** NEWS ITEMS **
TGI no longer accepts DEBIT CARDS.
As of June 15, 2007 The GRAMCORD Institute no longer accepts DEBIT
CARDS of any sort. We
made this difficult decision out of concern for the serious risks to
personal bank accounts when debit cards are used. Processing errors involving
debit cards are rare--but when they do happen they wreck havoc.
A computer glitch somewhere in the international network can turn a simple $205 transaction
into a series of redundant "retries" where $205 x 5 becomes a $1025 subtraction from the
innocent debit card holder's bank account. These errors can just as easily happen with standard
credit cards but because they are routinely corrected within 72 hours, the credit card owner
rarely notices the problem because it involves someone else's money. But when
the $1025 error involves a debit card, the personal bank account of the
unsuspecting debit card owner can easily be wiped out and every other
check they write bounces. The debit card owner can be
devastated by an overdrawn and/or frozen bank account and several
hundred dollars in bank check fees. Why? Using a debit
card is similar to handing someone a blank check and generous
access to your bank account! And when glitches in the
international electronic card processing system occur, The GRAMCORD
Institute finds itself spending hours on the phone with distraught
debit card owners, intermediate processors, Visa/MC, and the
card-issuing bank trying to convince them that a computer error
somewhere in the network process needs to be reversed. We have often
found that the only solution is waiting for 72 hours or even more for
the system to correct itself -- but the debit card owner can be
left with a huge mess and bounced checks from an overdrawn bank
account even though they eventually get all of their funds restored.
Unfortunately, The GRAMCORD Institute has no way to know
if the Visa/MC card number used to purchase GRAMCORD software is a debit
card or just a regular credit card. Therefore, it is up to you
to double check and make absolutely sure that you do NOT give us a
number and expiration date associated with a debit card.
A Note from the Director: If you believe that a debit card is your only
payment alternative, please ask us about arranging special terms. We have
an ethical obligation to protect our user community from the hidden dangers
and risks of debit card processing.
From the Director: Good News on Windows Vista!
If anyone asks if The GRAMCORD Institute is releasing a special edition
for running under Windows Vista, the answer is simple: the present GRAMCORD
edition still works on virtually ALL Windows platforms including 32bit
Vista. [The few 64bit Vista computers in use may require a Microsoft download.
See below.]
A few people have even gotten the impression that GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS
fails under WinXP, but that is only because they have not installed the
tiny BCS.CMD file that is needed to solve the environment space issue that
comes up on many WinXP computers (and now Vista). Microsoft introduced a
deficiency in Windows that allows the limited environment space to get filled
with junk variables -- so I wrote the BCS.CMD "program launcher"
that does a quick purge of environment space junk (as well as repairing
damage done by some types of spyware) before it launches GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS's
bcs.exe program. BCS.CMD ships with all GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS CDROMs and
also is a free download on the Updates/Downloads webpage at www.GRAMCORD.org/download.htm.
Windows Vista also dropped .hlp Help File support -- but when the Windows
user community went ballistic, Microsoft changed their minds and posted
the download that "patches" Vista computers to solve this deficiency.
Nevertheless, the F1-function key help system in GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS
that works with Win95 and Win98 is addressed in WinXP and Vista via the
alternative help files shipped with newer CDROMs and the Updates/Downloads
webpage at www.GRAMCORD.org/download.htm. Of course, the help display
system is not a vital component of the GRAMCORD system but anyone who
needs it can display these help files and/or print them using a browser
(for the html versions), Adobe Acrobat (for the PDF version), and MS Word
(for the .doc version and .rtf version).
64bit Windows Vista (unlike 32bit Windows Vista) is not all that ubiquitous
at this point -- but many will soon discover that a great many programs
cannot be run by 64bit Vista as shipped. It lacks the ability to run many
traditional program architectures. Fortunately, Microsoft responded to
these complaints as well and MS quickly released the free downloadable
Virtual PC program -- which allows virtually any Windows program to run
even on 64bit Vista. We have heard by the grapevine that 64bit Vista owners
are running GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS -- but we don't know if they are using
Virtual PC or some other execution environment to do so.
Some users run GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS without incident for years and then
suddenly experience an error message when the program starts. This usually
indicates some change in their computer such as an auto-update program
(e.g. QuickTime, firewall and anti-virus software, or even Windows itself)
that creates a process conflict. Fortunately, we have found that reinstalling
either the errant process OR GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS itself but in SAFE MODE
will usually make the conflict disappear.
I have recently updated the Updates/Downloads and Technical Support areas
of www.GRAMCORD.org to address almost all of the technical scenarios that
arise among our user community, Windows Vista included. (These links appear
in the left margin of every webpage on the site.) If anyone reports a problem
running GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS, they should be told that they will find everything
they need at The GRAMCORD Institute website without cost or major effort
on their part.
