Bibleworks ceases operation as of June 15, 2018

[Ιακοβ]

Certainly the government could make some bad laws, but I believe it would be possible to implement in a business friendly way. i.e Imagine a system that transparently tracks copyright and licensing (i.e. blockchain) The content creator could see who has has purchased the creative work (and can hence verify royalty cheques), and the purchaser would be able to verify ownership (for things like cross grades).

 

Now of course (for example), if you purchase something for kindle, there is conceptually 1. a portion of that pays the content creator, 2. the publisher, and 3. the rest goes to Amazon's costs and product.

• I believe it should be possible to cross grade so that parts 1+2 of the cost don't have to be paid again.
• I believe it should be possible to transfer ownership (i.e. kindle to kindle) without any of 1+2+3 needing to be paid.

Happy to be convinced otherwise though. 

[Fabian]

How about this?

 

Screen Shot 2018-06-02 at 10.51.55 PM.jpg

We talked about Bible software on iPad. Your solution is on the Mac.

 

Greetings

 

Fabian

[Julia Falling]

We talked about Bible software on iPad. Your solution is on the Mac.

 

Greetings

 

Fabian

Yep. Doesn’t work on iPad. It would be nice to see multiple versions at the same time on the iPad.

[Fabian]

O.K. back to "Topic".

 

In the last 2 days I browsed through several forums and other social media. I found out most are "shocked" (me too), but as I wrote more, many are still on an old version of BW. Or had jumped over a few versions.

 

How can you expect your Bible software will survive if you stay on the >10 year old version. This says no other than: You don't need a new version, but then it doesn't matter if BW will survive or not. You doesn't use it anymore, you are lucky with what you have. But then you don't have to complain later.

 

There are a lot of posts from Michael Bushell and other staff members who wrote: "Pray for us", in the last months. Yes you can't beat the potential customers to buy your product and I see it also, that some are unhappy if they should buy an new version of Accordance for a new module which needs to upgrade. But this is in my eyes a good way to give a hint you should upgrade, without beating the users.

 

There is definitely more to say, maybe later, but I believe you get this point.

 

Greetings

 

Fabian

[ukfraser]

You make a very valid point Fabian and I totally agree with you. We must support Accordance ( it’s the only software I own where I have upgraded each version). The new features are worth it but the upgrade cost is also very reasonable.

 

The Accordance team also work incredibly hard bringing us deals and this has been particularly noticeable that we have virtually had them weekly for im guessing about the last two years compared to when I first joined. I am assuming supporting them helps when negotiating deals with the publishers but also the effort involved in all the mega tagging.

 

This is a product that I have been blessed by and want others to be blessed by it.

[markusvonkaenel]

Support Accordance, why? It's their business. If they offer good products, customers will buy, if not, it's their problem. A constant adjustment to the market will keep Accordance in the market.

 

Other software business go in the cloud (eg. SAP/MS/Apple/Goole/Adobe). I do not buy a lot from Accordance because If they make the wrong decision then I own a lot of worthless software ( eg.  2 or 3 new OSX versions later). 

 

If I could rent from accordance, I would probably invest more. Look at the Apple store and see how many SW-developers offer a subscription on a monthly basis.

 

So I hope, they make the correct decisions and in the meantime I stick with Accordance (and have no other Bible software).

Edited June 3, 2018 by markusvonkaenel

[Julia Falling]

If going into the cloud means I cannot use a piece of software when I don't have an internet connection, I don't ever want to have cloud-based software.

 

I think the reason many of us upgrade and stick with Accordance is a combination of an excellent product along with excellent support.  I don't think I've heard of any other major producer of Bible software that has developers and tech staff as responsive as Accordance.  Bugs get fixed.  Typos get fixed.  Missing hyperlinks are added.  New tools and texts are added regularly.  If something is messed up, staff arranges a screen share to get it fixed.

 

We recommend Accordance to others and give it as graduation gifts.  We upgrade when upgrades become available.  We buy and upgrade because the software is good, but also because we understand that all the hours that go into development must be paid for.  I most definitely do not take Accordance for granted.  It is a wonderful tool and enables me to make the most of Bible study time. 

Edited June 3, 2018 by Julia Falling

[ukfraser]

I don't think I've heard of any other major producer of Bible software that has developers and tech staff as responsive as Accordance.  Bugs get fixed. ]

Even on the weekend!!!!!

