FLOSS OS and applications for Christian Organizations

In looking into setting up a foundation to take over e-Sword-users.org, one thing that repeatedly struck me, was that no Linux distro targeted the non-profit sector.

At least three quarters of the charitable organizations in England, do not meet the financial criteria that requires that they be registered with The Charitable Commission of England and Wales.  Not only is their gross annual revenue under five thousand pounds, but the trustees do not anticipate it exceeding that amount.


A 64 bit Linux or BSD distro that includes the following:

• Enterprise Resource Planing: OpenERP, ADempiere; 
• Accounting: WebERP, SMBLedger;
• Customer Relationship Management: vTiger_CRM;
• Content Management System: Drupal, MediaWiki;
• Telephone Communications: Asterisk;
• Audio Conferencing: ?;
• Video Conferencing: ? ;
• eMail archiving: Enkive;
• Backup System: Bacula, Ceder Backup,PyBackPack?;
• Office Suite Software: LibreOffice;
• Video Editing: OpenShot;
• Image Editing: The GIMP;
• Audio Editing: Audacity;
• Desktop Publishing: Scribus;
• Intraweb search engine: Hadoop / Nutch / Lucene / Solr / Tiki;
• Internet Web Search : Sphinx;
• Church Administration:  Churchinfo, ChurchDB;
• Outreach Management: Jethro Pastoral Ministry Manager;
• Worship Software: OpenLP;
• Data Mining: WEKA; Orange;

should be ideal for a church or other religiously orientated non-profit.

New Site for e-Sword resources.

With the demise of e-Sword-users.org on 13 May 2011, users of e-Sword have not had a web forum to discuss using e-Sword.

On 13 June 2011 that changed, with the public opening of BibleSupport.com.

Current forums are:
1: e-Sword Information and Support

• e-Sword General Discussion & Questions
• e-Sword Modules/Resources
• e-Sword Tools and Utilities
• Copyright & Licensing

2: e-Sword Technical Support

• e-Sword 9.x - 10
• e-Sword 8.x and converting to e-Sword 9.x

3: Theology Discussion

• Bible Study Material
• Bible Interpretations

Download categories are:

1: e-Sword 9.x Resources

• Bibles
• Commentaries
• Devotionals
• Dictionaries
• Topics
• Bible Reading Plans
• Graphics/Maps
• Harmonies
• Memory Verse Lists
• Study Notes
• Verse Lists

Currently, 794 resources for e-Sword 9.x are offered.

2: e-Sword 8.x Resources

• Bibles
• Commentaries
• Devotionals
• Dictionaries
• Topics
• Bible Reading Plans
• Graphics/Maps
• Harmonies
• Memory Verse Lists
• Study Notes
• Verse Lists

Currently, no resources for e-Sword 8.x are offered.

3: Utilities

Currently, the site three  utility programs:
e-Sword Hotkeys
e-Sword needs to be running for this program to work.

With this program running, when one selects a scripture reference, and then presses the hot key combination, e-Sword will come to the front, and display the verses that have been selected. The scripture reference can be from any program, or source that one is browsing. 
 ToolTip3 

This program was originally designed to convert scripture references into a format that e-Sword understood. It has since morphed into a general purpose e-Sword resource creation tool:

• Commentaries
• Dictionaries
• Topical Files
• Bible Translations
• Verse Lists

STEP2RTF
This program converts STEP resources to RTF format.  From RTF format, resources can be massaged for importing into any software that allows for user created content.
Note: The QuickVerse EULA prohibits format shifting.

e-Sword-users.org Future

http://sword-and-scabbard.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-should-happen-to-e-sword-usersorg.html is a blog post that contains the results of both polls.

To the 223 people that did vote: Thank You.

• The poll at the eSword list was in favour of the site running as a one man operation. (34%)
• The poll at e-sword-users.org was in favour of forming a non-profit organization. (45%)

Because the polls had different wording, the results can not be accurately merged together.   However, adding the votes for "incorporate" from the eSword list poll, and the votes for "incorporate as a non-profit" from the e-Sword-users poll, gives us 89 votes.  (The 93 votes results when one includes votes for "incorporate as a for-profit" in that tally.)

