’re not able to move up to a higher package right now, the next-best option is to move across to the Logos 5 package that corresponds to your current Logos 4 (or earlier) package.

Pros: Amazing value; amazing discounts; lots of new books; all or most of our new datasets and features4

Cons: Not as many books; perhaps not all the datasets and features; prices may still be higher than some can afford, even on a payment plan

Option 3: Choose a Lower Base Package

The new Custom Upgrade Discount Calculator makes it possible to upgrade to any of our seven Logos 5 base packages, even if it’s “lower” than the Logos 4 package you currently own. As we already covered, you won’t lose anything you already have in your current base package—or anything else you’ve ever purchased from us. Your books and datasets are yours for life.

By choosing a lower-level base package, you’ll pick up all the new books, datasets, and features that you don’t currently have—and your discounted price is based only on that new content. If the package that has everything you want happens to be “below” the level you’re currently at, that’s fine.

Does that mean that a Logos 4 Gold owner who decides to purchase Logos 5 Silver has somehow been downgraded to a lower status? No. This is still an upgrade. You’re only adding new books and datasets. You’re not losing anything. You’re now a Logos 4 Gold + Logos 5 Silver owner. You won’t get as many books when you upgrade to a smaller package, and you might not get all the new datasets. But you’re not losing anything from the Logos 4 Gold package—or anything else, for that matter.

Pros: Excellent value; excellent discounts; many new books; many of our new datasets and features5

Cons: Not as many books; perhaps not all datasets and features you want

Option 4: Choose Minimal Crossgrade or Core Datasets

While most customers love the opportunity to build their libraries at unbelievable prices, some are just looking to pick up the new datasets and features in the new version of the software. To meet the needs of these people, we’ve created two new products: Logos 5 Minimal Crossgrade and Logos 5 Core Datasets.

Logos 5 Minimal Crossgrade

The Minimal Crossgrade is the perfect option for those who don’t want to grow their libraries, but want to make sure they get the best Logos 5 experience and enjoy all the new datasets and features. Most of the new features in Logos 5 are powered by one of our 10 new datasets. Minimal Crossgrade allows a Logos 4 customer to pick up all the new datasets and features in Logos 5 at the lowest possible price.

If you own a Logos 3 or earlier base package, you can also purchase the Logos 5 Minimal Crossgrade, but you’ll be missing out on some of the datasets and features that were added in Logos 4. If you don’t own a Logos 4 base package, you should also purchase the Logos 4 Minimal Crossgrade to make sure that you’re caught up with everything.

Upgrading to a Logos 5 base package and purchasing the Minimal Crossgrade aren’t mutually exclusive options. If the package that has all the books you want is missing one or more datasets and features, you have the option of buying a base package and then buying Minimal Crossgrade on top of that. This applies to Starter, Bronze, and Silver. Once you’re at Logos 5 Gold, Minimal Crossgrade won’t add anything you don’t already have.

Note: If you place your order for a Logos 5 base package and the Minimal Crossgrade on Logos.com, you’ll need to do it in two steps (base package first, Minimal Crossgrade second) to ensure that you get a custom upgrade price on Minimal Crossgrade. But if you place your order over the phone, one of our helpful sales reps can do it in a single transaction.

Pros: Great value; great discount; all our new datasets and features; a core set of books to enhance some of the features

Cons: Very few books

Logos 5 Core Datasets

One step below the Minimal Crossgrade is a new product called Core Datasets. Core Datasets allows you to get most of the core functionality in Logos 5, but lacks a few of the higher-end datasets and features in Silver and Gold and higher. For those on a tight budget with no desire for more books or the higher-end features, Core Datasets is the least expensive way into Logos 5.

Note: Minimal Crossgrade includes 100% of the contents of Core Datasets, so if you buy the former, you don’t need the latter.

Pros: Good value; good discount; most of our new datasets and features6

Cons: No books; not all datasets and features

Option 5: Wait for the Free Core Engine

We understand that not everyone wants a bigger library or needs access to the new databases that make Logos 5 really shine. In early 2013, we’ll be releasing the core Logos 5 engine for Windows and Mac as a free update for Logos 4 and earlier users. Most of the new bells and whistles that you see in the Logos 5 promotional videos require our new datasets to work, but this option will give you the new user interface and the features that aren’t dependent on datasets.

