2006, 2008, and 2010 results

Responses	2006	2006		responses	2008	2008	responses	2010	2010	%
Choices	Votes	%		Choices	Votes	%	Choices	Votes	%
Windows Vista Beta / Release Candidate	2	1		OS/2 Warp	0	0	64 bit windows 7	3	6
Windows XP Professional	74	39		Unix	0	0	32 bit windows 7	5	10
Windows XP Home	83	44		Solaris / Open Solaris	0	0	64 bit windows vista	2	4
Windows 2000 Professional	12	6		BeOS	0	0	32 bit windows vist	4	8
Windows ME	0	0		ReACT	0	0	64 bit windows xp	2	4
Windows 98 SE	4	2		Windows	74	84	32 bit windows xp	24	48
Windows 98	0	0		Macintosh	4	4	64 bit windows 2000	0	0
windows 95	0	0		Linux	9	10	32 bit windows 2000	1	2
Windows NT 4.0	0	0		BSD	0	0	Windows ME	0	0
Windows NT 3.5	0	0		Other (Please post to the list.)	1	1	Windows 98	4	8
OS/2 Warp 6.0	0	0		Choices	Votes	%	Windows 95	0	0
OS/2 Warp 5.0	0	0		Windows NT 3.1	0	0	32 bit Linux	3	6
OS/.2 Warp 4.0	0	0		Windows NT 3.5	0	0	64 bit Linux	0	0
OS/2 Warp 3.0	0	0		Windows NT 3.51	0	0	32 bit BSD	0	0
React OS	0	0		Windows NT 3.51	0	0	64 bit BSD	0	0
Mac System 9.5 (or lower)	0	0		Windows NT 4.0	0	0	Solaris or OpenSolaris	0	0
MAC OS X 10 ( or higher)	2	1		Windows 95	0	0	Mac OS X	0	0
MAC OS X for PC Intel	3	1		Windows 98	0	0	32 bit other *nix	0	0
BeOS	0	0		Windows 98 Second Edition	2	4	64 bit other *nix	0	0
BSD	0	0		Windows ME	1	2	React OS	0	0
Linux	4	2		Windows 2000	3	6	32 bit Windows NT	0	0
Solaris	0	0		Windows XP	32	74	64 bit Windows NT	0	0
Unix	0	0		Windows 2003	0	0	OS/2 | OS/2 Warp | eCom Station	0	0
Other Operating System. (Please email me with the one you use)	3	1		Windows VIsta	5	11	BeOS / Haiku	0	0
				Windows 2008	0	0	Other operating system (Please post it to the list.)	1	2

eSword Poll results: 15 days later

These are the results of the polls at eSword@yahoogroups.com

419: Which version of Windows Server 2003 do you use e-Sword on?
No responses

418: Which version of Windows 2008 do you use e-Sword on?
No responses

417: Do use a 32 bit or 64 bit operating system for e-Sword?
Choices Votes %
16 bit operating system 0 0
32 bit operating system 18 66
64 bit operating system 9 33

416: Which version of Ubuntu do you use with e-Sword?
Choices Votes %
Ubuntu 9.10 2 50
Ubuntu 9.04 0 0
Ubuntu 8.10 0 0
Ubuntu 8.04 0 0
Ubuntu 7.10 0 0
Ubuntu 7.04 0 0
Ubuntu 6.10 0 0
Ubuntu Christian edition 6.0 (beta) 1 25
Ubuntu Christian edition 5.0 server 0 0
Ubuntu Christian edition 5.0 0 0
Ubuntu Christian edition 4.0 0 0
Kubuntu 9.10 0 0
Kubuntu 9.04 0 0
Kubuntu 8.10 0 0
Kubuntu 8.04 0 0
Kubuntu 7.10 0 0
Kubuntu 7.04 0 0
Kubuntu 6.10 0 0
Ichthux 9.10 0 0
Ichthux 8.10 0 0
Xubuntu 9.10 0 0
Xubuntu 9.04 0 0
Xubuntu 8.10 0 0
Other Ubuntu version 0 0
Other Ubuntu Variant 1 25

415: Which version of OS/2 do you use e-Sword on
No responses

414: Which version of Mac OS X do you use e-Sword on?

Choices Votes %
Mac OS X v10.6 "Snow Leopard" 1 50
Macintosh OS X 10.4.1 Developer Edition (AKA Macintosh for Intel) 0 0
Macintosh OS X Server Standard 10.5 Leopard 0 0
Macintosh OS X Server Workgroup 10.5 Leopard 0 0
Macintosh OS X Server Advanced 10.5 Leopard 0 0
Mac OS X Public Beta "Kodiak" 0 0
Mac OS X v10.0 "Cheetah" 0 0
Mac OS X v10.1 "Puma" 0 0
Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar" 0 0
Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther" 0 0
Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" 1 50
Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard" 0 0
Macintosh OS X Server 10.4 Tiger 0 0
Macintosh OS X 1 Server 0.3 Panther 0 0
Macintosh OS X Server 10.2 Jaguar 0 0
Macintosh OS X Server 10.1 Puma 0 0
Macintosh OS X Server 10.0 Cheetah 0 0
Rhapsody DR-1 (Mac 5.0) 0 0
Rhapsody DR 2 (Mac 5.1) 0 0
Macintosh OS X Server 1.0 (Mac 5.3) 0 0
Macintosh OS X Server 1.2 (Mac 5.6) 0 0
Mac OS X v10.6 Server Snow Leopard 0 0
Mac OS 9 0 0
Mac OS 8 0 0
Other version of Macintosh Operating System 0 0

413: Which of the following BSD distros do you use e-Sword on?
No Responses

412: This is a list of the 25 most popular linux distros at Distrowatch. Which of them do you run e-Sword on?
Choices Votes %
Ubuntu 4 66
Fedora 0 0
Mint 0 0
OpenSuse 1 16
Mandrivia 0 0
Debian 0 0
Sabayon 0 0
Arch 0 0
Puppy 0 0
PCLinux OS 0 0
Slackware 0 0
FreeBSD 0 0
Mepis 0 0
CentOS 0 0
Tiny Core 0 0
Gentoo 0 0
Ultimate 1 16
Kubuntu 0 0
Zenwalk 0 0
Vector 0 0
Koppix 0 0
PC-BSD 0 0
DreamLinux 0 0
Sidux 0 0
Crunchbang 0 0


