POLL: How did you first hear about Accordance Bible Software?

[Brian K. Mitchell]

How did you first hear about Accordance Bible Software?

Please praticipate in this poll and share your stories on how and when you first heard/learned of Accordance Bible Software.

 

Edited July 27 by Brian K. Mitchell

[ukfraser]

'My story:'

 

I switched from windows to apple.

 

I was using a very basic zondervan bible package on windows and wanted an niv study bible on apple so bought the zondervan essential bible study software cd which came with accordance 7 (?).

 

Had issues installing it and accordance help was very good, and when I first used it, I discovered the tagging to original language which was a revelation and opened up a new path of study. The interface and usability knocked spots off the windows software I had been using.
 

So I immediately upgraded to the basic original language package with the current version  9(?) and the rest is history!

Edited July 27 by ukfraser

[Mike Atnip]

I used e-sword for some years, then switched to theWord. But I needed to get some resources that theWord does not have so went looking for something else. Tried both L and Accordance, but like Accordance interface and search capabilities better. Still use the other occasionally, but only for things not available in Accordance.

[Brian K. Mitchell]

The University I went to in the 1990's had GramCord for DOS on the PCs in the computer lab but then transitioned to GramCord for windows. They recommend GramCord and so I used that as it gave easy access to Parunak and Dick Whitaker's Michigan-Claremont-Westminster database (by that time I think Wheeler's name may have been attached to the database) and to a few of the university of Pennsylvania's Center for Computer Analysis of Texts databases. At that time I also heard of acCordance  it's ablity to run queries visually! But I didn't have a Macintosh so I went with BibleWorks which also had Graphical Search engine but little by little acCordance's  library of reasources started to grow and grow. Accordance had a wider range of reasources than either Gramcord or BibleWorks and Accordance's GUI was (and still is) intuitive and elegant. Sometime back in 2012 I learned that I could run Accordance on my PC through the Basilisk II emulator (link1) so I started using Accordance (link2) / (link3) and fell in love with the program even though the version that ran on the Basilisk II emulator, figuratively speaking,  look a little old in the tooth. I used Accordance for Windows when it came out, but moved to the Mac a year ago.

 

Note: Originally both Gramcord and Accordance had a capital Cs to indicate that their names were both compound words. 

GramCord = Grammatical Concordance

acCordance = Apple Computer Concordance ( or ) a computer Concordance 

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

Dr. Craig Price, my former pastor who became a professor at NOBTS, first told me about Accordance before I even had a Mac. Played with it in the emulator.

 

When my Windows PC crashed, I bought a Mac. When another Bible app I used on Windows didn't have a Mac version available when I bought my Mac, I bought a handful of Accordance tools and started learning it so I could still study the Bible (since I had a PowerPC Mac, and running Windows on Virtual PC was a pain).

 

Took the plunge into Accordance before my Biblical Language classes since both professors were 100% in on Accordance, and I wanted to use the tools they were using.

[Lorinda H. M. Hoover]

Heard about it along with Grammcord when I was in seminary in the 90s. Didn’t think I could afford it at the time, and had MacBible (also created by Roy Brown) which was working for me. Wishing now I had found a way back then. 

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

I also wasn't sure if I could afford investing in another Bible app at the time I went Mac, but I found Accordance to be very reasonable, especially on upgrades.

[Michael J. Bolesta]

My wife showed me an article on acCordance in Christianity Today. I bought version 1.1a to help me learn Koine Greek. At the time, the program came from GramCord Institute on 3.5 inch floppy diskettes.

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

9 hours ago, Michael J. Bolesta said:

on 3.5 inch floppy diskettes

 

Our version of "Easy Install" back then. :-)

[Michael J. Bolesta]

22 minutes ago, Dr. Nathan Parker said:

 

Our version of "Easy Install" back then. 🙂

 

@Dr. Nathan Parker Actually, it was not, because one purchased acCordance from GramCord. It was years later that one purchased directly from OakSoft (the Browns had other software besides acCordance). When OakSoft parted with GramCord, there was a bit of anxiety which turned out to be unfounded.

 

In those days we had to depend upon snail mail to deliver the software and modules. Even when the internet  and website appeared, one ordered and had to wait on the mail to deliver floppy disks, or later, CD-ROM.

 

Easy Install spoils us. You young ones do not know the tribulations of waiting on the postal service!

[Solly]

Thanks, @Michael J. Bolesta--now I have Carley Simon singing "Anticipation" in my mind for the rest of the evening.

 

--Joseph living in the past

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

23 hours ago, Michael J. Bolesta said:

Easy Install spoils us. You young ones do not know the tribulations of waiting on the postal service!

 

I remember those days, even when I specifically had UPS deliver me one of the packages and waited with almost as much anticipation on waiting for the Lord's return.

[Sean Nelson]

I heard about Accordance from Joel Brown. At the time I believe I was using a copy of Quickverse I had purchased from a Mardel store.

 

My class had been given the sales pitch for another Bible Software by one of the professors from my Bible College, but I didn't fancy the payment plans and prices being offered. Quite honestly, I was baffled at the cost of some of the packages they had convinced my fellow students to purchase. For a new college student, signing up for a debt that was near triple the amount I had paid for my car seemed like poor resource management, especially given the fact that I wouldn't even be equipped to use most of the resources in the packages for several years.

 

I met Joel through church, and he told me about Accordance, and when I mentioned my hesitancy to sign up for such expensive software, he assured me that Accordance had affordable options. In fact, his pitch was something along the lines of "Well, if you don't need all of these resources yet, don't buy them. Just get what you can use, and add stuff later on if you want." This sales approach was a refreshing change from the "hard sale" approach I had encountered at my school, and Accordance worked with me to put together a package that met my needs. Even though I had to use an emulator to run the software (being a Windows user), I was quite happy with my purchase.

[Ken Simpson]

I came over from GramCord.

[MacMan]

I learned about Accordance from a deacon after I switched to Mac twenty years ago. I had been using BibleWorks for Windows for several years. (I had an early version of Logos as well but did not care for the interface and wanted to focus on language studies.)

[Brian K. Mitchell]

On 7/30/2024 at 5:45 AM, Sean Nelson said:

I met Joel through church, and he told me about Accordance,

@Sean Nelson thanks for sharing your cool story!

You learned about Accordance at Church and from Joel Brown, too! 

I am guessing you must have been in Houston, Texas! That is where I spent most my childhood, although I never ran into Joel while I was living there.