Does Bibleworks 10 Need To Be Registered To Work

Many BibleWorks users got a shocking electronic mail on June 1 from the maker of one of the best original language Digital Bible Study tools on the market today. The email, which y'all tin read on the BibleWorks website, included the post-obit argument from owner Michael Bushell:

A special note to our friends

BibleWorks has been serving the church for 26 years by providing a suite of professional tools aimed at enabling students of the Word to "rightly dissever the word of truth". Merely it has get increasingly credible over the last few years that the need for our services has diminished to the point where nosotros believe the Lord would have us use our gifts in other ways. Appropriately as of June fifteen, 2018 BibleWorks will terminate operation equally a provider of Bible software tools. We make this announcement with sadness, only too with gratitude to God and thankfulness to a multitude of true-blue users who have stayed with usa for a large part of their adult lives. We know that you will have many questions going forwards and nosotros will do our best to respond some of them here.

bibleworks shutting down

We covered the release of Bibleworks 10 with a lot of excitement a few years ago. BibleWorks power user Dan Phillips joined united states of america to demo the new features. He tweeted the morning of the announcement:

This is horrible news: https://t.co/2hWKy2Rw3C

Don't ask me what to do. I have no thought. I've written them. This hits difficult. I cannot exaggerate, and yous tin't imagine, the investment of enquiry and work I have in @BibleWorks.

— Dan Phillips (@BibChr) June 1, 2018

I'yard certain other long time users of the software experience or volition feel the same way when they acquire the news. Information technology's a painful reminder that your Bible software may experience like yours, just it's actually not. Y'all buy permission to use THEIR software, regardless of what they say. QuickVerse and Pradis and other Bible software owners probably felt as shocked when their chosen company's operations ceased or sold out to some other visitor which then shut down development.

And so what now? Who knows?

BibleWorks said that you tin continue to use the software. They hope to "proceed to provide compatibility fixes for BibleWorks ten well into the future." Make sure you lot get a working copy installed at present and download all of your content if yous don't already have it. After June 15 you can't get any support for the program. Then program to go along the forums and their Knowledge Base up after that date, but I wouldn't count on this.

If you don't own version 10 already, you will not even become compatibility updates. They say you lot can update to version 10 for $200, but don't. That's like ownership the 2018 model of a car afterward the manufacturer says their closing down the visitor.

Alternatives to BibleWorks

So what should you lot exercise if you want a plan that's functional and comes from a visitor that should back up the software for a long time into the future. Here'southward my list of recommended alternatives to BibleWorks. The offset listing includes programs that will do most if non all of what you can do with BibleWorks 10.

accordance bible 12.2.2

Accordance Bible Software – many used to phone call Accordance the Mac BibleWorks because of it'due south power. The company makes a great Windows and iOS version and is working to meliorate their Android app as well. BibleWorks users who don't want digital commentaries or other books can stick with the basics of language written report similar they had with BibleWorks. Nevertheless, you lot'll now accept access to a nice library of other digital books. Get the free version to attempt it out.
Logos Bible Software – going from BibleWorks to Logos will feel like an Italian learning to speak Castilian. It'south like merely also incredibly dissimilar. However, Logos has a huge library of content and BibleWorks users will all of a sudden accept access to large collection of resource. They likewise will have to pay since Logos often costs more than the competition. Logos sells a subscription model chosen Faithlife Connect with a large library starting at $108/year. Meet my series on using Logos for Sermon Prep on YouTube or the Theotek Facebook Page.

Lower Price Means Fewer Features

The rest of these offer less expensive alternatives fifty-fifty if they don't match BibleWorks in language study prowess.

laridian pocketbible — Laridian PocketBible for Mac

Olive Tree Bible – many BibleWorks users who wanted a good mobile Bible app probably already invested in Olive Tree 1 of the best mobile Bible apps available on all platforms. They have a nice library of books to purchase. They also are improve at language study than they used to, but BibleWorks users may experience constrained on the desktop with this option.
Laridian PocketBible – like Olive Tree, PocketBible has a long history of supporting mobile platforms. It predates the iPhone and Android, but has great apps for both. It also runs on Windows and Mac. They accept a smaller library, just the programmer is a pioneer in Bible software and does a great task of updating and making the app run smoothly on every platform. Plus it's one of the cheapest options. However, like Olive Tree users might find the plan express in language study.
due east-Sword – if you don't have any money and just desire to starting time getting into an alternative slowly, then take hold of due east-Sword equally a expert free interim option.
WORDsearch – the company just updated to version 12 and I'll have more to say about the program over at ChurchTechToday and on the Theotek Podcast. It's a good unproblematic library reader with a amend tool for language study in version 12 than it used to have, but similar Olive Tree BibleWorks may feel a trivial constrained in language written report with WORDsearch.

Hold Off and Wait

Another selection might be to patiently wait. You can still use BibleWorks 10 for the foreseeable time to come. Become the free versions of the above tools to try them out. And so wait for sales. I know that a few of the companies are thinking about special deals for BibleWorks users to have advantage of the news.

What Happened?

I don't have any inside information, just I have some opinions.

Mobile – they company didn't embrace iPhone or Android and this failure to embrace mobile meant Bible software users with limited funds didn't want to buy their books twice, once for BibleWorks and in one case for a mobile app, similar OliveTree.
Shrinking Bible Software Market place – like the church in America, I retrieve involvement in Bible software is shrinking. Biblical literacy is at an all time low. Pastors who want Bible software is a niche market and fewer of those pastors will buy a plan like BibleWorks due to their failure to offer a mobile app and because of the post-obit reasons…
No Native Mac App – the company's Mac app is a WINE port. That's not acceptable to a lot of Mac users. I meet more and more than of my colleagues in ministry using Macs instead of Windows.
No Library to Speak Of – BibleWorks offers some of the best tools for original language study and searching. Still, they offer relatively few resources like commentaries and Christian Living titles. So buyers don't desire to buy BibleWorks fifty-fifty if information technology is superior in original language study if they tin can get something nearly as proficient like Accordance or Logos that as well offers a these other digital resources all in one package.
Updates Drive Business organisation – as a consumer I don't really like the concern model of putting out a big new update every year since it makes me alter the way I piece of work to acquire new features, it makes me shell out anywhere from $twenty to $200 for an update annually, and it turns the program into bloatware, something Logos and others seem to do. All the same, similar it or non, that makes money for Bible programs. What would yous rather become? Annual updates that y'all tin can buy or skip or an email about a shutdown from your software company afterward y'all invested hundreds or thousands of dollars in over the years?