Short term:

The website will stay up until 1 October.

I am exchanging emails with a professional accountant, who is mulling over the job requirements.

I will be sending out emails to web designers this week.

Project Schedule:

• Date to be announced:  Submit all legally required financial reports for 2008;
• Date to be announced:  Submit all legally required financial reports for 2009;
• Date to be announced:  Submit all legally required financial reports for 2010;
• Date to be announced:  Submit all legally required financial reports for 2011;

1 May: Mission Statement Completed;
1 May: Define Core Activities;
1 May: Define Beneficiaries;
1 June: Submit Draft Bylaws;
1 July: Complete Bylaws;
1 July: Submit Budget Proposal;
1 August: Submit Website Redesign;
1 September: Submit Fundraising plans;
1 January 2012: Incorporate as a Non-Profit Foundation;

Long Term:
An "arms length" for-profit corporation be established, to generate revenue for the non-profit, by engaging in commercial activities which would otherwise be unavailable to the non-profit.  This strategy does require a professional accountant, to ensure that all transactions are "at an arm's length".

Taxes

Over the past week, I've been reading publications issued by various tax authorities.  I hope that I misunderstood them.  This is one reason why I want a professional accountant on board.

Do we really have to file a Tax return in Australia, because we received donations from Australia? And a tax return in Canada, because we received donations from Canada?  I am not opposed to filing the required paperwork.  I am not opposed to publicly providing copies of the financials to the general public.  Indeed, one of the job requirements of the treasurer/accountant is to make weekly and monthly posts stating the income and outgo of the website.

Unless there is a software program that automatically spits out the paperwork required for each of the 192 countries that have seats in the UN, or the 194 (+ 1) countries recognized by the United States, or the 203 countries listed as such in Wikipedia, or the 248 countries on the ISO 3166 list, or the 320 countries on the Traveller's Century Club list, it is not physically possible for one individual to fill out the paperwork that each potential entity might require.

###

This was originally posted to my blog at e-Sword-users.org, in April 2011. (Google claims it was on, or before 23 April  2011.)

Going Mobile

My PDA died the week before Christmas.

I've been looking at PDAs to put on my wishlist:

Operating system:

• Windows Mobile;
• iPhone/iPod Touch;
• Android;
• Blackberry;
• PalmOS;
• Symbian;
• Linux;

• If Pocket e-Sword was still supported, Windows Mobile would be the logical choice for me.
• Android & iPhone/iPod are fighting it out for first place in the mobile device market.
• Windows Mobile is successfully fighting for last place, in its quest to being dropped by everybody.

A11Y:
Code Factory/Mobile Speak:

• Windows Mobile;
• Symbian;
• Blackberry;

Other Screen Readers:

• Symbian: Nuance Talks;
• iPhone: VoiceOver is built in.

Speech Recognition:
iPhone: Voice Command is built in.
None of the available PDAs can be remotely described as meeting a11y criteria.



Bible Study Software:
Laridian:

• Palm OS: MyBible 5.0;
• Windows Mobile: Pocket Bible 4.0;
• iPod: PocketBible for the iPod;
• iPhone/iPod Touch: Pocket Bible &  Prayer Partner;
• Blackberry:  Noah Bible Study Viewer;
• Windows: Pocket Bible for Windows;

Bookbuilder:  This enables one to create their own original content for Laridian Bible Study Software.
They also offer tools that enable one to synchronize between devices.
Olive Tree:

• iPhone/iPod Touch: BibleReader 4;
• Android: BibleReader 4;
• Blackberry: BibleReader 4;
• Symbian: Bible Reader 4;
• Palm OS:  Bible Reader;
• Palm Pre:  Bible Reader for Palm Pre;
• Windows Mobile: Bible Reader;

Specifications for Olive Tree Markup Language were publicly released, to enable users to create their own resources.  However, I can't find anything on their website, or on The Way Back Machine, that describes any tools that enable users to create their own resources.
The Sword Project:

• Windows: The Sword Project for Windows;
• Linux: BibleTime;
• Macintosh: MacSword;
• iPhone/iPod Touch:  PocketPhone;
• Java: Alkitab Bible Study 2.4.1;
• Java Micro: Go Bible Reader;
• Android: Current workaround is build GoBible from source, using GetAPK; (There is a  better solution in the works.)
• Windows Mobile: SwordReader;
• QTopica: The QTopica Sword Reader;
• Nokia Tablets: Rapier;
• Opie: Dagger;
• They have a recommendation for the Palm OS: PalmBible+

Tools to create resources are available. Most of thse programs are distributed under the GNU GPL 2.0 license.
This has the most extensive cross-platform support.

