Lost in upgrade: BDBLEX (Whitaker)?

[David Kummerow]

I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed that version 7 is missing something that version 6 had: Whitaker's Revised BDB (BDBLEX). Now, I could simply be wrong, but I cannot see either how to install it or mentioned in the help files (as in version 6).

If this is the case, how might I get the version 6 files to be recognised under version 7 so that I may use this lexicon?

Thanks,
David Kummerow.

[Mark Eddy]

You are correct. Whittaker's abridged BDB does not exist in BW7. I don't know all the reasons for leaving it out, but there were many typos in it, and since BW7 contains the full BDB (much corrected from the BDB in BW6), I guess the decision was made not to take the time that would have been needed to correct the abridged BDB also. Since Whittaker's contained no information that cannot be found in the full BDB, BW7 users are losing nothing, except perhaps a little time to scroll through the longer entries in full BDB.
I think that it would take some programming changes in various places for BW7 to recognize the Whittaker's BDB files from BW6 so that they could be read in the Lexicon Browser and the Word Analysis and Resource Summary windows.
I initially missed the abridged BDB in BW7 (for a couple days), since I liked its conciseness. But I think you'll quickly get used to using the full BDB, as I did. And the corrections are truly a vast improvement over what BW6 had to offer in either version of BDB.
Mark Eddy

[David Kummerow]

Thanks Mark for the reply. I now know that it's not just me installing something incorrectly.

I'm more than comfortable with full BDB, but for cutting-and-pasting basic "word and definition" into Word for my Hebrew class stuff, Whitaker I found to be the best: you can copy "word and definition" without intervening verse references etc.

I simply can't believe that a lexicon from a pervious version hasn't been carried forward. And without any mention of this to users. Might it be an oversight and it will be released soon? I do hope so!

A further problem is that you can't have a previous version of BW installed alongside the current version. So if I want to use the lexicon for some class preparation, I'll have to have a designated "BW 6" machine. This is rediculous. Hopefully Whitaker will make a "return" to BW.

David Kummerow.

[Adelphos]

Hopefully Whitaker will make a "return" to BW.

Hear! hear!

[Dale A. Brueggemann]

Whittaker's abridged BDB does not exist in BW7.... I liked its conciseness.

And now we have Holladay for conciseness.

[David Kummerow]

And now we have Holladay for conciseness.

But not quite like in the same way Whitaker was. Holladay gives the word or root, then all of its various forms, then definition; Whitaker gave the word or root then definition. Holladay, therefore, is more clumsy for simple cutting-and-pasting of "word and definition", ie it would be at least a two-stage process, firstly to grab the word and then return to secondly grab the definition.

[SCSaunders]

I appreciate what BDB’s “mini-me” provided, but I think Holladay does a better job. One-two cutting and pasting may be hard work; but that’s Paradise compared to the Sheol of the old days. We had to neanderthal through our study time on Smith Coronas. To work those solid metal QWERTY keys, you had to grow some knuckles.

[Adelphos]

Of course, some people will prefer Holladay and some Whitaker. It's like an interface, i.e., it's largely a matter of preference. Actually, I've pretty much gotten used to Hollady now so that I prefer it over Whitaker.

However, I think David's main point is that since Whitaker existed in the previous versions, it would be very simple to merely add it back in to version 7.

No one would be forced to use it, but for those who prefer it, it would be there. Nor would it be in the way for anyone who didn't want to use it, especially with the option to include/exclude lexicons in the Analysis window.

Unless I am very much mistaken, from a programming standpoint it would be child's play to add it back in, even if the links are not electrified as in the other lexicons.

You can't go around spoiling people with toys and then suddenly take them away. Just ask Mattel.

[David Kummerow]

...However, I think David's main point is that since Whitaker existed in the previous versions, it would be very simple to merely add it back in to version 7....

You can't go around spoiling people with toys and then suddenly take them away. Just ask Mattel.

Exactly. When BW 7 was released, there was all the promotion about what was "new" in the new version, often highlighted in blue to standout. But nothing was said to my knowledge about what had been "removed" from the previous version. Could I be forgiven for thinking that all previous lexicons would carry through from one version to the next in the absence of an explicit statement to the contrary by the programmers? If a Greek lexicon suddenly dropped out from version 6 to 7, there'd be an uprour I'd expect.

[David Kummerow]

And not to mention I feel slightly ripped off. I paid for the use of the Whitaker lexicon in a previous version and now I can't use it. I upgraded from 6 expecting the same resources in 7 not minus anything. I do hope this is not a trend that will continue...