Remember, though, that the free core engine option will always be around, but the extra-special upgrade discounts won’t last forever.

Of course, if you’re not ready to move to Logos 5 yet, you can safely continue to use Logos 4. We’ll release updates to ensure you can keep using your software and books, and you can continue to download the Logos 4 engine from our installation page.

Pros: Free; a few new features

Cons: No new books; no new datasets; most new features won’t work or won’t work well

Summary of Options

Here’s a breakdown of all your options for moving to Logos 5.

Options New Books New Datasets New Features Value Price
Move Up Up to ~2,300+ All7 All8 Best ~$330–$35009
Move Across Up to ~900+ Most/All10 Most/All11 Amazing ~$70–$210012
Move Down Up to ~250+ Many/Most13 Many/Most14 Excellent ~$50–$1600
Minimal Crossgrade 26 All All Great $159.9515
Core Datasets 0 Most Most Good $79.95
Free Core Engine 0 None Some Free $0

Top Products

When you buy a base package or upgrade, you’re now given the opportunity to customize your package by adding on some of our bestselling products at the best prices we’ve ever offered. Instead of choosing “Add to cart,” choose “Customize” to be taken to a screen that will show you some awesome deals. These deals are available only when you’re purchasing a base package or upgrade, so check the price and make sure to take advantage of this opportunity.

What about Pre-Pubs?

Many of you have lots of Pre-Pubs scheduled to ship over the next couple of months. We don’t want that to keep you from being able to upgrade, so we’re offering a special opportunity for you to delay any Pre-Pubs with designated ship dates, and put them all together on a payment plan. If you upgrade to Logos 5 and would like to take advantage of this offer, just send an email to sales@logos.com or call 800-875-6467 and talk to one of our friendly sales reps.

Limited-Time Discounts

During the launch promotion, all upgrades have special limited-time discounts. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to upgrade to a new Logos 5 base package at the best discounts we’ll offer!

  1. Requires moving to Gold or higher. [↩]
  2. Orders of $1,900 or more qualify for our new 18-month payment plan. [↩]
  3. We have a new base package called Biblical Languages, which is available to members of our academic program. [↩]
  4. Starter equips you with many of the core datasets, Bronze gives you the majority of the datasets and features, Silver give you everything except for the Bible Senses dataset, and Gold and above give you everything. [↩]
  5. Starter equips you with many of the core datasets, Bronze gives you the majority of the datasets and features, Silver give you everything except for the Bible Senses dataset, and Gold and above give you everything. [↩]
  6. Core Datasets includes all of the new Logos 5 datasets except for the Word Senses dataset, the Old Testament Clauses dataset, and the New Testament Clauses dataset. [↩]
  7. Requires moving to Gold or higher. [↩]
  8. Requires moving to Gold or higher. [↩]
  9. With special introductory discount [↩]
  10. Depends in part on which base package you own. [↩]
  11. Depends in part on which base package you own. [↩]
  12. With special introductory discount. [↩]
  13. Depends in part on which base package you own. [↩]
  14. Depends in part on which base package you own. [↩]
  15. May be less with dynamic pricing. [↩]

2010 Christmas Sale Starts Now!

| Tue, December 14, 2010 | Products

12 Days of Logos, back by popular demand, has been underway for several days now. But that’s not all we have planned for Christmas this year.

More Christmas Sales!

Most of you are likely to find at least one great deal in 12 Days of Logos, but some of you may already own all the products being featured—or perhaps you’re just not interested in what we’ve chosen. So we came up with some more amazing Christmas sales just for you.

2,010 Titles for $2,010!

We’ve assembled a massive collection of 2,010 titles worth more than $61,000.00 in print, and we’re offering it at the insanely low price of only $2,010! At nearly 97% off retail and $1 per volume, this is the best deal we’ve ever offered—and it’s the biggest collection we’ve ever assembled. See the list of everything you’ll get. Warning: it may take you a while to get through it!

