Bible Study Resources: BibleWorks vs. Logos, Revisited

I’ve been greatly blessed to have received free copies of both Logos and BibleWorks Bible research software. Both were given to me to review on this blog. I like them both — a lot.

But I’ve recently been forced to make a choice.

You see, I decided to buy the Bauer-Danker Greek-English Lexicon (or “BDAG,” as it’s known about Greek students).This is the ultimate biblical Greek language resource, and I had some Christmas money left over — and I just couldn’t stand not having it.

It’s available from Amazon, Logos, and BibleWorks for about the same price. But Logos and BibleWorks don’t read each other’s documents, and thus a choice was forced.

I decided to go with a software version. It’s just too cool to be able to link each word in the Bible with the Greek dictionary. It’s really better than a hard copy. But which version?

After weeks of reflection (it’s a $150 investment!), I ultimately decided to go with BibleWorks. Here’s why –

* BibleWorks loads faster — 6.4 seconds vs. 28.6 seconds. And BibleWorks loads to a working page, whereas Logos loads to a marketing page. And plays music when it loads. And I want to decide what music my computer plays.

I just can’t stand waiting nearly 30 seconds just to open the program. I have a quad-core computer!

* BibleWorks finds what I need faster. It can load a verse within a second after I type the reference in, along with automatic links to each dictionary, each commentary, cross-references, commentaries, the Early Church Fathers, etc. It finds the resources faster than I can move my hand from my mouse to my keyboard.

Logos is a lot slower. It takes about 15 seconds to load Psalm 23 and its associated resources. It takes another mouse click and then about another 5 seconds to load the dictionary references.

I can find, read, and copy the reference I need from BibleWorks faster than Logos takes to load the resources to my screen.

* Now, both programs have their advantages and disadvantages. Both have their fair share of annoyances and brilliant features.

I once compared the two to a Jeep vs. a Lexus. I’m not sure that’s right. A Lexus does not lack acceleration. Logos does. Logos has more features than BibleWorks, but BibleWorks is just more practical for what I need.

I’m trying to think of a better comparison. How about — Logos is a like a beautiful woman who takes too long to get ready. Would you be proud to have her on your arm? Absolutely. Do you mind waiting a little longer so that she’ll look great? Well, a little longer. But making you wait too long is just rude.

(There is nothing inherent in the program that requires such slow load times. There’s a programming flaw in there somewhere.)

I continue to be bothered by BibleWorks’ lack of a back button (please, oh, please add one!) and it’s refusal to save a layout the way I want it (how hard could this be?). But speed and intuitive access to tons of resources? It’s the better choice for me.

(For a more detailed comparison, see this series.)