[Michel Gilbert]

Hi,

 

I'm not sure of the original poster's intent on this Forum. But someone also posted the same thing on Logos' Forum at https://community.logos.com/forums/p/169850/980743.aspx. Both have similar themes - sadness, some will still use it, perhaps Acc or Logos could acquire some of their licenses, and if they do, also some of their users.

 

But the fact is, BW10 will be supported for a long while (even with a new 64 bit Mac version), and some are even talking of making it open source. With their philosophy and choice of modules, one wonders what else they would have added to BW 11, especially given the length of time it took to update BW 9 to 10. It feels like a mature program that does what is says it will do.

 

I feel obliged to say BibleWorks isn't ceasing operations because of a lack of excellence of product or support. Regarding the latter, at https://www.accordancebible.com/forums/topic/16612-typing-hebrew-on-windows-what-mapping-to-use/?do=findComment&comment=80706I wrote, "When I pointed out to BW that backspace delete didn't work in BW10 with the Ezra SIL keyboard in Keyman, they fixed it overnight (literally) and made the patch available the next morning."

 

My experience has been the same for BW and Acc. I use them because they are excellent products with excellent support.

 

Regards,

 

Michel

[Ιακοβ]

Yep. Doesn’t work on iPad. It would be nice to see multiple versions at the same time on the iPad.

 

Yep, at least several times per week, I am reading (in the greek), and I want to check "how does this come out in all of the English versions". It is possible to do this through some websites, but I would rather stay in Accordance.

[preterist1]

To my good friends Roy and Helen at Accordance -- I have a friend who owns Bible Works and uses it on his Windows desktop computer. He loves the BW program and was discouraged when he saw the announcement about BW ceasing further development.

My advice to Accordance: Rather than spend a lot of money to acquire the BW company, why not instead offer the BW users a free switch over to the Accordance program, and a highly discounted (at cost) swap of their BW modules for the equivalent ones in Accordance. If you make it real cheap and easy for them, you might gain a bunch of new Accordance users. You might lose a little money on the module-swapping, but that would be thousands of times cheaper than trying to acquire the BW company. You can bet L-O-G-O-S will try to create a bidding war over BW in order to make Accordance pay a lot more for BW than it is actually worth. I would encourage Accordance to avoid that trap and simply offer the BW users a very cheap swap of their modules for Accordance equivalents.

[Fabian]

I thought the same.

 

And I still miss some features which BW can do. Hopefully they come to Accordance.

 

Greetings

 

Fabian

In addition to this.

 

Since the sales channel over BW has disappeared, maybe some publishers look for another channel which gives OakTree a chance to knock on their doors.

For example: The Bibles (Elberfelder 2006, Münchner Neues Testament mit Strong's, French Louis Second avec Strong's, Dutch Bibles, Danish Bibles, Turk, Bulgarian etc. etc.), The second sound file of the GNT and more.

 

Greetings

 

Fabian

Edited June 3, 2018 by Fabian

[R. Mansfield]

My advice to Accordance: Rather than spend a lot of money to acquire the BW company, why not instead offer the BW users a free switch over to the Accordance program, and a highly discounted (at cost) swap of their BW modules for the equivalent ones in Accordance. If you make it real cheap and easy for them, you might gain a bunch of new Accordance users. You might lose a little money on the module-swapping, but that would be thousands of times cheaper than trying to acquire the BW company. You can bet L-O-G-O-S will try to create a bidding war over BW in order to make Accordance pay a lot more for BW than it is actually worth. I would encourage Accordance to avoid that trap and simply offer the BW users a very cheap swap of their modules for Accordance equivalents.

 

We've had numerous BibleWorks customers contacting us since Friday. We have been working throughout the weekend on a solution for BibleWorks users who may want to consider using Accordance going forward. We will make an announcement tomorrow (Monday).

[Fabian]

The BibleWorks Manuscript Project is a BibleWorks own project and not licensed from others. 

 

But I would love if Accordance would license them. That seems feasible.

 

Greetings

 

Fabian

[haydnguy]

I am wondering how long the crossover offer lasts. I am hoping that I might still take advantage of it a week from today. That would be 6/15/2018. Thank you.

[R. Mansfield]

I am wondering how long the crossover offer lasts. I am hoping that I might still take advantage of it a week from today. That would be 6/15/2018. Thank you.

 

We do not currently have an end date on it. Theoretically, a BW user might try to continue using the software for 6 months or a year and then decide it’s best to move to something else. I’m sure we will periodically review whether we want to continue offering it, but it will definitely be available for the time being.