$2,010 vs. $172.50 for 12 Months

While $2,010 isn’t pocket change, as soon as this collection starts shipping (which could be as early as this Friday), you’ll be able to put it on a payment plan and spread the cost out over 12 months. If you want to use a payment plan, wait to place your order until it starts shipping. Don’t worry. The price will stay the same when it comes off Pre-Pub. This collection is probably one of the best ways you could spend your 2011 book budget.

Collections for Everyone

We realize that not everyone will be able to spend $2,010 on a collection—even with a payment plan. So we’re also offering four smaller collections:

These four collections don’t overlap with each other, so you could buy multiple collections without getting any duplicates. Even though the master collection is the best deal, all of these collections offer an amazing amount of content for the price.

50% Off Your Favorites

Have a more modest budget, or just want to be more selective? Don’t worry. We haven’t forgotten about you. All 2,010 titles included in the big collections are on sale—most individually and some in smaller collections. We’ve discounted them all by at least 50%, and there’s no limit on how many you can buy. Buy 1, 10, 100, or even 1,000, and take 50% off your entire order! No coupon codes necessary. Just add them to your cart and check out.

2,010 “New” Titles

Where did these 2,010 titles come from? Are they all new?

Technically, most of them aren’t brand new. But many if not most of them will be new to you.

Uncovering Buried Treasures

One of the new features on Logos.com is faceted browsing (the sidebar with all the categories that lets you stack various topics and facets on top of each other). It gives you incredible precision to find exactly what you’re looking for. Browse and filter by topic, resource type, author, publisher, Bible book, status, platform, and many more. As a result of this amazing new feature, many of you are discovering hundreds of titles that had previously been virtually invisible. In fact, most of them you probably didn’t even know we sold. Now that we have faceted browsing, we think you’ll be surprised at how many “new” titles you discover. The great news is that more than 2,000 of these gems are on sale for 50% off. See what buried treasures you can discover.

Breaking Up Collections

Most titles that go through our Pre-Pub program are in collections. That’s great for many people, but others are quite a bit more selective in what they buy. If that’s you, we’ve got good news. We’ve been splitting up most of our collections so you can purchase just the volumes you want. And we’ve included more than a thousand of these in this year’s Christmas special. Go find the ones you’ve been waiting for, and save 50% on your entire order.

20% Off Base Packages and Up to 20% Off Upgrades

And last but not least, we’re extending our special base packages and upgrades sale a little longer. If you don’t have a base package or are looking to upgrade to Platinum or Portfolio, now’s the last chance you’ll have for a while to get this good of a deal.

Good through the End of the Year

All of these specials are on right now and run through midnight on January 2. We intentionally chose to extend the specials into 2011 for those of you who need to tap into your 2011 budget.

Visit our Christmas Sale page for more information, and be sure to click the Like and Tweet buttons to let all your friends and colleagues know about the special Christmas sales.

FAQs

Several questions have come up, so I thought I’d address them here. Feel free to ask any other questions you have in the comments.

  1. Is there a way I can see what I already own?
    Yes. All 2,010 titles in the master collection are also available for sale in our new Christmas Specials list. You can either filter out the titles you already own to see what’s left, or filter out the titles you don’t own to see what you have. This should help you evaluate how much of the content (if any) you already own and find the collection(s) that are best for you.
  2. I already own some of the content in these collections. Can I get an additional discount?
    We’ve priced the collections knowing that many of you will own some of the content included in these collections. Even if you own half of the 2,010-volume collection, it’s still an amazing deal. If you’re not convinced, you’re welcome to build your own collection and take 50% off your entire order!
  3. My 2010 book budget is spent? Can I put this on my 2011 budget?
    Yes. We intentionally extended the sale through midnight January 2 to allow you to take advantage of your 2011 book funds.
  4. Can I buy one or more of the collections using a payment plan?
    Absolutely. You can take up to 12 months to pay for your purchase. If you’re going to use a payment plan, you’ll need to wait until they come off Pre-Pub.
  5. The collections are currently on Pre-Pub. Why? And when will they ship?
    We’re putting the finishing touches on them, and we didn’t want to make you wait any longer to see what we’ve been working on for you. The collections are almost ready to go and could ship as soon as this Friday.
  6. When the collections ship, will the price go up?
    No. The price will not change after they ship and will stay the same through January 2, 2011.
  7. How long will all the sales last?
    The prices are good through midnight on January 2, 2011.
  8. How do I save 50% off the individual titles and build my own collection?
    We’ve gone ahead and changed all the sale prices for all the titles, so you can simply add them to your cart and check out. You don’t need to use a coupon code.
  9. Do you have a comparison chart of what’s in each collection?
    We’re looking into making an excel spreadsheet available that you can download and peruse. Check back later.