Other:
As best as I can determine, all of the other players (in the mobile device market) confine themselves to a single platform --- usually the iPhone/iPod Touch.

http://rabblerule.blogspot.com/2010/01/iphone-bible-app-comparison.html is comparison of the major Bible Study Programs for the iPhone.  (Note: The creator was on the team that developed Logos Bible Software for iPhone.)
As best as I can determine, Olive Tree and Laridian are the only organizations that _might_ be actively developing their Windows Mobile Bible Study Software. The Sword Project put their offering into "support/bug fixes only" mode a month or so ago. All of the other organizations appear to have dropped both development, and support of their Bible Study Software.

Navigation features:
Ideally, it would have:

• GPS;
• Accelerometer;
• Compass;
• Altitude;

I think that these are all chips within the device.
I'd also like:

• Geocaching;
• WayTracking;
• Pre inputted way points;

These are a function of the software that is available for the device. Assuming the SDK is available, this can be written after acquisition, if not available prior to doing so.

eBook  reading:

• PDF: Viewers available for iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows, Linux, Mac, etc;
• ePub: Readers available for iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows, Linux, and Mac;
• mobi: Readers available for Palm, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows, Linux, and Mac Platforms;

Those are all the formats that my current eBook collection use.
Android is the missing platform here.

Audio, Image, and Video display:
I'm going to assume that any media player on a PDA can support mp3, mp4, ogg, wav, midi, avi, png, gif, and JPG.

Phone Carriers:
I like my current cell phone, so anything I'd get, would be without signing a contract.  Even if I didn't like my current cell phone, I could not agree to the obnoxious clauses in the contracts the cell companies are currently pushing.  I'd rather use Skype thru WiFi.

And in synopsis:

• Symbian sells handsets;
• Apple sells web visitors;
• Android sells excitement;

I haven't yet seen a netbook that included the navigation requirements I listed above. That would make the quest for a PDA irrelevant to me.

###

This was originally posted to my blog at e-Sword-users.org on 19 January 2010.

While you weren't looking

I'm still doing statistical analysis for my  talk on Friday at BibleTech 2010. :(
In double checking my figures,I realized that today:

• e-Sword-users.org has 11 284 members;

• eSword list has 7 328 members;
• e-Sword_Advanced_users has 2 419 members.
• e-Sword-espanol has 1 902 Members;
• Pocket e-Sword has 1 390 members;

On 6 February 2010, e-Sword-users.org had 10,000  members.
On 18 September 2009, e-Sword-users.org had 6,100 members.

What I'm trying to figure out, is how many resources have been downloaded from e-Sword-users.org, since it was setup.

###

Comment posted on 201004080235

APsit190 wrote:

>To deduce the actual numbers of e-Sword users worldwide would have to be only an estimate,

 

2 500 000 copies of e-Sword were downloaded last year.
My current guestimate is that 1 000 000 copies of e-Sword are distributed each year via CD and DVD.

My current guestimate is that there are 500 000 users of e-Sword.
I don't remember how I derived those figures. :(
[You can thank Windows for destroying that data.]

 Comment posted on 201003241350

DSaw wrote:

>What I/m curious about is daily and weekly visits

 

For the last two weeks, the most frequent visitor has been Yahoo's bot.

If I am reading the data correctly, about a quarter of the people that sign up, visit the site once. That data probably is flawed, because cookie bins are periodically cleaned.

Unique IP addresses don't work, because they aren't static.

###

This was originally posted to my blog at e-Sword-users.org on 19 March 2010.

e Sword: A Ten Year Review

This is my a current (20100316)  draft of a timeline of things related to e-Sword.   I'd greatly appreciate it if any corrections, or more importantly omissions are present.

