Is it worth upgrading from 6 to 7

[Radiulo]

Are there enough advantages in BW7 to justify the cost ($150) of upgrading from BW6?

[NumberMan™]

You best bet is to look at the new features list and see if any of those would benefit your research or study of scripture. I think some of the new modules only run on 7?

So far so good. I like it alot.

[Mark Eddy]

Is the upgrade worth $150? That depends on what you use BW for. If you want to do your own Greek word studies and want to have all the works cited in BDAG available, then you'll want to upgrade, because BW7 includes Philo in addition to Josephus and the Apostolic Fathers, and all of these now have morphology versions.
If you want help in OT studies, BW7 has various Targums and another Hebrew OT text. There are also hyperlinks in BDB, so that you can quicly look at the verses listed there, and hopefully soon there will be a fix for all the typos that were in the BDB available in BW6. Also there have been thousands of corrections made in the links between WTT and the correct entry in BDB. Getting wrong BDB entries was a real hastle in BW6.
If you want to use the BW editor a lot, making lots of chapter or verse notes, you'll want to upgrade, because the new editor doesn't crash unexpectedly, and you can make both chapter and verse notes.
If you want to add on more lexicons or grammar books, then you'll need to upgrade. BW7 has "Little Kittel" Blass-Debrunner-Funk, and a bunch of other works available as add-ons which can't be added to BW6.
But if 6.0 is meeting your needs, you don't need to upgrade. Maybe someone can buy it for your birthday.
Mark Eddy

[MBushell]

Go to the BibleWorks web site at www.bibleworks.com and review the new features and the new databases added to the base package. If nothing there seems worthwhile, then you don't need the upgrade. We always try to make upgrades well worth the price.

Rememeber also that you can try it for 30 days and if you don't think it is worth it, all you'll be out is the postage. You won't be hassled if you want to return it. If it's not for you we don't want your money.

Mike

[jfidel]

I was wondering the same thing, did the analysis and determined the value was definitely there for me.

Here are the features and resources that sold me:

1. External Linking (primarily to link to Logos)
2. Gingrich Greek NT Lexicon
3. Holladay HALOT
4. Archer and Chirichign OT Quote in the NT
5. Tov-Polak Parallel BHS and LXX
6. Metzger's Textual Commentary (I have it in Logos, but if you don't have it, it is an excellent resource.)

The above resources alone would cost over the upgrade price. In addition the new interface is much easier to work with.

As Mike said, try it for 30 days and see. I say, if you try it you will definitely keep it.

John Fidel

[pingpongjedi]

I now count myself among the loyal. I just upgraded and am still learning to use all the features. I had only purchased version 6 back in December, so I really can't offer too much of an analysis of the differences, but I really appreciate the editor upgrade. The editor in version 6 was severly lacking, but in version 7, it is everything I need. version 7 also comes with tons of resources that I would not have otherwise.

[jdarlack]

Originally Posted by Radiulo

Are there enough advantages in BW7 to justify the cost ($150) of upgrading from BW6?

The following items are included in the base package upgrade to BibleWorks 7 (without purchasing any additionaly modules):

• Archer & Chirichigno - (not available electronically in any other platform; book available for $11.00 - $169.00)
• Gingrich's Shorter Lexicon - (not available electronically in any other platform; book available for $2.00 - $140.00)
• Philo (morphological database) - $99.95 Libronix; $100.00 Accordance
• Philo (English text) - $24.95 Libronix; $50.00 Accorcance
• Holladay's Shorter Lexicon - $34.95 Libronix
• Metzger's Texual Commentary - $34.95 Libronix
• Tov/Polak LXX/BHS aligned database - $100 Libronix
• Lust's LXX lexicon - $74.95 Libronix; $70.00 Accordance
• Apostolic Fathers - $69.95 Libronix pre-pub (includes morph text & three translations); $100 Accordance (Morph text only).

Keep in mind that many of the costs given above do not take into account the cost of the products as a part of a "package" in Accordance or Libronix. That being said, if you were to add up the cost of these resources (which are included in the upgrade to the base package of BibleWorks - not including the program enhancements or add-on modules) you can easily justify the upgrade!

[Ben Spackman]

Standard new modules you'd pay more for elsewhere aside , I think there's some functionality that is worth the upgrade by itself.

1) Pop-ups. When using a lexicon (or my notes) which lists multiple examples of the word (which is indeed the best way to understand it, looking at usage), references pop up in whatever versions you desire, simply by mousing over them, which multiplies the usefulness of the lexicon ten-fold, in my opinion.

2)Cross-linking- I can now link to the internet, Logos resources, just about anything I can figure out how to write the fairly simple code for. This is a dream.

3)Editor- I never took too many notes before v.7. However, now I find myself taking notes on just about everything, making pop-up cross-references to the Bible and other BW texts, notes on Hebrew/Aramaic with links to lexicons and grammars, links to relevant articles on-line or to Bible Review (which I have in Logos.)

BTW, did you know you can simply drag-and-drop text into the editor? Greek, Hebrew, English, it all comes in perfectly formatted (once I get my fonts set right.) This minor detail has made it much easier to indicate what part of the verse my notes are talking about, since I can just drag it in from the browse window. Try it!

[Adelphos]

Originally Posted by Ben Spackman

2)Cross-linking...

Keep in mind that the linking capability in the notes and editor is limited to Windows XP. It doesn't work in ME, 98, and as far as I know, any other OS except XP.

I should add, this is a Windows limitation; it is not a BibleWorks limitation.

[Joshua Luna]

Originally Posted by Ben Spackman

Standard new modules you'd pay more for elsewhere aside , I think there's some functionality that is worth the upgrade by itself.

Thanks for the comments Ben. It is one thing to look at the (great) additions; but BW is a great tool and hearing about the streamlined features of the tool are the most exciting parts to me