Software | Nerdlets

Don’t Pay for Software

Software, Webapps and Websites 3 Responses »

Oct 062008

I am still a little surprised that people are willing to shell out hundreds of dollars on computer software when there are often dozens of free alternatives available. Most of us use computers for pretty basic tasks: emailing friends, browsing the internet, editing photos, listening to music, writing letters, and maintaining blogs. All of these tasks—and many others—can be performed using excellent free software that is easily installable and maintainable.

Why you should not be afraid of “Free”

Consumer Reports recently ran an article instructing its readers to be suspicious of free software. There reasons were sound, but only apply to a certain kind of “free.” There is certainly a lot of “free” stuff on the internet that can cost you in the end, but there are also a lot of excellent resources as well; the trick is being able to tell the difference.

I think the other reason people are afraid of free software is that they assume it’s “second class.” Since it’s free, it can’t be very good. Again, this applies to some software, but not the kind I’m talking about. Think about it this way: who would you rather buy a car from? Do you pick the used car dealer, primarily interested in his bottom line? Or do you pick the enthusiastic hobbyist, the guy (or girl) who refurbishes old cars because he loves it? All things being equal, the second individual is probably the more trustworthy.

So what do you mean be “free”?

There are three kinds of free. The first type of free software is “free” software—notice the quotation marks. This includes malware (software that pretends to be useful, but actually damages your computer), shareware (software that pretends to be free at first, but then cuts you off after a certain amount of time, or holds back on you until you pay its premium), and crapware (software that really is free, but sucks). Of these, shareware is the only one worth talking about, and even here you should be careful. While I don’t particularly care for the shareware model, there are some useful programs in this group.

The second kind of free software is free in the sense of “free beer.” Many programmers and organizations develop software for their own personal use, and while they want to maintain absolute control over their creation, they nevertheless offer it to others out of kindness (or self-promotion, or for some other non-monetary motivation). So this includes all software that is “closed” (the programmer does not release the source code) but does not require payment.

The third kind of free software is free in the sense of “free speech.” Free-speech software is (almost) always also free-beer software. The difference here is that in addition to being free to use, those who produce the software also publish the “source,” the internal nuts-and-bolts that determines how the software functions. This is useful for other programmers—anyone can improve or add functionality to the software, without having to ask permission or pay a fee. Firefox is a good example here; it is free to use and also free to modify, which means there are plugins that can do almost anything right in the comfort of your browser. This is the best kind of free because, in addition to keeping money in your wallet, you are not ultimately dependent on any one individual or organization, and so your software is less likely to go out of date or be unusable.

The Recommendations: Free Software you Should Download or Bookmark

Over the course of the next few weeks I will be posting about free software to get you started, organized by function. All the software will be at the very least “free beer” software (unless otherwise noted). Most of it will also be “free speech” (open-source) software. I will also include a number of web-apps, which are generally “free beer” services.

The following is a list of the types of software I will discuss in the forthcoming posts. You can check back here, as I will edit this page when new posts are available, or you can always subscribe to the blog and get updated automatically!

Planning/Productivity
Office
Music, Movies, and Media
Internet
Social
Utilities
Photos
Security.
Backup

Microsoft’s Answer to Linux?

Software, Tech/Gadgets 1 Response »

Oct 012008

This post describes an interesting development over at Redmond.

The new trend among tech-nerds are low-end computers (recently dubbed “netbooks”). The specifications may be “soooo 2006,” but laptop builders can make them super small, super efficient (all-day battery life), and super slick. Pack it full of extras like bluetooth support, wireless internet, and solid-state drives that don’t blink when you bounce them, and you have a fully-functional computer that can go anywhere you do. Oh, and they’re about half the price of a “normal” laptop. These work perfectly in a Web 2.0 world, a world in which most of your data is online anyway, and all you need is a internet connection to access and manipulate it. (If you’re in the market, check out these).

These low-end laptops have Microsoft a little nervous. Why? Because they’re increasingly popular but not really powerful enough to run something as bloated as Vista, and Microsoft wants to discontinue XP. The solution most computer manufacturers (the best for these little comps are Asus, Dell, and HP) have come up with is to use Linux. That makes me happy, since I love Linux, but it makes Microsoft sad.

So the release of a low-level OS designed to interface with webapps is a good move for Microsoft, though it might be too little too late.

There are other opinions about the future of Web 2.0 and cloud computing, however. Check them out here and here.

Big Leaps with Zotero

Software, Tech/Gadgets, Webapps and Websites 2 Responses »

Sep 302008

I am repeatedly impressed by the work going on at Zotero. The latest feature: online access to your data. That’s right, the data that you have synced with Zotero’s servers can now be accessed anywhere in the world; all you need is a web browser.

And here’s the beauty of it: any browser will do, even portable ones. More particularly, you can view and update your Zotero data from your iPhone or iPod Touch.

This has enormous possibility for pastors and academics. Think of all the times during the day when you have that brainstorm idea for a sermon example or theology paper, and no where to write it down. I have been carrying a tiny (wallet-sized) pen and mini-post-it-notes to make sure no brain bubbles are lost in the course of the day, but now there is no need. Simply access your Zotero database on your iPod Touch, add a little note under your sermon/paper entry (I have a seperate Zotero folder for each paper I write or sermon I preach), and you have an instant and always up-to-date repository of analogies and ideas.

Now if someone would only donate an iPod Touch to Nerdlets, I could write a full review!

Read the details of the newest updates, including a link to get things started, here.