2000

• April 2000: e Sword 1.0 released;
• August 2000: e Sword 2.0 released;
• 17 September 2000: e Sword 2.1 released;
• 31 August 2000: BibleSoftware list created at Yahoogroups¹;
• 7 November 2000: e Sword 2.2.0 released;
• 11 December 2000: e Sword 2.5.0 released;
• 12 December 2000: e Sword 2.5.1 released;

2001

• 7 January 2001: e Sword 3.0 released
• 7 January 2001: The earliest user manual for e-Sword that I could find, was released this day.
• 3 April 2001: e Sword 3.4 released
• 16 May 2001: e Sword 4.0 released
• 28 June 2001: e Sword 4.2 released
• 28 September 2001: e Sword 5.0 released

2002

• April 2002: e Sword 6.0 released
• October 2002: e Sword 6.5 released
• 7 December 2002: eSword at YahooGroups created by John Calvin Hall².

2003

• 15 January 2003: First template for Bible resources was released;
• 29 January 2003: First template for Commentary resources was released;
• 30 January 2003: e Sword Advanced Users created at yahoogroups;
• 1 February 2003: Tom Whitemore writes e Sword Module Creation Doc.
• 13 February 2003: CMT_Commentaries created at YahooGroups;
• 20 February 2003: e Sword YahooGroup. French language support list. First non-English support list;
• 26 February 2003: Basics Video: Official video documentation released;
• 26 February 2003: Phrase Video: Official video documentation released;
• 26 February 2003: Prayer Video: Official video documentation released;
• 26 February 2003: Reading Video: Official video documentation released;
• 26 February 2003: STEP Video: Official video documentation released;
• 26 February 2003: Strong’s Video: Official video documentation released;
• 26 February 2003: Study Video: Official video documentation released;
• 26 February 2003: topic Video: Official video documentation released;
• March 2003: e Sword 7.0 released;
• March 2003: The specifications for the Bible Reading Plan were revealed in a document posted in the file area of the eSword Yahoo group. Within 24 hours, the document had been replaced with one that omitted those specifications³;
• 5 April 2003: Module Making created at YahooGroups. This was for any Bible Study program. Few, if any resources were e Sword specific;
• 10 May 2003 (?): Bible Module Editor V 1.6.0012 was released;
• 23 June 2003: Richard’s Bible Study list created at Yahoogroups. This list was devoted to using Bible Study Software to study the Bible;
• 25 June 2003: e Sword Tutorial by Barrie Gordon and Johan Struwig was released. This remains the most current official released documentation for e Sword;
• 29 June 2003: Commentary Module Editor V 2.8 was released;
• 27 July 2003: MAP resource template was released by an e Sword user;
• 3 September 2003: Commentary Module Editor V 2.1⁴ was released;
• 4 September 2003. Tome Whitemore writes e Sword Module Creation Details Doc.
• 5 September 2003: First template for Devotional resources was released;
• 20 November 2003: e Sword español created on YahooGroups. First Spanish language support list;
• 8 December 2003: Programme Biblose. This was the first Spanish Language support list for a utility program;
• 30 December 2003: eSword list recreated by Brother Gordo⁵. This was intended as a support list for a utility program --- Bible Import Tool;
• Unknown: e Sword_Unofficial_Users_Group created;

2004

• 21 January 2004: e SwordModules created at YahooGroups. This was the first e Sword support list to be placed in the adult category, at its inception;
• 9 February 2004: NIV MDB released. This is an MS Access macro that converts the NIV imported from Crosswalk into a Red Letter edition;
• 17 February 2004: Pocket e-Sword 1.5 is released;
• 22 February 2004: Pocket e Sword list created at Yahoogroups;
• 17 March 2004: First message posted to the Pocket e Sword list;
• 25 April 2004: BibelVersion list created at Yahoogroups. This was yet another discussion of Bible translations;
• 24 May 2004: e Sword_unofficial_users_group2 created at YahooGroups;
• 25 May 2004: Pocket e-Sword 1.8 is released.
• 24 May 2004: Article on e-Sword at Wikipedia was deleted.
• August 2004: Michael Hanson wrote Studying the Bible for Free in Stimulus Vol 12 No 3 August 2004. This is a review of gratis Bible Study Software;
• June 2004: The Bible Compare Tool is released⁶;
• 26 October 2004: First template for Bible resources that includes the Apocrypha was released;
• 13 November 2004: First template for Topical file resources was released;
• 28 December 2004: The_e Sword_Unofficial_Users_Group created at YahooGroups;
• 29 December 2004: e Sword Off Topic created. This was created to shunt non e Sword discussions to;
• December 2004 (?): Frank Hendriksen writes documentation for using e Sword on a Linux box at http://frankscorner.org .