411: Which of the following 64 bit Linux distros do you use e-Sword on?
Choices Votes %
Ubuntu Christian Edition 1 33
Ubuntu 2 66

410: Which of the following 32 bit Linux distros do you use e-Sword on? (For choices 10 through 24 consult the wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions )
Choices Votes %
Ubuntu Christian Edition 1 20
Ubuntu 3 60
Kubuntu 0 0
Ichthux 0 0
Other Ubuntu based 0 0
Church Pup 0 0
ShepardPup 0 0
Puppy 0 0
Other Puppy based 0 0
Debian based 1 20
Koppix based 0 0
Gentoo based 0 0
Pacman based 0 0
Arch Linux based 0 0
Federo based 0 0
Red hat Enterprise Linux based 0 0
Mandrivia based 0 0
PCLinux OS based 0 0
OpenSuse based 0 0
RPM based 0 0
SLAX based 0 0
Zenwalk based 0 0
Slackware based 0 0
Other 0 0

409: Which of the following Windows systems do you use e-Sword on?
Choices Votes %
Windows Me 1 33
Windows 98 Second Edition 2 66

408:Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows 2000 do you use e-Sword on?
Choices Votes %
Windows 2000 Server 0 0
Windows 2000 Professional 3 100

407:Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows 2000 do you use e-Sword on?
No responses

406: Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows XP do you use e-Sword on?
Choices Votes %
Windows XP Starter 0 0
Windows XP Home Edition ULCPC 1 4
Windows XP Home 10 41
Windows XP Professional 10 41
Windows XP Media Center Edition 3 12

405: Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows XP do you use?
Choices Votes %
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for Itanium systems: 2002 0 0
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for Itanium systems: 2003 0 0
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition 2 100

404: Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows Vista do you use?
Choices Votes %
Windows Vista Starter 0 0
Windows Vista Home Basic 2 25
Windows Vista Home Premium 4 50
Windows Vista Business 2 25

403: Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows Vista do you use?
Windows Vista Home Basic 2 22
Windows Vista Home Premium 6 66
Windows Vista Business 1 11

402: Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows 7 do you use?
Choices Votes %
Windows 7 Starter 0 0
Windows 7 Home Basic 0 0
Windows 7 Home Premium 2 28
Windows 7 Professional 3 42
Windows 7 Enterprise 0 0
Windows 7 Ultimate 2 28

401: Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows 7 do you use?
Choices Votes %
Windows 7 Home Basic 0 0
Windows 7 Home Premium 3 42
Windows 7 Professional 1 14
Windows 7 Enterprise 0 0
Windows 7 Ultimate 3 42

400: Which of the following operating systems do you primarily use e-Sword on?
Choices Votes %
64 bit windows 7 3 6
32 bit windows 7 5 10
64 bit windows vista 2 4
32 bit windows vist 3 6
64 bit windows xp 2 4
32 bit windows xp 23 48
64 bit windows 2000 0 0
32 bit windows 2000 1 2
Windows ME 0 0
Windows 98 4 8
Windows 95 0 0
32 bit Linux 3 6
64 bit Linux 0 0
32 bit BSD 0 0
64 bit BSD 0 0
Solaris or OpenSolaris 0 0
Mac OS X 0 0
32 bit other *nix 0 0
64 bit other *nix 0 0
React OS 0 0
32 bit Windows NT 0 0
64 bit Windows NT 0 0
OS/2 | OS/2 Warp | eCom Station 0 0
BeOS / Haiku 0 0
Other operating system (Please post it to the list.) 1 2

Percentages may not equal 100, due to rounding.
Comparison with the results after four days is "interesting".

e-Sword-users polls: 24 hours later

For some, perhaps most of these polls, it has been less than 24 hours.

Other than Poll 416 --- about mobile device operating systems --- the polls were on the e-sword-users homepage sidebar for between five and thirty minutes.

Poll 416 has been on the sidebar since it was created, which was roughly 18 hours prior to writing this blog post.

Poll 402 has been front and centre of the e-sword-users homepage for roughly eighteen hours, as I write this.

Response to the polls are:

400:http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/4216
Do you use a 32 bit or 64 bit operating system with e-Sword

32 bit
100% (2 votes)
64 bit
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 2


401:http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/4218/results

Which of the following operating systems do you primarily use e-Sword on?

64 bit Windows 7
18% (18 votes)
32 bit Windows 7
11% (11 votes)
64 bit Windows Vista
12% (12 votes)
32 bit Windows Vista
21% (21 votes)
64 bit Windows XP
7% (7 votes)
32 bit Windows XP
27% (27 votes)
64 bit Windows 2000
0% (0 votes)
32 bit Windows 2000
0% (0 votes)
Windows Me
1% (1 vote)
Windows 98
1% (1 vote)
Windows 95
0% (0 votes)
ReAct OS
0% (0 votes)
64 bit Windows NT
0% (0 votes)
32 bit Windows NT
0% (0 votes)
OS/2 | OS/2 Warp | eCom Station
0% (0 votes)
Mac OS X
2% (2 votes)
32 bit BSD
0% (0 votes)
64 bit BSD
0% (0 votes)
Solaris | OpenSolaris
0% (0 votes)
64 bit Linux
0% (0 votes)
32 bit Linux
1% (1 vote)
BeOS | Haiku
0% (0 votes)
64 bit Other *Nix
0% (0 votes)
32 bit Other *Nix
0% (0 votes)
Other Operating System
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 101

[Between the time I started writing this blog post, and posted these results, three more "votes" were registered.]

403 a: http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/4258/results
Which version of Windows 7 (32 bit) Standard Edition do you use with e-Sword?

