It has been a very long road, but Logos Bible Study Software for Mac is now entering the final stages of beta and is available for pre-order now.
What not to expect:
- All the features of the Windows version (this is version 1.0 for the Mac)
- Tabs (this version does not have a tabbed interface which may be the biggest drawback)
- Free engine (this is a separate product that has no where near the following of the Windows version, and the developers have families to feed)
What to expect:
- Speed (this version of Logos loads and runs fast and smooth)
- Lots of resources (all but the oldest resources (and those that require features that have not yet been implemented i.e. timelines etc.) work with both Windows and Mac versions…you don’t need two copies of the resources)
- A great price point (the engine will only set you back $60, and if you are a first time Logos buyer and buy $250 or more worth of resources you get the engine free)
I don’t know if I will buy now or not. I would really like to support the further development of the product, but a lack of a tabbed (or otherwise handled) window system is big draw back if you wish to do heavy study on a Mac. Becuase I have VMware Fusion and run Logos for Windows on it with no discernable performance hit I will probably wait for 1.5 or 2.0. Either way this is good news for the Mac community!
Hi, one question.
The Mac Dashboard allows you to set a corner of the screen to sort all the open application.
I have found this much easier than windows tabs. I am curious thought why Mac people have not talked about this and keep emphasizing the Windows tabs solution?
Comment by J. R. Miller — November 7, 2008 @ 4:31 pm
It took me a little while to figure out what we were talking about here, but I think I have it. On my Macbook Pro (Mac OS 10.5.5) this feature is found under the Expose System Preference Pane. You can set either a keyboard shortcut or a screen corner to show only the windows of the current app instead of everything that is open (which is the default for Expose).
I did not realize this solution existed and it is certainly what I will use from now on for Logos for Mac, but I think I would still prefer tabs. I never really thought of Tabs as a “Windows” feature since they were the ones playing catch-up with other browser developers (Firefox for one) that used tabs first within an application (as far as I am aware).
Comment by Aaron Jackson — November 7, 2008 @ 4:49 pm
I have to imagine what the problem and possible solutions are because I don’t have Logos, but would it help to use a combination of Exposé & Spaces? If you bind Logos to a particular space, I believe either type of Exposé will give you only those windows in the space.
Not sure if that’s helpful to anyone, though.
Comment by Anthony Martin — November 7, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
That is not correct. If you are not a first time Logos buyer you can spend $250 to get the engine for free. If you are a first time buyer you can just buy the Mac version.
I wonder if I buy the Mac version if I can also download the Windows version to use it in Parallels…
Comment by Benjamin Bryan — November 8, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
That is correct. You don’t need to be a first time buyer.
In answer to your question, any resources you purchase will work for both versions and you are licensed to use both. You can run it on the Mac version and in VMware at the same time without purchasing the resources twice.
Comment by Aaron Jackson — November 8, 2008 @ 1:48 pm
@Benjamin:
The Logos for Mac disc includes both the Mac version and the PC version. So you can put it on OS X and Windows via Parallels with no problems.
Reuben Evans
Ministry Relations
Logos Bible Software
Comment by Reuben Evans — December 7, 2008 @ 8:19 pm
Thanks Reuben! I’m really excited about the Mac version. Being a guy that doesn’t use all the features of the Windows version most of the time I’m just happy that I don’t have to open Windows for Bible study anymore! It is nice that users can use both with the same license though…and don’t forget guys, you can share folders with VMware Fusion (and I’m assuming Parallels) so you only have to install the resource files once!
Comment by Aaron Jackson — December 7, 2008 @ 8:31 pm