2005

• 13 January 2005: John Marsing writes TorahCycleScreenShots.doc, as part of an RFE proposal;
• 16 January 2005: The e Sword Utility Program FAQ V 0.0.1 was released in PDF Format.
• 18 January 2005: The e Sword Utility Program FAQ V 0.0.3 was released as a topical file;
• 21 January 2005: Unbiased_esword created at YahooGroups. This list was orientated towards Jehovah’s Witnesses;
• 9 February 2005: Text2DAO V 1.0 was released at House of Myrrh. This was a working Beta release of a Geek toy for creating e Sword resources;
• 19 February 2005 (¿24 February 2005?): Unbiased_esword deleted. This was the first list to be deleted due to potential copyright issues;
• 19 February 2005: The e Sword Module Database Version 0.1 is released. This is a specification for a database that lists every known e Sword resource. The theory was that Text2DAO would use the data to enable users to import “new” resources into e Sword;
• 24 February 2005: Biblical_Module_Developers_From_Romania created. Romanian language list for creating resources;
• 28 February 2005: Text2DAO Version: 1.2005.0.228 released on eSword group;
• 28 February 2005: Text2DAO Version: 1.2005.0.2282 released on eSword group. This was the second update that day;
• 28 February 2005: Text2DAO Version: 1.2005.0.2283 released on eSword group. This was the third update that day;
• February 2005: e Sword for Jehovah’s Witnesses CD. This was a privately distributed CD of material from The Watch Tower Library CD. The entire compilation is a copyright violation;
• February 2005: John Marsing publicly distributes an e Sword RFE that he had submitted to Rick earlier that year. The RFE is for e Sword to provide a Parashoit component⁷.
• 10 March 2005: Text2DAO Version: 1.2005.0.310 released on eSword group;
• 15 March 2005: Text2DAO Version: 1.2005.0.3151 released on eSword group;
• 15 March 2005: Text2DAO Version: 1.2005.0.3152 released on eSword group. This was the second release that day;
• 21 March 2005: e Sword_LION created at YahooGroups;
• 30 March 2005: The e Sword Utility Program FAQ V 0.0.32 was released in PDF Format. This document was 313 pages long;
• 16 April 2005: Text2DAO Version: 1.2005.0.416 released at House of Myrrh;
• 11 May 2005: Bible Import Tool 2.6 was released.
• 13 May 2005: Text2DAO Version: 1.2005.0.513 released at House of Myrrh;
• 15 May 2005: Jason Evans released e Sword for Linux : Written for the e Sword Mailing List . (http://theologygeekblog.us )
• 27 May 2005: First draft of The Pocket e Sword FAQ is written;
• 28 May 2005: The WordPad Editor Version 0.903 was released. This was a second beta release;
• May 2005 (¿between March and May?): Programma_Biblos list deleted;
• 5 June 2005: eSwordTopic created at YahooGroups;