Windows 7 Starter (32 bit)
0% (0 votes)
Windows 7 Home Basic (32 bit)
0% (0 votes)
Windows 7 Home Premium (32 bit)
100% (1 vote)
Windows 7 Professional (32 bit)
0% (0 votes)
Windows 7 Enterprise (32 bit)
0% (0 votes)
Windows 7 Ultimate (32 bit)
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 1


405 a: http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/4266
Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows Vista Standard Edition do you use with e-Sword

Windows Vista Starter (32 bit)
0% (0 votes)
Windows Vista Home Basic (32 bit)
0% (0 votes)
Windows Vista Home Premium (32 bit)
100% (1 vote)
Windows Vista Business (32 bit)
0% (0 votes)
Windows Vista Enterprise (32 bit)
0% (0 votes)
Windows Vista Ultimate (32 bit)
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 1

406 b: http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/4271/results

Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows XP do you use e-Sword on?

Windows XP Starter
0% (0 votes)
Windows XP Home
67% (2 votes)
Windows XP Professional
0% (0 votes)
Windows XP Media Center Edition
0% (0 votes)
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004
0% (0 votes)
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
33% (1 vote)
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
0% (0 votes)
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005
0% (0 votes)
Windows XP Home Edition ULCPC
0% (0 votes)
Windows XP Home Edition Prepaid
0% (0 votes)
Windows XP Home Edition Subscription
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 3

416:http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/4290/results
Which operating system does your mobile device use?

Symbian
13% (2 votes)
RIM Blackberry
13% (2 votes)
Apple iPhone
0% (0 votes)
Google Android
19% (3 votes)
Windows Mobile
50% (8 votes)
Maemo
0% (0 votes)
Palm OS
6% (1 vote)
Linux
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 16


None of the other polls had responses.

By way of comparison to other polls at e-Sword-users:

http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/1779
I think this poll ran for two weeks.

Which of the following would be more useful: (See message in the Pocket e-Sword Forum.)
Pocket e-Sword Documentation. (This includes how to create resources for Pocket e-Sword).
9% (3 votes)
Pocket e-Sword Resources. (This is mainly converting existing e-Sword resources to Pocket e-Sword.)
29% (10 votes)
They are of equal importance
12% (4 votes)
Stick to e-Sword resources and documentation
44% (15 votes)
Something else. (Discuss at http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/1778 .)
6% (2 votes)
Total votes: 34

http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/3409
This poll ran for two weeks.
There were 6 000 + registered users of e-Sword-users.org at the time it ran.

How many e-Sword Resources have you installed? (All resources, including BRP, TOP, LST, PRL, etc.)
Less than 50
25% (27 votes)
50 -100
28% (30 votes)
100 - 200
15% (16 votes)
200 - 300
6% (7 votes)
300 - 400
5% (5 votes)
400 - 500
3% (3 votes)
500 - 600
4% (4 votes)
700 - 800
1% (1 vote)
800 - 900
3% (3 votes)
1000 - 1500
2% (2 votes)
1500 - 2000
1% (1 vote)
2000 - 2500
6% (6 votes)
2500 - 3500
2% (2 votes)
3500 - 5000
0% (0 votes)
5000 - 7000
0% (0 votes)
7000 - 10000
0% (0 votes)
More than 10000
2% (2 votes)
Total votes: 109

http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/3707
This is an ongoing poll

What new feature would you like to see added to the next version of e-Sword?

Concordant search results
15% (43 votes)
Sentence diagramming
21% (61 votes)
Additional configurable windows
7% (20 votes)
Searching of Topics by keyword/Scripture reference
25% (75 votes)
Windows file system for storing Topics by subject
19% (55 votes)
Original language lemma searches
14% (42 votes)
Total votes: 296

http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/2088
This is an ongoing poll

e-Sword Ver. 8.x or 9.x?

Switch? No way, I'm sticking with ver. 8.x
17% (174 votes)
I switched to ver. 9.x and love it!
39% (405 votes)
I switched to ver. 9.x and it's not for me!
11% (118 votes)
Ver. 9.x? Not now, maybe someday.
16% (163 votes)
Undecided at this point
17% (179 votes)
Total votes: 1039

http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/4146
This is an ongoing poll

How do you use e-Sword Users.org?
For downloading e-Sword resources
51% (55 votes)
To learn about e-Sword software
2% (2 votes)
For finding e-Sword technical support
6% (6 votes)
For the tools and utilities
9% (10 votes)
To fellowship with others in the Forums
2% (2 votes)
To help others with technical issues
3% (3 votes)
All of the above
28% (30 votes)
Total votes: 108

Polls at e-Sword users

Yesterday, I put the following polls on operating system usage at http://www.e-sword-users.org.

416: Which operating system does your mobile device use?
415 b: Which version of 64 bit Windows Server 2003 do you use e-Sword on?
415 a: Which version of 32 bit Windows Server 2003 do you use e-Sword on?
414 c: Which version of 64 bit Windows 2008 do you use e-Sword on?
414 b: Which version of Itanium Windows 2008 do you use e-Sword on?
414 a: Which version of 32 bit Windows 2008 do you use e-Sword on?
413: Which version of OS/2 do you use e-Sword on
412 c: Which version of Mac OS do you use e-Sword on?
412 b: Which version of Mac OS X Server do you use e-Sword on?
412 a: Which version of Mac OS X do you use e-Sword on?
411: Which of the following BSDs do you use e-Sword on?
410 c: Which of the following is the distro you use e-Sword on, based.
410 b: Which of the following Puppy versions/meta packages do you use e-Sword on?
410 a: Which of the following Ubuntu versions/meta packages do you use e-Sword on?
409 c: Which of the following Windows 9x systems do you use e-Sword on?
409 b: Which of the following Windows NT 4.x systems do you use e-Sword on?
409 a: Which of the following Windows NT 3.x systems do you use e-Sword on?
408: Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows 2000 do you use e-Sword on?
407: Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows 2000 do you use e-Sword on?
406 b: Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows XP do you use e-Sword on? - 1 vote - open
406 a: Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows XP do you use?
405 d: Which versions of 32 bit Windows Vista N Edition do you use with e-Sword? (This is distributed in Asia and Europe)
405 c: Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows Vista KN Edition do you use with e-Sword? (This is distributed in Asia)
405 b: Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows Vista K Edition do you use with e-Sword? (This is distributed in Asia)
405 a: Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows Vista Standard Edition do you use with e-Sword
404 c: Which versions of 64 bit Windows Vista N Edition do you use with e-Sword . (This is distributed in Asia and Europe)
404 d: Which versions of 64 bit Windows Vista KN Edition do you use with e-Sword . (This is distributed in Asia)
404 b: Which versions of 64 bit Windows Vista K Edition do you use with e-Sword . (This is distributed in Asia)
404 a: Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows Vista Standard Edition do you use with e-Sword
403 d: Which version of Windows 7 (32 bit) N Edition do you use with e-Sword? (This is distributed in Europe and Asia)
403 c: Which version of Windows 7 (32 bit) KN Edition do you use with e-Sword? (This is distributed in Asia)
403 b: Which version of Windows 7 (32 bit) K Edition do you use with e-Sword? (This is distributed in Asia)
403 a: Which version of Windows 7 (32 bit) Standard Edition do you use with e-Sword? - 1 vote - open
402 d: Which version of Windows 7 (64 bit) N Edition do you use with e-Sword? (This is distributed in Asia)
402 c: Which version of Windows 7 (64 bit) KNWindows 7 Home Basic KN Edition do you with e-Sword? (This is distributed in Asia)
402 b: Which version of Windows 7 (64 bit) K Edition do you with e-Sword? (This is distributed in Asia)
402 a: Which version of Windows 7 (64 bit) Standard Edition do you with e-Sword
401: Which of the following operating systems do you primarily use e-Sword on?
400: Do you use a 32 bit or 64 bit operating system with e-Sword