RefTagger Now Supports Movable Type

Software, Webapps and Websites No Responses »

Sep 302008

Previously mentioned RefTagger now supports Movable Type, so if you use that platform, check out Logos’s recent how to.

Discourse Analysis Software from Logos

Biblical Greek, Books, Software No Responses »

Sep 292008

Good translations require a good understanding of how languages work. This requires more than just knowing a list of words and grammatical structures; it requires an understanding of why an author chooses this structure instead of that one. It requires an understanding of linguistic context, of the rules of discourse, of conventions of speech and genre. The tools and techniques by which exegetes can study these factors is called Discourse Analysis.

For a great introduction to Discourse Analysis, as well as other topics in linguistics and their impact on biblical studies, check out Cotterell’s Linguistics and Biblical Interpretation. Young’s Intermediate New Testament Greek also includes a wonderful introduction to Discourse Analysis, and includes several different methods for diagramming.

But the purpose of this post is to point out some software by Logos. First, there is a semantic/discourse diagramming feature bundled into Scholar’s Library (which looks very nice; Bibleworks includes grammatical diagramming, but not discourse diagrams). Check that out here. Additionally, they are now offering a complete discourse analysis of the New Testament. Check out the announcement, complete with screenshots and a video, here.

Zotero Supports 1100 Bibliographic Styles

Software No Responses »

Sep 232008

From their blog:

As the launch of Zotero 1.5 approaches we are excited to announce the availability of specific bibliographic styles for more than 1100 journals. Zotero now supports such diverse publications as French Historical Studies, the American Sociological Review, Accounts of Chemical Research, the Chinese Journal of Clinical Oncology, the British Medical Journal, American Political Science Review, and Oxford German Studies. We also remind Zotero users that most other publications are already supported through our generic styles.

Many of these styles require the Zotero 1.5 Sync Preview release.

You can find additional styles here. To install the Society of Biblical Literature Style go here.

FlashWorks Helps you Learn Greek Vocabulary

Biblical Greek, Software No Responses »

Sep 192008

I have had past experience with Mounce’s Flashworks software, a free Windows and Mac program designed to help you learn Greek, but it has gotten a serious upgrade since the last time I checked. Here’s the description on Mounce’s Website:

FlashWorks is a vocabulary drilling program. Each word is tagged for difficulty, type (noun, verb, etc.), chapter, and frequency in the Biblical text. You can then ask for any cross section you wish, such as “all verbs occurring more than 30 times in the New Testament that occur in chapters 16 through 24 in the text and which I have tagged with a difficulty rating of three through five” (five being the most difficult for you). FlashWorks remembers words as you get them right and/or wrong and can automatically set the difficulty rating.

The download is a paltry 6mb, which is a good thing. Databases for the language (i.e., the actual vocab) are downloaded separately (though Greek is included). This, again, is a good thing; it allows the program to be modular, which means the same basic program can be used to learn any language. Databases are currently available for Greek, Hebrew, French, German, and Spanish. And you can always create your own.

You will need to download and install special fonts for Greek and Hebrew (links are available on the site), although it appears that Greek is included in the install. The software uses TekniaGreek and TekniaHebrew, which points up one big disadvantage to FlashWorks and the Teknia fonts: they are not Unicode fonts. If you don’t know what this means, or don’t know why unicode is important, check out my previous introduction to Unicode. The lack of unicode support is why I did not include the Teknia fonts in my list of Great Greek Fonts.

Installers are available for Windows and Mac, and it works beautifully in Wine on Linux (on Ubuntu). And did I mention it is free?

I do have a few qualms. The interface is terribly ugly, and the whole thing could use a usability overhall. Making your own word lists could be easier. I would love to be able to select/tag words in order to create a chapter-specific Machen vocab list, for example, but as it is that would be too time consuming. But it gets the job done, and that’s the important thing with Greek: memorize the vocab, then you can move on to more important matters!

Convert Non-unicode text to Unicode

Biblical Greek, Software No Responses »

Sep 162008

I have posted a series of guides on setting up a Unicode Greek Keyboard, complete with recommended fonts (here, here, and here). But what if you got there too late, and already have a host of documents in non-Unicode fonts? Well, here is a list of converters available, on a font by font basis, that will help you make the switch.

RefTagger Creates Bible Verse Popups for your Blog

Software 4 Responses »

Sep 132008

If you run a WordPress Blog you may be interested in Logos Bible Software’s RefTagger. It’s a handy little tool that automatically highlights and hyperlinks any biblical references in your blog. So if, for example, I begin to ramble about Heb. 2:9, the plugin will provide my readers with a popup so they know what I am talking about. Clicking on the link takes you to BibleGateway.com.

RefTagger is free, and has a number of wonderful options. You can select your preferred Bible Version (a global setting; you can’t change it on a case-by-case basis). You can also include links to the Libronix libarary, though I don’t have this software so cannot test it. Options are available for installing on other blogging software, but it is more difficult (copy/paste code in the right location).

Give it a run. It makes posting Bible-related content that much easier.

Make Your Own Flashcards with Teach 2000

Biblical Greek, Software No Responses »

Sep 122008

Its not the most user-friendly piece of software, but if you are interested in making your own flashcard sets, check out this post. It includes Unicode support, so Greek cards should not be a problem, provided you follow my guide to setting up a Unicode Greek Keyboard.

Greek students might also be interested in this post on effective vocabulary memorization, and this one about Greek Flash Card systems.