BibleSoure - Next Chapter as an "OpenSource" Project

[OpenSource]

BibleWorks team,
Let me commend you for a job well done!
Your contribution to Biblical Studies is significant.

Next Chapter for BibleWorks
I would commend to you the idea of "gifting" your code base for its next chapter as an Open Source project.

Anyone else interested in seeing BibleWorks continue as an OpenSource Project?
If so, complete the associated poll and provide your responses to this thread. Thanks!

[ERINCORRIGAN]

I would love to see BibleWorks continue as an open source project. But, there are licensing issues and the problem of finding the right people to manage the open source project ongoing. The wrong people, with the wrong philosophy, could ruin it. I voted yes for open source, but am skeptical that it can or should become a reality for fear of the wrong people taking charge.

[Lee]

This idea has already been rebuffed. As Mike said, "Open sourcing the program is really out of the question. It is too dependent on licensed material."

[ETC]

How about open source base code and everything BW owns the copyright to and a non-profit organization staffed by volunteers for processing licensing?

[salgirgenti]

BibleWorks team,
Let me commend you for a job well done!
Your contribution to Biblical Studies is significant.

Next Chapter for BibleWorks
I would commend to you the idea of "gifting" your code base for its next chapter as an Open Source project.

Anyone else interested in seeing BibleWorks continue as an OpenSource Project?
If so, complete the associated poll and provide your responses to this thread. Thanks!

I also wish BW to continue as open source project. There isn't any comparable Bible study software anywhere in the world. Will be lost without it.

[haydnguy]

I don't thinking open sourcing is the way to go. With "normal" software I would say yes. In order to make that work, Bibleworks would have to have it's own private "repo" and have a very strict screening process. But once it get's out there, it's really not private anymore.

There has to be some way to save Bibleworks. It's too valuable to let it die. I'm only a layperson (not a pastor) and I love it. I don't get full use out of it because I don't know the original languages but I still get so much out of it. I've been with it since version 6. (I'm on version 9 right now but am going to try and upgrade before the time limit.)

[stevedaley]

I understand that there are many parts of BW10 that are licensed and not free to distribute, but being an open source program doesn't mean that everything needs to be free either. I would switch to using Xiphos which is an open source Bible study program, but it seems to suffer from a lack of "modules" which I would be willing to pay for. If the core of the Bible study program that does the searches and opens the windows, and reads the inputs from button presses is open source that can be worked on by a community that makes sure it works with whatever platforms they want to support. I would pay for an electronic copy of an up to date Greek and Hebrew text module with Morphology. I would pay for dictionaries and reference works. I would pay for a map module that probably has licensed data if I could know that the "engine" running underneath is open source and could always be worked on by people who know how to program the computer language it is written in.

This was the original promise of Logos 1.0 years ago sounded similar to my hope expressed above. An engine that would always be free and would continue to increase in features, and you just have to buy the books you want to search and reference in your library. Then they started baking search features and program functions into packages that you needed to buy with each version upgrade. So I couldn't get a better "engine" for free anymore, I had to pay for "engine" or program function upgrades too. Admittedly, they have a free core that still works with your current library, but for the new search and original language features, I would need to spend over $1500 to upgrade my current library. I moved to Bibleworks 9 and got all of the original language tools I had in Logos, plus many that I didn't have from my original Logos Scholars edition for $389 I think. Now I didn't get all the other books that I had with the old Scholars edition, but admittedly, I didn't use those books anyway. Just give me my grammars, dictionaries, and original texts, please. :-)

Bibleworks had a different model that they have always stayed faithful too, and for that, I have a huge amount of respect for this excellent product. They offered reasonably priced versions with very reasonably priced upgrades (often at least half the cost of the original cost) from one version to the next. With each upgrade, you were paying for enhanced program functionality and additional resources or "books". The value offered with each upgrade was always excellent.

So perhaps because of how the code is written and how the licenses were received, we can't open source BW10, but I hope that one day I can use the tools/resources I use in BW10 in something like Xiphos where a community of programmers can keep the "engine" functional and continue to add new features long after developers move on to other pursuits or to glory. The Bibleworks team has created a real treasure for those of us who treasure the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. Thank you!