• 8 June 2005: Bible Import Tool 2.7.2 was released.
• 24 June 2005: Text2DAO Version: 1.2005.0.624 released at House of Myrrh;
• 24 June 2005: 1410H: Text2DAO Version: 1.2005.0.6241 released at House of Myrrh. This was the second release that day;
• 12 July 2005: The Pocket e Sword FAQ (First Public Release) is released;
• 19 July 2005: eswordPrayer created at YahooGroups;
• July 2005: e Sword 7.5 released;
• 20 July 2005: 2000H: Text2DAO Version: 1.2005.0.720 released at House of Myrrh;
• 25 July 2005: User_Modules2 created at Yahoogroups;
• 25 July 2005: Usermade_Modules2 created at Yahoogroups;
• 27 July 2005: e SwordBaptist created at YahooGroups;
• 5 August 2005: Baptist_Doctrine_History created at YahooGroups;
• 13 August 2005: The e Sword Utility Program FAQ V 0.0.60.0 / 20050813 was released as a Topical file;
• 29 August 2005: e Sword_Calvary_Chapel created at YahooGroups;
• 11 August 2005: The Potential of e Sword is released. This document provides pointers on more effectively using e Sword;
• 13 August 2005: The e Sword Utility Program FAQ V 0.0.60.0 / 20050813 was released as topical file;
• August 2005: Bible Versions Info. This document describes the differences between the various translations of the Bible that are available for e Sword. The PDF was created on 25 August 2005. Neither the name, nor date of the original Microsoft Word Document were retained in either the text or the meta data of the PDF version;
• 6 September 2005: The e Sword Utility Program FAQ V 0.0.61.0 / 20050906 was released in PDF format. Several editions were released;
• 6 September 2005: The e Sword Utility Program FAQ V 0.0.61.0 / 20050906 QRF was released in PDF format. The Quick Reference Guide consisted of 1 333 pages;
• 6 September 2005: The e Sword Utility Program FAQ V 0.0.61.0 / 20050906 RF was released in PDF format. The Reference Guide consisted of 719 pages;
• 6 September 2005: The e Sword Utility Program FAQ V 0.0.61.0 / 20050906 VBRF was released in PDF format. The Very Big Reference Guide consisted of 1 235 pages;
• 10 October 2005: The e Sword Utility Program FAQ V 0.0.62.0 / 20051010 was released in PDF Format;
• 19 October 2005: The Pocket e Sword FAQ (Second public release) is released;
• 1 November 2005: e Sword_Modules created at YahooGroups;
• 4 November 2005: Tutorial Biblos Released. Spanish language documentation on using Biblos;
• 29 November 2005: HebrewInterlinear created at Yahoogroups;
• 8 December 2005: e Sword: The Scripture Memory Component was released. This is an unofficial supplement Barrie Gordon and Johan Struwig's e Sword Tutorial For Version 7.0;
• 11 December 2005: eSwordemail created at Yahoogroups;
• 27 December 2004: e Sword_Unofficial_Users_Group was deleted. The alleged cause was list vandalism;