Logos Bible Software 4.1 for Windows Now Shipping

| Thu, October 7, 2010 | Misc.

A new version of Logos Bible Software for Windows began shipping yesterday. Version 4.1 is the fifth major update since we launched Logos 4 eleven months ago. Like all previous updates, version 4.1 is a free download for all Logos 4 Windows users.

How Do You Get It?

If you have automatic updating enabled (screenshot), which is the default setting, Logos 4 should notify you that updates are ready to be installed. When you see the balloon tooltip window, right-click on the Logos icon in your system tray and choose to “Install update” (screenshot). If Logos 4 hasn’t downloaded the update by the end of the day, type Update Now into the Command Bar (screenshot). This will force Logos 4 to check for any available updates (screenshot) and begin downloading them.

What’s New in Logos 4.1?

Version 4.1 brings a number of important new features—many of which are in direct response to your requests. Here are the major ones:

  • Advanced printing and exporting
  • Sentence diagramming
  • Smart Tags
  • Gestures

There were also some nice little improvements made to Bible Word Study, graphing Bible search results, keyboard shortcuts, the panel menu, the Passage Guide, Passage Lists, program settings, reading plans, the resource panel, the search panel, and shortcuts. Check out “What’s New in Logos 4.1” to see a complete list of the changes.

Time to Upgrade to Logos 4?

Are you still running Logos 3 (or the old Logos Library System!)? If so, now would be a great time to upgrade to Logos 4. Not only has Logos 4 improved significantly over the last eleven months, but we’re currently having special limited-time discounts of up to 20% off base packages and base package upgrades. And we’re far from done improving Logos 4. I just installed the beta release of version 4.2. To see some of what’s coming, check out the list of additional features we plan to add.

What about Logos 4 for Mac?

In case you missed the news, Logos 4 Mac is now shipping. If you’ve been waiting until it was out of beta testing, now’s your chance to buy a base package or upgrade your current base package at a nice discount. And don’t worry, Mac Users, the Mac team hasn’t slowed down at all. They’re already working on 4.1 and hope to be caught up to the Windows team in the very near future.

Logos 4 Mac Shipping in . . .

| Fri, August 20, 2010 | Misc.

It’s official!
The release version of Logos 4 Mac has a ship date. We’ll be rolling out the completed version to new and existing users on Friday, October 1, 2010—six weeks from today!

We’re super excited to reach this huge milestone (in spite of many obstacles), and we know you are too. Since this is such a big deal, we wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary. We’re having a huge Mac-related giveaway to celebrate. You and all your friends are invited to join us, as we give away thousands of dollars in prizes to more than 100 people!

Don’t worry, even though we started out coding for Windows, this is a celebration any Mac lover would be happy to be a part of.

The prizes will be an iMac, a MacBook Pro, an iPad, an iPod Touch, an iPod Nano, and an assortment of 100 gift cards from the Apple Store, iTunes, and Logos.com! There will also be special limited-time discounts on all of our Mac base packages and base package upgrades.

Windows Users, we haven’t forgotten about you.
You can celebrate too, because not only can you enter to win one of the cool prizes (who knows, you might even switch to Mac), but thanks to our Mac users, you get a second chance to buy or upgrade to Logos 4 at a special discount too!

Maybe you missed out when we launched Logos 4 last November, or maybe you wish you had purchased a higher base package. Well, now’s your second chance to save with special sale prices on all our base packages and upgrades!

Mac and Windows Users alike, come join the celebration. And be sure to invite your friends!

Logos Bible Software 4.0d Shipping Today

| Tue, June 29, 2010 | Misc.

A new version of Logos Bible Software for Windows is shipping today. Version 4.0d is the fourth significant update since we launched back in November. This free download brings with it a handful of new features and improvements and fixes lots of little bugs. So you’ll definitely want to make sure to update soon.