In retrospect, it was too many polls at once. :(

Operating system/platform Poll results: 4 days later:

These are the standings, four days after I set up the various polls on operating systems, and platforms, for the eSword at Yahoogroups list. (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eSword/polls).

400: Which of the following operating systems do you primarily use e-Sword on?

64 bit windows 7	2	5
32 bit windows 7	5	14
64 bit windows vista	1	2
32 bit windows vist	3	8
64 bit windows xp	2	5
32 bit windows xp	16	45
64 bit windows 2000	0	0
32 bit windows 2000	1	2
Windows ME	0	0
Windows 98	1	2
Windows 95	0	0
32 bit Linux	3	8
64 bit Linux	0	0
32 bit BSD	0	0
64 bit BSD	0	0
Solaris or OpenSolaris	0	0
Mac OS X	0	0
32 bit other *nix	0	0
64 bit other *nix	0	0
React OS	0	0
32 bit Windows NT	0	0
64 bit Windows NT	0	0
OS/2 | OS/2 Warp | eCom Station	0	0
BeOS / Haiku	0	0
Other operating system (Please post it to the list.)	1	2

401: Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows 7 do you use?

Windows 7 Home Premium	3	60
Windows 7 Professional	1	20
Windows 7 Enterprise	0	0
Windows 7 Ultimate	1	20

402: Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows 7 do you use?

Windows 7 Home Premium	2	33
Windows 7 Professional	3	50
Windows 7 Enterprise	0	0
Windows 7 Ultimate	1	16

403: Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows Vista do you use?

Windows Vista Home Basic	2	33
Windows Vista Home Premium	4	66

404: Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows Vista do you use?

Windows Vista Home Basic	1	16
Windows Vista Home Premium	4	66
Windows Vista Business	1	16

405: Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows XP do you use?

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

2

100

406: Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows XP do you use e-Sword on?

Windows XP Home Edition ULCPC	1	6
Windows XP Home	7	46
Windows XP Professional	6	40
Windows XP Media Center Edition	1	6

407:Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows 2000 do you use e-Sword on?

No users.

408:Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows 2000 do you use e-Sword on?

Windows 2000 Professional

2

100

409: Which of the following Windows systems do you use e-Sword on?

Windows 98 Second Edition

1

100

410: Which of the following 32 bit Linux distros do you use e-Sword on? (For choices 10 through 24 consult the wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions )

Ubuntu Christian Edition 1 25
Ubuntu 2 50
Debian Based 1 25

411: Which of the following 64 bit Linux distros do you use e-Sword on?

Ubuntu Christian Edition	1	50
Ubuntu	1	50

412: This is a list of the 25 most popular linux distros at Distrowatch. Which of them do you run e-Sword on?

Ubuntu

3

100

413: Which of the following BSD distros do you use e-Sword on?

No users

414: Which version of Mac OS X do you use e-Sword on?

Mac OS X v10.6 "Snow Leopard" 1 50
Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" 1 50

415: Which version of OS/2 do you use e-Sword on

No users.

416: Which version of Ubuntu do you use with e-Sword?

Ubuntu 9.10 1 33
Ubuntu Christian edition 6.0 (beta) 1 33
Other Ubuntu Variant 1 33

417: Do use a 32 bit or 64 bit operating system for e-Sword?

32 bit operating system 14 77
64 bit operating system 4 22

418: Which version of Windows 2008 do you use e-Sword on?

No users

419: Which version of Windows Server 2003 do you use e-Sword on?

No users


These numbers are too small to be of any significance. :(

Poll Results: 4 days later

32 bit windows 7 5 14
64 bit windows vista 1 2
32 bit windows vist 3 8
64 bit windows xp 2 5
32 bit windows xp 16 45
64 bit windows 2000 0 0
32 bit windows 2000 1 2
Windows ME 0 0
Windows 98 1 2
Windows 95 0 0
32 bit Linux 3 8

On Selecting Bible Study Software

This is an addendum to the blog post at http://www.bibletechconference.com/blog/selecting-bible-study-software/ .

Bible Study Software can be reasonably divided by:

• Platform;
• License;
• Number of resources;
• Type of resources;
• Functionality;

To make a distinction on the basis of commercial/non-commercial is nonsense:

• The Libronix engine is distributed gratis: http://www.logos.com/support/downloads/ldls;
• You can purchase the various front ends for The Sword Project at various retail outlets;
• Recent official e-Sword resources are not gratis: http://www.eStudySource.com;
  

Additionally, there is the issue of how "non-commercial" is defined. And, contrary to the press blurb, the Creative Commons Foundation does not have a functional, viable definition of "Non-Commercial".

Platform: No additional comments.

License

For users, the issue is what the license permits, and prohibits. It is all too easy to click through a license, when installing new software. US Courts have consistently upheld that click-through licenses are legally binding.

Do you want to have to parse a clause such as the following, and decide if using the program at a Bible Study at your home is permitted? Or, for those in the emerging church, deciding if it permits usage for a Bible Study at a local bar, or eating establishment?