We have been extremely pleased to discover that Windows Vista has not presented
the issues for GRAMCORD which many other publishers have had to address.
And many of our site licensing institutions around the world will appreciate
that they can continue to use one GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS program on their
entire range of donated computers, even from the ancient Win3.1 through
WinXP and Vista.
Why no shopping cart on the new Website?
We prefer to deal individually and personally with each inquirer. Unlike
most of the commercially-published programs, we do not believe "one
size fits all" and we want to make sure everyone understands their
choices. Also, we sometimes recommend a more basic introductory program
such as GreekFlash Pro or an economical GRAMCORD GNT starter bundle on
a deferred time-payment plan. If someone is starting a seminary degree,
we know that they will soon "grow into" the full-power of the
GRAMCORD system. However, for those who do not yet know if they plan to
learn a Biblical language, we may recommend the combination of English
Bible search English-Greek interlinear features found in GreekMaster.
Plus, a lot of inquirers tell us, "I have about X dollars to work
with. What would you recommend as most important for my research?"
We want everyone to be pleased with their selection. We believe the only
way to do that is "person to person" and not via the automated
website shopping cart. Of course, if someone knows exactly what they want
and are in a hurry, they can simply email, fax, phone, voicemail, or postal
mail a list of items and the usual contact and Visa/MC information. (For
those who want to pay by check but still want instant shipment, we will
accept a Visa/MC as security against shipment with the final payment by
check to follow within seven days.)
Lower Prices on GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS Bundles
As a nonprofit organization, we are chartered to "break even" at the
end of our fiscal year. There are no shareholders to whom we pay dividends
and profits and all revenue goes into building new tools and databases
-- and lowering prices. As a result we now offer our GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS
bundles at even more popular prices. The only drawback is that people
who don't know we are nonprofit mistakenly assume that these are just
"popular level" basic programs and not the "full powered"
GRAMCORD system. For a complete description, visit the Help
Me Choose a GRAMCORD Bundle webpage -- but here is a summary of the
new pricing:
GRAMCORD Greek NT & NAS95 Bundle: only $99
A great starter bundle for student's, pastors, homeschoolers, and
includes NAS95, KJV, ASV Bibles and more.
GRAMCORD Greek NT/LXX Bundle: $155
Similar to the $178 Scholar's Bundle but no Hebrew modules.
GRAMCORD GNT/HMT/LXX Scholar's Bundle: $178
Adds both Old Testament texts along with the Hebrew and Septuagint
lexicons (Princeton BDB & LEH)
GRAMCORD GNT/HMT/LXX Super Bundle: $195
Adds two more Bible translations of the user's choice OR Louw/Nida.
GRAMCORD GNT/HMT/LXX Ultimate Bundle: $235
Includes all 10 Bible modules and all associated lexicons/dictionaries
-- plus a free bonus program!
For a complete table of contents for all GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS bundles,
visit our Help Me Choose webpage.
For a more general introduction visit our Tell
Me More About GRAMCORD FOR WINDOWS webpage.
Don't Forget GRAMCORD Lite (for Palm & Windows CE/Pocket PC)
In partnership with OliveTree Software, we are thrilled to release new
versions of GRAMCORD Lite for most handheld computers. Enjoy easy access
to the full-accented Nestle-Aland 27th Edition Greek New Testament with
all GRAMCORD parsings and lemmas for Palm, Windows CE, PocketPC handheld
computers. Just touch a Greek word with your stylus and see a complete "breakdown"
of its grammatical descriptions. GRAMCORD Lite Hebrew MT and GRAMCORD Lite
Septuagint are also available in specially priced bundles for maximum discounting.
Enjoy basic search capabilities and quick consultation of Greek NT, Hebrew
MT, LXX, and English Bible texts when you need them! Only $50 gets you started
with the Greek NT -- and includes a number of free English Bibles and related
resources. For a limited time, order the GRAMCORD
FOR WINDOWS Ultimate Bundle and you may choose GRAMCORD
Lite GNT (for Palm & Windows CE/Pocket PC) for free! Visit
our Help Me Choose section for the details of this special bonus offer
-- or read more about GRAMCORD Lite in our Palm/PocketPC
section!
Quasi-News: What's the status of the Syntactial Concordance Book Project?
It isn't news yet -- but since so many people ask for the status of Institute
President D. A. Carson's and Institute Director Paul A. Miller's A
Syntactical Concordance of the Greek New Testament (Univ. of Chicago
Press), we decided to be preemptive and state there is no news at this
time. After an extended illness, Professor Miller hopes to resume work
this summer on the software required for the preparation for typesetting
as well as proofreading procedures for the book itself. We will make a
formal announcement when we have a definitive release date.
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