Logos 5 installer link - Logos Bible Software Forums

The folks at Logos Bible are out to make a buck first and foremost.  Who can argue with pure capitalism, after all?  But I have to say that if an upgrade makes your purchases of e-books unusable with the new software engine, then the promise that all your e-books will still work is a half-truth, a reneged promise, and therefore a lie.  Bob Pritchard as much as says so here:

The Logos 5 engine is only available as part of upgrades at this point. While we plan to offer it sometime in the future, it is not yet released.

Our promise is that you won't need to buy an upgrade to keep access to your books as operating systems change, and that's still the case. (Logos 4.x still runs, is still available, and was even upgrade recently, and has more updates planned.)

I know that many people -- probably including me! -- have "shorthanded" this promise to "the software is free, you only pay for the books!". And the software is free; you can download it and read all your e-books. And eventually Logos 5 engine will be free, too -- just not yet.

Much of what is cool in Logos 5 is closely integrated with brand new (and very expensive to create/acquire!) data sets and content. We believe that the value of Logos 5 is in the combination of these tools and content, and that users will have the best experience with both the software and content together. (We still need to do some tweaking, in fact, to have Logos 5 elegantly handle the case of certain data sets not being available.)

By focusing on paid upgrades to collections/new-content at launch, we're able to:

- Ensure Logos 5 users have a great experience. (Downloading Logos 5 code-only and realizing that much of the new functionality is dependent on missing data could lead to unhappy users / reviews / less-enthusiasm for upgrading.)

- Recover our investment. Yes, the new code and new content and new bundles, all together, are great reasons to upgrade your content bundle. And people are (and should be!) excited about them -- they're great! And since we only get paid for new content -- even though it's expensive to write code, too -- we intentionally try to create that moment of enthusiasm to generate some sales and pay the bills, so we can be here to serve you in the future.

It's like this is a new movie, and we'd really like you to pay to see it in the theater with a drink and some popcorn -- and the whole family! Yes, you can wait till it's broadcast on TV for free, but that free broadcast doesn't pay the bills. So we'd prefer you don't sneak a camera into the theater and record it for your friends to watch for free. They can watch it for free -- just not this week. :-) 

(And if they wait, they'll get the movie, but not the 40' screen, massive sound system, and deliciously unhealthy popcorn... that's why you want to get an upgrade -- it's got all the cool new content that makes it better!)

Thanks!

-- Bob

The real purpose in creating new engines and platforms is to bilk the consumer for another $5 K upgrade.  Suppose you bought the top of the line package in Logos 4?  Now you need to pay that price all over again to get everything to work the way it did before.  It's rather like having to buy a new car every 3 years just to get to drive your car again.  A car will not run without the engine just as your e-book will not work without a usable software platform and engine.  Is not the purpose to be able to search your books and have access to tags and links that make the investment worthwhile?

In short, don't buy Logos books.  Buy Kindle or some other platform that will be dependable in the future.  After all, Logos is only guaranteeing that you can "read" your e-books, not that they will continue to provide unlimited support for the engine you bought and paid for.  I have already run into this problem in the past.  I had a copy of the Expositor's Bible New Testament commentary through Zondervan.  With all the computer upgrades and software upgrades in Microsoft it got to the point that I was unable to use it anymore.  I finally bought the commentary in Logos Bible for a healthy chunk of money.  Lesson learned?  Go with Bibleworks 9 and buy your commentaries and e-books in Kindle or some other format that will change with your computer and operating system for future usability.  Otherwise you are just throwing money away with the winds of technological changes.  Better yet, buy the hard copy in traditional book form.

How long will Logos 4 still operate is the question, is it not?

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