If you have automatic updating enabled (screenshot), which is the default setting, Logos 4 should notify you sometime today that updates are ready to be installed. When you see the balloon tooltip window, right-click on the Logos icon in your system tray and choose to “Install update” (screenshot). If Logos 4 hasn’t downloaded the update by the end of the day and you just can’t wait any longer to get your hands on the latest release, type Update Now into the Command Bar (screenshot). This will force Logos 4 to check for any available updates (screenshot) and begin downloading them.

Important Note: Installing Logos 4.0d will start a complete reindexing of your resources. So you might want to wait to install the update until you have some free time.

What’s New in 4.0d?

There are far too many changes in 4.0d to list. Here are some of the most important ones:

  • Using our new COM API, other programs can now talk back and forth with Logos 4 to do some pretty cool things.
  • You are able to link directly to guides, reports, searches, and other parts of the software, not just to resources as in previous versions.
  • Clippings, Information, and Text Comparison tools can be exported.
  • Clippings can be reordered by drag and drop.
  • The Scan DVD command will display an option for all connected CD/DVD-ROM drives containing media (e.g., “Scan D:\”).
  • Passages can be added to a passage list from the clipboard.

To see a complete list of the changes in 4.0d, check out the support article “What’s New in Logos 4.0d.”

Time to Upgrade to Logos 4?

Are you still running Logos 3 (or the old Logos Library System!)? If so, now would be a great time to upgrade to Logos 4. It’s had nearly eight months of extensive testing by thousands of users, and our team of developers has been fixing bugs, listening to user feedback, and adding some really cool new features. There’s a lot more still planned. To see some of what’s coming, check out the list of additional features we plan to add.

What about Logos 4 for Mac?

The Mac version is getting really close. Yesterday we released Alpha 23. Now that nearly all of the features of the Windows version have made it in to the Mac version, there might be a beta around the corner. Those of you who’ve been holding off while it was still in alpha testing may want to consider jumping in during the beta phase. Remember, you can safely use both Logos for Mac 1.2.2 and Logos 4 for Mac side by side. If you’re ready to help us test it, you can either upgrade your base package or download the core engine and start contributing in the Logos 4 for Mac forum.

Exporting Your Logos 4 Library to Zotero

| Wed, June 16, 2010 | Products, Training

About a year-and-a-half ago, I wrote a blog post that showed you how to export your Libronix library to the popular bibliography and citation manager Zotero. Since Logos 4 has launched, I’ve received multiple emails asking me if I’d explain how the process works with Logos 4.

Here are the five simple steps you’ll need to take.

Step 1: Change your citation style to BibTeX.

Go to Tools > Program Settings, look for Citation Style under the General settings, and select BibTeX Style from the dropdown. Or just type Set Citation Style to BibTeX in the Command Bar. (You can also use either the RIS or Refer/BibIX style.)

Step 2: Create a collection of all your resources.

Go to Tools > Collections and click New. Give it a name like All, and then enter rating:>=0 into the “Start with resources matching” box. This will find all resources with a rating of 0 or higher, which is equivalent to all resources. If you don’t want to export all of your resources, create a collection of just the ones you want.

Step 3: Export your collection to a text file.

With that collection opened, click on the panel menu and choose “Export to bibliography.” Give your file a name like Zotero, and save it to your desktop as a .txt file.

Step 4: Change your citation style back to your preferred style.

Once you’ve successfully exported your library or collection, you can change your citation style back to what it was before. You can do it through the Settings panel or via the Command Bar.

Step 5: Import your file into Zotero.

In Zotero, click on the Actions button and choose Import. Select your Zotero.txt file and click Open. Depending on how many resources you’re importing, it may take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes.

Once importing is complete, you’re ready to go. You can now use Logos 4 for your researching and allow Zotero to manage your citations and bibliographies.

A New Kind of Biblical Scholar

| Fri, June 11, 2010 | Products

Let Go and Let God? A Survey and Analysis of Keswick TheologyLast week we put a new book on Pre-Pub entitled Let Go and Let God? by Andy Naselli. From one perspective, it’s just another quality Christian book that we’re offering at a discount to everyone who pre-orders it. You, the community, get to vote on whether or not you want us to publish it, just like you do with most Pre-Pubs. (In this case, you’ve clearly voted yes.)