ADDENDUM. The Software may be used for educational purposes in schools and Churches for teaching and instructional purposes only. (Complete license can be found at http://www.abu.nb.ca/ecm/products/copyrigt.htm.)

I do not know the history of the following clause. It did give me cause to wonder what was purchased that could result in what taxes the State of Washington levied on residents, that would encourage the inclusion of a clause like this.

You are responsible for payment of any taxes, including personal property taxes, resulting from this license. (Complete license can be found at http://www.gramcord.org/ftp/Doc/license.doc.)

Whilst I question the legality of the following clause, it is an example of "unexpected" clauses in Bible Study Software.

The Terms of Use of The Watchtower Library CD states

2. Who may have a copy of Watchtower Library? This is a research tool for Jehovah's Witnesses, not for the public or for institutions such as schools or libraries.

The following clause is an example of an "expected" clause. (This is from the Libronix License.)
I'd question what "trade secrets" an end-user can divine, simply from using the software. Especially due to the existence of Libronix Tools, Libronix Santa Fe Translator, or Theme Discovery Report.

CONFIDENTIALITY

The Software contains trade secrets and proprietary know-how that belong to us and it is being made available to you in strict confidence. ANY USE OR DISCLOSURE OF THE SOFTWARE, OR OF ITS ALGORITHMS, PROTOCOLS OR INTERFACES, OTHER THAN IN STRICT ACCORDANCE WITH THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT, MAY BE ACTIONABLE AS A VIOLATION OF OUR TRADE SECRET RIGHTS.

Virtually every software license that end users have to agree to, that I've read, has contained one more clauses that are either ambiguous, obnoxious, or both obnoxious and ambiguous. Then there are the licenses that are toxic. One example would be a license that turns over your work product, and all intellectual property rights relating to that work product, to the company that developed the software.

http://www.ceskapiratskastrana.cz/wiki/_media/kci:novelaautz.pdf.

Type of Resource:

Two things to pay attention to:
* Does the Bible Study Software offer the type of resources you use?
* Are the resources consistently packaged for the type of resource it is?

For the first question, the resource type can be broken into two parts:
a) The content of the resource matches your interests. If you like using a dozen or more translations of the Bible in your Bible Study, and the program only includes on Bible translation, it does not match your interest. Likewise, if you are an Aramaic primist, and it only offers Latin texts, if doesn't match your interests;
b) The resource types that are offered are appropriate for the way you study: If you primarily do textual analysis, and the majority of the resources are commentaries the program probably is not suitable for your needs;


For the second question, I'll use e-Sword as an example. The Book of Mormon, offered at http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/2107 . e-Sword does not support The Canon of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Using the Scripture search bar for 2 Nephi won't come up with any matches. This content is very inconsistent with the Bible Resource Format Specifications. It was, needless to say, created by a user. AFAIK, that resource, and The Book of Mormon cast as a commentary resource ( http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/2132 ) are the only two resources for e-Sword whose content does not match the e-Sword Resource Format Specifications for the specific resource type. (Oddly enough, e-Sword-users.org does not offer a copy of the Book of Mormon as a topical file, which is the appropriate resource format.) For one or two known resources, one might be able to overlook it. When there is no way to know the content type, until after the resource is opened, such dissonance can be extremely unsettling. Consider the effect of opening a resource that you think is text, say, for example, a history of Egypt, and discovering that it is nothing but images.


Functionality:

If your Bible Study resembles Melissa Scott's Bible study lesson's that are broadcast on late night TV, then does the software package have the tools to do that type of markup?

If your Bible Study resembles the videos from Rick Warren's The Purpose Filled Life, does your Bible Study software enable the creation, and display of audio files, video files, and graphical images?

e-Sword Platform Poll (set one)

I just constructed a set of polls, to find out what operating system people currently use e-Sword on. I've been doing this roughly every two years, for the last several years.

400: Which of the following operating systems do you primarily use e-Sword on?


 o 64 bit windows 7
 o 32 bit windows 7
 o 64 bit windows vista
 o 32 bit windows vist
 o 64 bit windows xp
 o 32 bit windows xp
 o 64 bit windows 2000
 o 32  bit windows 2000
 o Windows ME
 o Windows 98
 o Windows 95
 o 32 bit Linux
 o 64 bit Linux
 o 32 bit BSD
 o 64 bit BSD
 o Solaris or OpenSolaris
 o Mac OS X
 o 32 bit other *nix
 o 64 bit other *nix
 o React OS
 o 32 bit Windows NT
 o 64 bit Windows NT
 o OS/2  | OS/2 Warp | eCom Station
 o BeOS / Haiku
 o Other operating system (Please post it to the list.)

401: Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows 7 do you use?

 o Windows 7 Home Basic
 o Windows 7 Home Premium
 o Windows 7 Professional
 o Windows 7 Enterprise
 o Windows 7 Ultimate
 o Windows 7 Home Basic K
 o Windows 7 Home Premium K
 o Windows 7 Professional K
 o Windows 7 Enterprise K
 o Windows 7 Ultimate K
 o Windows 7 Home Basic KN
 o Windows 7 Home Premium KN
 o Windows 7 Professional KN
 o Windows 7 Ultimate KN
 o Windows 7 Enterprise KN
 o Windows 7 Home Basic N
 o Windows 7 Home Premium N
 o Windows 7 Professional N
 o Windows 7 Enterprise N
 o Windows 7 Ultimate N

402:  Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows 7 do you use?

 o Windows 7 Starter
 o Windows 7 Home Basic
 o Windows 7 Home Premium
 o Windows 7 Professional
 o Windows 7 Enterprise
 o Windows 7 Ultimate
 o Windows 7 Starter K
 o Windows 7 Home Basic K
 o Windows 7 Home Premium K
 o Windows 7 Professional K
 o Windows 7 Enterprise K
 o Windows 7 Ultimate K
 o Windows 7 Starter KN
 o Windows 7 Home Basic KN
 o Windows 7 Home Premium KN
 o Windows 7 Professional KN
 o Windows 7 Enterprise KN
 o Windows 7 Ultimate KN
 o Windows 7 Starter N
 o Windows 7 Home Basic N
 o Windows 7 Home Premium N
 o Windows 7 Professional N
 o Windows 7 Enterprise N
 o Windows 7 Ultimate N