2006

• 16 January 2006: The e Sword Utility Program FAQ v 0.0.65.0/20060116 was released in PDF format⁸. This document consisted of 43 sections, each of which was released as a separate document;
• 20 January 2006: e Sword_Copyright created at YahooGroups;
• 20 January 2006: e Sword_Theology_Doctrine created at YahooGroups;
• 2 March 2006: eSwordWeslyan created at YahooGroups;
• 9 February 2006: e Sword CD labels released. This is for users to put on CDs, and CD Covers. By this point in time, a number of users were burning e Sword, and resources onto CDs and DVDs that they then distributed;
• 8 March 2006: e Sword_Chat created at YahooGroups. Social list;
• 9 March 2006: e Sword_Tools created at YahooGroups. Third list for supporting an e Sword utility program.
• 10 March 2006: e Sword_Unofficial_Users_Group1 created at YahooGroups;
• 10 March 2006: Unbiased_e Sword recreated at YahooGroups⁹;
• 10 March 2006: Gnostic_e Sword created at YahooGroups;
• 10 March 2006: Unbiased esword recreated at YahooGroups;
• 14 March 2006: e Sword_Debate created at YahooGroups;
• 24 March 2006: e Sword_Nederlands created at YahooGroups. First Dutch support list;
• 26 March 2006: e Sword español modulos created at YahooGroups. This list was created as a repository for Spanish language e Sword resources;
• 27 March 2006: e Sword-Berea created at YahooGroups; (Spanish language Bible Study using e Sword);
• 28 March 2006: e Sword español modulos created at YahooGroups. (Spanish language resources for e Sword.);
• 29 March 2006: e SwordSeminary created at YahooGroups;
• 5 April 2006: 1075 books that are available for e Sword released by MacDougall, for the e Sword Seminary list;
• 8 April 2006: eSwordRM created at Yahoogroups;
• 11 April 2006: Bible Translations created at YahooGroups;
• 20 April 2006: KJVFundamentalBaptistTheology created at YahooGroups;
• 20 April 2006: Modern Day Bereans created at YahooGroups.
• 3 May 2006: e Sword_German created at YahooGroups. First German language support list;
• May 2006: The e Sword Seminary CD released. This was the first CD of user created resources to be publicly distributed¹⁰;
• May 2006: e Sword_Unofficial_Users_Group1 deleted;
• 5 June 2006: Module Making deleted. The list owner was consolidating their lists;
• June 2006: http://bibletranslations.pbwiki.com/ is updated for the last time;
• Summer 2006: Arabic resources for e Sword are distributed both inside, and outside the 10-40 belt;
• July 2006: KJVFundamentalBaptistTheology list deleted. Reason unknown.
• 19 July 2006: eSwordPastorHelps created at YahooGroups;
• 20 July 2006: e Sword_Mormon created at YahooGroups;
• 20 August 2006: Baptist_Doctrine_History deleted by owner from YahooGroups. (List consolidation);
• 20 August 2006: e SwordBaptist deleted by owner from YahooGroups. (List consolidation);
• 24 August 2006: Orthodoxe Sword list at YahooGroups created;
• August 2006: eSwordPrayer deleted;
• August 2006: e SwordSeminary deleted;
• 21 October 2006: eSwordMail on Groups.google.com created;
• 21 November 2006: BeST_2006-11-21 was released. This was the final version of BeST 1.x to be released;
• 25 November 2006: Http://www.e Sword.pbwiki.com was deleted. This wiki was subsequently recreated by David Cox;
• November 2006: Modern Day Bereans deleted. Reason unknown;
• 1 December 2006: eSwordemailClassic created at YahooGroups;
• 5 December 2006: Article on Wikipedia was deleted;
• 14 December 2006: Article on Wikipedia was restored;
• 14 December 2006: Recreated article on Wikipedia was redeleted;
• 22 December 2006: e Sword 7.8.2 released;
• 26 December 2006: e Sword 7.8.3 released;

2007

• 1 January 2007: e Sword 7.8.5 released;
• 1 January 2007: Request for recreation of e-Sword article on Wikipedia was declined, because it failed “our inclusion guidelines for web content”¹¹;
• 6 January 2007: The e Sword Utility Program FAQ v 0.0.69.0/20070106 was released in PDF format;
• February 2007: Bible_Translations group deleted. Reason unknown;
• 15 January 2007: e Sword4Linux created at Yahoogroups;
• 15 January 2007: e Sword4Mac created at Yahoogroups;
• 15 January 2007: eSword-Accessibility created at Yahoogroups;
• January 2007: e Sword_Booksmarks.html released. This was a list of e Sword support sites, and module repositories formatted for importing into one’s web browser;
• 15 Febraury 2007: Article was recreated on Wikipedia;
• 1 March 2007: e SwordArt created at Yahoogroups¹²;
• 1 March 2007: Yahoogroups increases the allotted file space from 10 MB to 100 MB. Prior to this date, the majority of lists at Yahoogroups were created to distribute user created resources from;
• 5 April 2007: eSwordPrayer recreated at YahooGroups;
• 30 April 2007: Christopedia list at YahooGroups created;
• 2 May 2007: Catholic_e Sword list at YahooGroups created;
• 2 May 2007: Jewish_e Sword list at YahooGroups created;
• 7 June 2007: List Guidelines and Announcements
• Version 1.0 / 20070607 released. This was the first document that was only concerned with e Sword list behavior;
• 21 September 2007: The e Sword Utility Program FAQ v 0.0.A0.0/20070910 was released in PDF format¹³.
• October 2007 (?): e Sword-Users at Google Groups created;
• 4 November 2007:The e Sword Utility Program FAQ v 0.0.A1.0/20071104 was released in PDF format;
• December 2007: e Sword 7.9.0 released. This is a Beta Release;
• December 2007: e Sword 7.9.1 released. This is a Beta Release;