From another perspective, there is something worth highlighting. There’s a neat story that illustrates a changing tide.

Naselli relied heavily on Logos as he worked on his MA in Bible, PhD in Theology, and PhD in New Testament Exegesis and Theology. He’s so convinced of the benefits of having a digital library in Logos that he’s been aggressively building it and avidly promoting Logos to his professors, colleagues, and students through his reviews, research, blog posts, and word of mouth. He still purchases, owns, and uses print books, but in most cases it’s just because they aren’t yet available for Logos. So Andy’s first book is in large part the fruit of his research with Logos Bible Software.

But what’s special about Let Go and Let God? is not just that it was written by someone who does the vast majority of his research using Logos, but that its author decided that instead of publishing his first solo book in print, he’d rather publish it digitally with Logos Bible Software. He’s convinced of the value of Logos Bible Software, not just for his own research, but as a platform for helping others do research. He wanted his book’s readers to experience the same benefits he experienced while he was writing it.

[Read more...]

Logos 4.0c Is Now Available

| Wed, May 12, 2010 | Misc.

It’s been six months since we shipped Logos 4, and today we’re releasing our third significant update to the Windows software. Version 4.0c, which will be available later today as a free download, brings many new features and improvements and fixes lots of little bugs. If you have automatic updating enabled (screenshot), which is the default setting, Logos 4 will notify you that updates are ready to be installed.

When you see the balloon tooltip window, right-click on the Logos icon in your system tray and choose to “Install update” (screenshot). If Logos 4 hasn’t downloaded the update by the end of the day and you just can’t wait any longer to get your hands on the latest release, type Update Now into the command bar (screenshot). This will force Logos 4 to check for any available updates (screenshot) and begin downloading them.

What’s New in 4.0c?

There are hundreds of changes in 4.0c. Here are the two biggest ones:

  1. Legacy Reverse Interlinear Display: In Logos 4 we introduced a new layout for reverse interlinears. Most of you loved it, but some preferred the previous layout where the Greek or Hebrew text was directly below the English text. So we’ve decided to add it back in as an option (screenshot). Just click on “Display” and choose which lines you’d like to appear. You can use it along with or instead of the new-style reverse interlinear display.
  2. Passage Lists: Save your Bible search results as Passage Lists, which were called Verse Lists in version 3 (screenshot). There’s also a command to import Passage Lists from version 3 into version 4. Use “Import Passage Lists” to import just the Passage Lists, or use “Import All” to import Passage Lists, Highlighting, Notes, Favorites, and Prayer Lists. One cool new feature of Passage Lists in version 4 is that you can merge lists to get the union, intersection, difference, or symmetric difference or multiple lists.

To see a complete list of the changes in 4.0c, check out the support article “What’s New in Logos 4.0c.”

Time to Upgrade to Logos 4?

If you’ve been cautiously watching from the sidelines, waiting for the right opportunity to make the switch to Logos 4, now’s your chance. Logos 4 is better than ever. It’s had more than six months of extensive testing by thousands of users, and our team of developers has been fixing bugs, listening to user feedback, and adding some really cool new features.

There’s a lot more still planned. Version 4.0d is already underway, and we’re in the process of adding these additional features, as well as many others that we can’t tell you about yet.

There’s never been a better time to upgrade to Logos 4. It’s a powerful, stable, cutting-edge piece of software that just keeps getting better and better. Best of all, these regular updates don’t cost you a penny.

What about Logos 4 for Mac?

Progress on the Mac version of Logos 4 recently has been impressive. As Alpha 19.1 shows, it’s coming along quite nicely. We’ve doubled the size of our Mac development team, and they’re really cranking out new features at a fast pace. The consensus is that Logos 4 for Mac as an alpha is better than our previous generation software. So if you haven’t tried it yet, now might be a good time. Remember, you can safely use both Logos for Mac 1.2.2 and Logos 4 for Mac side by side. If you’re ready to help us test it, you can either upgrade your base package or download the core engine and start contributing in the Logos 4 for Mac forum.