403: Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows Vista do you use?

 o Windows Vista Home Basic
 o Windows Vista Home Premium
 o Windows Vista Business
 o Windows Vista Enterprise
 o Windows Vista Ultimate
 o Windows Vista Home Basic K
 o Windows Vista Home Premium K
 o Windows Vista Business K
 o Windows Vista Enterprise K
 o Windows Vista Ultimate K
 o Windows Vista Home Basic KN
 o Windows Vista Home Premium KN
 o Windows Vista Business KN
 o Windows Vista Enterprise KN
 o Windows Vista Ultimate KN
 o Windows Vista Home Basic N
 o Windows Vista Home Premium N
 o Windows Vista Business N
 o Windows Vista Enterprise N
 o Windows Vista Ultimate N

404: Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows Vista do you use?

 o Windows Vista Starter 
 o Windows Vista Home Basic
 o Windows Vista Home Premium
 o Windows Vista Business
 o Windows Vista Enterprise
 o Windows Vista Ultimate
 o Windows Vista Starter K
 o Windows Vista Home Basic K
 o Windows Vista Home Premium K
 o Windows Vista Business K
 o Windows Vista Enterprise K
 o Windows Vista Ultimate K
 o Windows Vista Starter KN
 o Windows Vista Home Basic KN
 o Windows Vista Home Premium KN
 o Windows Vista Business KN
 o Windows Vista Enterprise KN
 o Windows Vista Ultimate KN
 o Windows Vista Starter N
 o Windows Vista Home Basic N
 o Windows Vista Home Premium N
 o Windows Vista Business N
 o Windows Vista Enterprise N
 o Windows Vista Ultimate N

405: Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows XP do you use?

 o Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for Itanium systems: 2002
 o Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for Itanium systems:  2003
 o Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

406: Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows XP do you use e-Sword on?

 o Windows XP Starter
 o Windows XP Home Edition ULCPC
 o Windows XP Home
 o Windows XP Professional
 o Windows XP Media Center Edition
 o Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004
 o Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
 o Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
 o Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005
 o Windows XP Home Edition prepaid
 o Windows XP Home Edition Subscription

407:Which of the following versions of 64 bit Windows 2000 do you use e-Sword on?

 o Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
 o Windows 2000 Advanced Server

408:Which of the following versions of 32 bit Windows 2000 do you use e-Sword on?

 o Windows 2000 Professional
 o Windows 2000 Server
 o Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 o Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

409: Which of the following Windows systems do you use e-Sword on?

 o Windows Me
 o Windows 98 Second Edition
 o Windows 98
 o Windows NT 4 Workstation
 o Windows NT 4 Server
 o Windows NT 4 Enterprise Edition
 o Windows NT 4 Terminal Server
 o Windows 95  
 o Windows 95-B OEM Service Release 2 
 o Windows 95-B (USB) OEM Service Release 2.1
 o Windows 95-C OEM Service Release 2.5 
 o Windows 95 Retail
 o Windows 95 Retail SP 1 
 o Windows 95-A OEM Service Release 1 
 o Windows NT 3.1 
 o Windows NT 3.1 Advanced Server
 o Windows NT 3.5 Workstation
 o Windows NT 3.5 Server
 o Windows NT 3.5.1 Workstation
 o Windows NT 3.5.1 Server

410: Which of the following 32 bit Linux distros do you use e-Sword on?
(For choices 10 through 24 consult the wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions )

 o Ubuntu Christian Edition
 o Ubuntu
 o Kubuntu
 o Ichthux
 o Other Ubuntu based
 o Church Pup
 o ShepardPup
 o Puppy
 o Other Puppy based
 o Debian based
 o Koppix based
 o Gentoo based
 o Pacman based
 o Arch Linux based
 o Federo based
 o Red hat Enterprise Linux based
 o Mandrivia based
 o PCLinux OS based
 o OpenSuse based
 o RPM based
 o SLAX based
 o Zenwalk based
 o Slackware based
 o Other


411: Which of the following 64 bit Linux distros do you use e-Sword on?

 o Ubuntu Christian Edition
 o Ubuntu
 o Kubuntu
 o Ichthux
 o Other Ubuntu based
 o Puppy based
 o Debian based
 o Koppix based
 o Gentoo based
 o Pacman based
 o Arch Linux based
 o Fedora based
 o Red Hat Enterprise based
 o Mandrivia based
 o PCLinux OS based
 o OpenSuse based
 o RPM based
 o SLAX based
 o Zenwalk based
 o Slackware based
 o Other

412: This is a list of the 25 most popular linux distros at Distrowatch.
Which of them do you run e-Sword on?

 o Ubuntu
 o Fedora
 o Mint
 o OpenSuse
 o Mandrivia
 o Debian
 o Sabayon
 o Arch
 o Puppy
 o PCLinux OS
 o Slackware
 o FreeBSD
 o Mepis
 o CentOS
 o Tiny Core
 o Gentoo
 o Ultimate
 o Kubuntu
 o Zenwalk
 o Vector
 o Koppix
 o PC-BSD
 o DreamLinux
 o Sidux
 o Crunchbang

413: Which of the following BSD distros do you use e-Sword on?

 o FreeBSD
 o OpenBSD
 o NetBSD
 o Dragonfly BSD
 o 386BSD
 o Tru64 UNIX
 o PC-BSD
 o Desktop BSD
 o Closed BSD
 o FreeSBIE
 o Frenzy
 o MirOS BSD
 o ekko BSD
 o MicroBSD
 o OliveBSD
 o Gentoo/FreeBSD  | Gentoo OpenBSD | Gentoo NetBSD
 o Debian GNU/kFreeBSD | Debian Gnu/NetBSD | 
 o Midnight BSD
 o pfsense
 o Paxym-FreeBSD for Octeon/Mips
 o Macintosh OS X
 o DarWin
 o Other

414:  Which version of Mac OS X do you use e-Sword on?

