Beyond Bible Texts
Take a read of Mark Kellner's article in the Washington Times today. Library in your pocket is a very cool review of Logos 4.
What really got me thinking is the remarks at the end which reflect a scenario I've been pondering over for some time...
But think, for a moment, beyond the (rather large) "niche" market of people who study the Bible and related resources. Think of doctors, lawyers, accountants or anyone who needs to consult a wide range of texts — some old and some modern — on a continual basis. I would imagine that the Logos Bible Software "engine" could be adapted to these areas and that similar benefits could emerge..
--KELLNER: Library in your pocket - Washington Times
The reality is that the industries listed have hundreds or thousands of their own resources, not religious in nature. Imagine thousands of Medical texts, drug interactions, and special journals / or the hundreds of thousands of legal decisions, congressional documents - hey even the multiple drafts of the health-care reform bill all available on the Logos platform. It has amazing potential for those industries. It also has amazing potential for revenue.
The obvious problem with such a move however is the unintended consequences.
Logos is a company dedicated to Christ, and to creating tools for Bible Study. Doubtless there's more money in the Legal industry than in the pastoral pool. I can easily conceive of a worse case scenario in which the Medical or more likely, the legal wing of such an attempt could overwhelm the Bible corner in a negative sense.
But wait a minute. I've seen enough of Logos' corporate character (and the character of the people who run the corporation) to believe that such an unsavory end is more than unlikely - it's next to impossible. But I'm no fool either. Human nature is what it is. Evil.
That said, I still don't think it's a bad idea for Logos to create a subsidiary partner who's charter document states that they will always be subservient to the Bible Platform or that spins off entirely into the legal or medical realm - with the understanding that the legal and medical groups can dedicate themselves to creating texts, and the engine will remain the property of Logos Bible division.
Mind you, I don't honestly believe any of this is in the pipeline or that Logos is even considering anything beyond Bible and related texts - and right now they have their hands quite full with that. But with Kellner's article out there, no matter how you slice it, it is an interesting thing to consider.
What say you?
- tcblack's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Comments
As I recall, one reason Logos created the Libronix brand so that such a move could happen by creating other brands for other industries, but they later abandoned the idea... (Hence the return of Logos as a brand rather than Libronix.) I didn't find a reference in a quick web search, so I assume I read this in the Logos Newsgroups when Libronix 3 was new...
I also recall that and believe reference was made to it at http://www.libronix.com/page.aspx?id=home, though a quick look through the site now and I couldn't find the reference. There was talk of using in particular I think for both the legal and medical industries. Interesting thing I did not there was discussion of a web interface for Libronix. If work was done on it, as users we did not see it, though maybe there was some internal prototype, though we are now very much seeing that concept implemented with Logos 4 and beyond.
Interesting article, but he's oddly "compelled" to use quotation marks!
Legal stuff seems fairly innocuous, but could there be a situation where they get angst for not, say, including abortion information in the medical publishing affiliate? I wouldn't think there would be any regulatory problems from the government (yet...) but I can see crusaders getting cranky about it and stiring the pot.