2008

• 5 January 2008: List Guidelines and Announcements
• Version 1.1 / 20080105 was released;
• 25 January 2008: List Guidelines and Announcements
• Version 1.2 / 20080125 was released;
• 5 February 2008: List Guidelines and Announcements
• Version 1.3 / 20080205 was released;
• 5 February 2008: Developer support for BeST 1.x ended;
• 20 February 2008: List Guidelines and Announcements
• Version 1.4 / 20080220 was released;
• 17 January 2008: e Sword 7.9.3 released;
• 20 January 2008: e Sword 7.9.4 released;
• 30 January 2008: e Sword 7.9.5 released;
• 19 February 2008: e Sword 7.9.6 released;
• 20 February 2008: e Sword 7.9.7 released;
• 25 February 2008: e Sword 7.9.8 released;
• 10 March 2008: Wikipedia Article AfD in bundle. Result was “Keep”;
• 25 March 2008: List Guidelines and Announcements
• Version 1.5 / 20080325 released;
• 3 April 2008: List Guidelines and Announcements
• Version 1.6 / 20080403 released;
• 22 April 2008: List Guidelines and Announcements
• Version 1.7 / 20080422 released;
• 25 April 2008: List Guidelines and 6 January 20Announcements
• Version 1.8 / 20080425 released;
• 17 May 2008: e Sword Slovakia at Google Groups created;
• May 2008: e-Sword Live! goes public.
• 19 June 2008: Wikipedia Article AfD. Result was “Keep”.
• 20 August 2008: e Sword 8.0.0 released. This is a Beta Release;
• 28 August 2008: e Sword 8.0.1 released. This is a Beta Release;
• 1 October 2008: e Sword 8.0.3 released. This is a Beta Release;
• 11 October 2008: e Sword 8.0.4 released;
• October 2008: e Sword-users.org created;
• 19 November 2008: e Sword 8.0.5 released;
• December 2008: e Sword-users.org goes public;
• 28 December 2008: e Sword 8.0.6 released;

2009

• 1 April 2009(?): e Sword 9.0.0 released. This is a Beta Release;
• 17 April 2009: e Sword 9.0.1 released;
• 7 May 2009: e Sword 9.0.2 released;
• 12 May 2009: List Guidelines and Announcements
• Version 1.A / 20090512 released;
• 17 May 2009: e Sword 9.0.3 released;
• August 2009: e Sword 9.5.1 released;
• August 2009: Dr. David S. Thomason released e Sword Seminar: The Tools of the Trade for Serious Bible Study!
• 11 December 2009: List Guidelines and Announcements Version 1.B / 20091211. This was not publicly released;

1This is the earliest reference to a user support list for e Sword, that I could find.

2This information is from e Sword Module Creation Details (Revisited and Revised). Rick Meyer’s email archive includes list mail from November and December 2002. In late 2003, this list was mysteriously deleted. (The explanation at the time was that the owners account had been hacked into. The more plausible explanation is that it was erroneously deleted by Yahoo’s automated deletion bot.)

3I read the announcement about the documentation in the morning. When I went to download it that afternoon, the document had already been replaced.

4Numbering of this tools is both inconsistent, and non-sequential.

5This information is from the eSword list history on YahooGroups. The first message to the list states that the earlier list had been mysteriously deleted.

6The Free Sword Team uploaded it to the Yahoo eSword File Archive, but did not announce it then.

7As of December 2009, that component was not included in e Sword. The workaround was to create the Parashoit as a devotional resource each year.

8The header of this document claimed a release date of 16 January 2005. This error occurred because I forgot that the year also changed. The version number had the year correct, because I put a macro that automatically calculates today’s date, in the version release date field.

9I recreated most of the lists that had been previously deleted, to prevent them from being recreated for advocates of practising Matthew 5:28.

10As far as I know, neither that CD, nor images of it, were distributed after the e SwordSeminary list was deleted in August 2006.

11 This was not for e-Sword Live!, but for the e-Sword executable that runs on one’s computer.

12This list was names after the owner.

13The discrepancy in release dates was due to packaging the different editions of The e Sword Utility Program FAQ.

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This was originally posted to my blog at e-Sword-users.org on 17 March 2010, with a title of e-Sword Timeline: Take one. I did not fix the errors and changes that are the result of the cut and paste from Google Cache.