 o Mac OS X Public Beta "Kodiak"
 o Mac OS X v10.0 "Cheetah"
 o Mac OS X v10.1 "Puma"
 o Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar"
 o Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther"
 o Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger"
 o Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard"
 o Mac OS X v10.6 "Snow Leopard"
 o Macintosh OS X 10.4.1 Developer Edition (AKA Macintosh for Intel)
 o Macintosh OS X Server Standard 10.5 Leopard 
 o Macintosh OS X Server Workgroup 10.5 Leopard 
 o Macintosh OS X Server Advanced 10.5 Leopard 
 o Macintosh OS X Server 10.4 Tiger 
 o Macintosh OS X 1 Server 0.3 Panther
 o Macintosh OS X Server 10.2 Jaguar 
 o Macintosh OS X Server 10.1 Puma 
 o Macintosh OS X Server 10.0 Cheetah 
 o Rhapsody DR-1 (Mac 5.0) 
 o Rhapsody DR 2 (Mac 5.1) 
 o Macintosh OS X Server 1.0 (Mac 5.3) 
 o Macintosh OS X Server 1.2 (Mac 5.6) 
 o Mac OS X v10.6 Server Snow Leopard
 o Mac OS 9
 o Mac OS 8
 o Other version of Macintosh Operating System


415: Which version of OS/2 do you use e-Sword on

 o OS/2 Warp 2.0
 o OS/2 Warp 2.1
 o OS/2 Warp 3.0
 o OS/2 Warp 4.0
 o OS/2 Warp 4.5
 o OS/2 Warp 5.0
 o eComStation 1.0
 o eComStation 1.1
 o eComStation 1.2
 o eComStation 1.2R
 o eComStation 2.0 RC5
 o eComStation 2.0 RC6
 o eComStation 2.0 RC7

416: Which version of Ubuntu do you use with e-Sword?

 o Ubuntu 9.10
 o Ubuntu 9.04
 o Ubuntu 8.10
 o Ubuntu 8.04
 o Ubuntu 7.10
 o Ubuntu 7.04
 o Ubuntu 6.10
 o Ubuntu Christian edition 6.0 (beta)
 o Ubuntu Christian edition 5.0 server
 o Ubuntu Christian edition 5.0
 o Ubuntu Christian edition 4.0
 o Kubuntu 9.10
 o Kubuntu 9.04
 o Kubuntu 8.10
 o Kubuntu 8.04
 o Kubuntu 7.10
 o Kubuntu 7.04
 o Kubuntu 6.10
 o Ichthux 9.10
 o Ichthux 8.10
 o Xubuntu 9.10
 o Xubuntu 9.04
 o Xubuntu 8.10
 o Other Ubuntu version
 o Other Ubuntu Variant

417: Do use a 32 bit or 64 bit operating system for e-Sword?

 o 16 bit operating system
 o 32 bit operating system
 o 64 bit operating system

418: Which version of Windows 2008 do you use e-Sword on?

 o 32 bit Windows Server 2008 Standard 
 o 32 bit Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
 o 32 bit Windows Server 2008 Datacenter
 o 32 bit Windows Web Server 2008
 o 32 bit Windows Storage Server 2008
 o 64 bit Windows Server 2008 Standard 
 o 64 bit Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
 o 64 bit Windows Server 2008 Datacenter
 o 64 bit Windows Web Server 2008
 o 64 bit Windows Storage Server 2008
 o 64 bit Windows Small Business Server 2008 
 o Itanium 2 Windows Server 2008 R2
 o Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems
 o 64 bit Windows Server 2008 Foundation 
 o 64 bit Windows Server 2008 R2
 o 64 bit Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Premium Edition
 o 64 bit Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Standard Edition

419: Which version of Windows Server 2003 do you use e-Sword on?

 o 32 bit Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition 
 o 32 bit Windows Server 2003 R2 
 o 32 bit Windows 2003 Small Business Server Standard Edition
 o 32 bit Windows 2003 Small Business Server Enterprise Edition
 o 32 bit Windows 2003 Web Server
 o 32 bit Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
 o 32 bit Windows Home Server
 o 32 bit Windows Storage Server 2003
 o 32 bit Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 Express Edition
 o 32 bit Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 Workgroup Edition
 o 32 bit Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition
 o 32 bit Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition
 o 64 bit Windows Home Server
 o 64 bit Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition 
 o 64 bit Windows Server 2003 R2 
 o 64 bit Windows 2003 Small Business Server Standard Edition
 o 64 bit Windows 2003 Web Server
 o 64 bit Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
 o 64 bit Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003
 o 64 bit Windows Storage Server 2003
 o 64 bit Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 Express Edition
 o 64 bit Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 Workgroup Edition
 o 64 bit Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition
 o 64 bit Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition


All polls have a closing date of 21 march 2010.
All polls allow one item only to be selected.

Currently, there are 7318 subscribers to the eSword@yahoogroups list.
Hopefully, at least 1% will vote in at least question # 400.

If I had a million dollars (to grow Logos Bible Software)...

Quoting Bob Pritchard:

• Keyboarding the entire Patrologia Graeca
• Hiring 10 more software developers for one year
• Hiring 15 new sales representatives for one year
• Mailing $50 to every seminary student in North America (20,000) to entice them to watch our introductory video
• Building Logos compatible editions of 300 public domain books and giving them away to get people on our platform
• Mailing $2 to every pastor in North America (500,000) to entice them to watch our introductory video

Paying people to view a video is a waste of money.

Spend some of the money to create a video, and let the fans of the program distribute it. (108 fans on Facebook --- Students using Logos Libronix Bible Software. 70 fans at Logos Libronix Digital Library System Free PBB Books - personal book builder. 4,998 fans at Logos Bible Software. Remember Guy Kawasaki's message, when he worked for Apple.){Those were the numbers when I wrote my original draft. Some of them have increased significantly.}

Discounts tend to imply that the product is not worth the MSRP. When Sears switched to "everyday low prices", their revenue plummeted, because people were waiting for the non-existent sales. The virtue of discounts, is that people can think that they are getting a bargain. A not uncommon sales strategy is to determine the break even price, double that, then offer the product at a 25% discount. { The group discount that Logos offers is akin to the discount that a wholesaler would receive. That groups don't charge the individual members MSRP is a matter between the group and the individual, not Logos and the individual. As far as the gratis distribution of Logos goes, that is akin to the practice of virtually every retailer, wholesalers, and manufacturer --- some product is given away gratis to build goodwill, market share, or just sommor. }

The strength of Logos is in its resources. Specifically, Academic resources. Nobody is going to buy Logos just because it is the only Bible Study Program that offers Patrologia Graeca.
What the potential user will do, is add that resource to the list of other resources, when deciding between Libronix, Accordance, and BibleWorks. (For seminary, those are the only serious choices. The SBL Bible Software Shootout --- http://mobileministrymagazine.com/2009/11/report-on-bible-software-shootout-via.html --- provided a pretty convincing example of why those are the only suitable choices. )

On the face of it, adding 300 public domain resources sounds like a good idea. More to the point, adding one or two programmers to do nothing but convert content from Project Gutenburg, CCEL, The Internet Sacred Text Archive, etc sounds like a very good idea. Alternatively, adding the ability to integrate ePub, Mobi, or other common eBook format to Libronix would also add some useful functionality.

