Re: Bible App for Maemo 5 Device(s)
 

I've said it before - I'm not a religious guy - but I do respect the significance of the religious texts, and would always wish to see this project remain fully open. There's something about locking access away in proprietary closed source that seems....somewhat immoral?

Re: Bible App for Maemo 5 Device(s)
 

I've asked many times (Laridian, Logos, Olive Tree, and others), older companies haven't shown interest in the platform because (simply speaking) they aren't as profitable markets for them.

Bible+ had all kinds of issues using the Message translation because the software was too open for DRM-like protections. The origianl Palm Bible maker took BibleReader to a paid model because the NIV wouldn't have been available for it otherwise.

Open source and profit models have a disagreement where they can be used. Not to say that people aren't worth their wages, but to lock such things away - content should go anywhere, not a dedicated reader IMO - means that you are limited towards whom you can serve. Unfortunately, bible publishers and content makers will be the last to get that message (after market loss and much consolidation amongst the few companies that are there; just watch).

Re: Bible App for Maemo 5 Device(s)
 

I like the name Katana as well.

I have an infinite-scrolling rich text viewer using Qt working. Right now it's in Python for rapid prototyping, but I've to Qt 4.6 installed in scratchbox, so it shouldn't be long before it's working in C++ there. The SWORD C++ api looks really easy to use, so I don't think it should be much work to get that side working.

What I've done so far to get more translations into SWORD is to buy a hardcopy of the translation, then use a script to scrape BibleGateway.com and convert it into the OSIS format (one of the formats that SWORD uses). I'd rather not post the script, since it could be used to violate copyright, but thought I would mention the idea.

Re: Bible App for Maemo 5 Device(s)
 

What does this bible application do? What’s for?

Re: Bible App for Maemo 5 Device(s)
 

It's for studying and reading the Bible.

Awesome things going on here. Thanks guys.

Re: Bible App for Maemo 5 Device(s)
 

While what you have coded (in terms of the scraping script) might be legal in your region, in many places its not - even if yu own the physical copy of the item.

The editions hosted/created by the Sword project aren't restricted by copyright such that you'd need ot scrape any sites. However, there are regional/international copyright issues that the user of whatever versions would need to be aware of before downloading those versions onto their devices.

Unfortunately, there is not enough time in the day to keep up with what version is legal where, else that list would be available outside of bible deveopment and publishing houses.

Its better, on this wise, that a person gets a notice about possible copyright issues, when using Sword or any other repositories for their Bible use.

Re: Bible App for Maemo 5 Device(s)
 

It's possible that it's not technically legal - I guess in my mind, it fulfills the intent of copyright law in my region. I'm paying for the use of one copy of the translation (since I don't use the bible.)

My understanding is that the publicly available SWORD repositories only contain public domain works, so no copyright notice is necessary. Is this incorrect?

Re: Bible App for Maemo 5 Device(s)
 

Not necessarly; some of those are published works with existing copyrights. Different regions have different laws concerning copyrights.

Re: Bible App for Maemo 5 Device(s)
 

Yeah, you wouldn't want to be sued by God for breach of copyright. :p

Wouldn't the end-user be able to police what is/isn't legal to d/l in their own area? Like... if you want to read a Bible on an Open Source device, a certain ethical standard would be presumed.

Re: Bible App for Maemo 5 Device(s)
 

While the hope is that the user has the ethics to make a wise decsion, the truth is that its easier said than done towards having that information at hand.

I'm making a note of this as a future posting at MMM, with a few copyright bodies that might be able to lend assistance for such items.

Maybe as a part of installing Katana/Rapier that this kind of warning would be a part of the application. Sure, it doesn't stop the person from doing whatever, but then ignorance cannot be blamed.