It probably would be far more useful to create tools that could be provided to publishers, that would automatically, and correctly convert their ePub, Mobi, PDF, or other e-Book reader formatted material into a format the Libronix reads. Tools whose quality output was such, that they would have no objections to commercially selling it. (Take a look at the results of the generic multi-output e-book generators and the results that they produce.)

However, the big question is: "What does this do for your core user --- the Seminary student and the Academic Professional?"

At this point in time: "Very Little".

Matt W's suggestion on lobbying Seminary professors and the like to submit a list the books on their required list, reading list, and supplementary lists, and converting that content to Libronix format focuses on the core strength of Libronix.

That enhances the value of Libronix for your core user.

Adding sales reps always sounds like an easy way to increase revenue --- especially if they a re paid straight commission. The eternal question is what functionality do sales reps add to your core products that five thousand fans on Facebook don't have? And don't forget that there are at least that many, if not more followers on Twitter. Go to any of the social networking sites, and you will find Libronix users. That is the real sales force. Not the individual that is hired to pitch the product at every church, seminary, and Bible Study group in the city.

If you know what you'll use those programmers for, hiring ten of them might be a good idea.
* Logos 4 for Mac to be functionally equal to Logos 4 for Windows;
* Logos 4 for Android;
* Logos 4 for Windows to run on *Nix using CrossOver or WINE. Obviously, it would be far better to have Logos 4 for Windows, but I realize that even at the current fifteen to twenty five percent market share, Linux does not appear to have the commercial software viability that is required for that big of an investment.

>To the best of my knowledge, e-Sword is one guy, Rick Meyers, who works at home.

Phil Stoner runs eStudySource, which is the commercial distribution point for e-Sword.
There are a couple of others who are periodically contracted to do specific things. That, essentially, is the core of those who are paid for e-Sword support, research, and development.

Everything else is run by volunteers, who are also users.

There probably are closer to 1.5 million users of e-Sword, than 9 million users. (There were 2.5 million downloads of e-Sword in 2009, but a number of them were people downloading it two, or more times. ) e-Sword-users.org currently (20100902 ) has 13 168 registered members. The eSword list currently (20100902 ) has 7 364 subscribers.

>Of course, nine million users sounds great. So we do keep experimenting with free low end stuff. http://bible.logos.com is free, and the Logos iPhone app offers 31 books simply for registering. In three months our iPhone app has had a number of downloads equal to three years of new customers for our desktop software. And some of those people have bought Logos 4. But the total sales volume of new users found via the free iPhone app hasn't yet covered our iPhone development costs.

The issue that Libronix is facing here is that good enough is the mortal enemy of perfect. For most people, e-Sword is good enough. But it goes deeper than that. Gratis undermines non-gratis. By focusing on the low-end market, you end up in a race to the bottom, if the competition is "good enough", and gratis. Furthermore, gratis does not pay the bills.

Giving the iPhone Logos app away makes sense, as a defensive measure. People with Mac OS X or Windows systems will be more likely to use Libronix on their desktop, than one of the other programs. (The ability to synchronize between desktop and mobile device is increasingly critical, even though people are not doing so. )

Peter Li suggested using the money to produce a technical solution for Bible Study Software developers to be able to "come up with a business and technical solution for the various major Bible software to work more seamlessly, and lessen the need for users to invest in overlapping resources from different Bible software vendors?"

That was tried with STEP: Standard Template for Electronic Publishing. AFAIK, Libronix didn't participate in that project. At BibleTech2008, Craig Reardon outlined some of the problems that STEP had.

There are three major issues that need to be considered here:
* What presentation markup language is to be used;
* Flat file, database, or a combination of the two;
* How cross platform are the resulting specifications?

The Crosswire Bible Society uses a flat file for its resources.
e-Sword and Libronix use a database for its resources.

Olive Tree uses their own presentation markup language in their resources;
e-Sword uses either RTF or no presentation markup language in its resources;
In the Beginning was the Word uses HTML for its presentation markup language.
If I understood the talk correctly, Bible Navigator X on the X-Box does not use a markup language.

OSIS and ThML are two proposed file formats/presentation markup specifications that could be used. The essay What a Biblical Scholar should know, at ( http://bibleandtech.blogspot.com/2007/12/html-xml-osis-xsem-thml-usfm-what.html ), covers it partially. Do we need an Open Publishing Standard or What at ( http://www.bsreview.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=71 ) is a slightly different take on the subject. Michael Johnson's essay Bible File Encoding at http://ebible.org/usfx/Bible-encoding.htm and remains that only comprehensive general purpose essay. The wiki page File Formats ( http://www.crosswire.org/wiki/File_Formats ) covers file formats from the perspective of The Crosswire Bible Society.

I'll won't rant about database engines here, other than to say I'm extremely glad the e-Sword switched to SQLite.

From the POV of the other Bible Software Developers, why should they switch to LLS, or some variant thereof? From the POV of Libronix, why should they have to share the details of the LLS structure to their competitors? [For all practical purposes, there is only one organization whose software has a chance of taking over, and dominating Libronix --- if it sets its mind to doing so. It is not Oak Tree Software. Nor is it e-Sword.]

Peter Li's suggestion about going to the cloud sounds nice. Just explain how you do Bible study on your desktop when there is no cloud? The Crosswire Bible Society solution is for that problem is for user to setup their own Bible Study Software cloud, if they don't want to use a front end with the content locally installed.