Watchtower Library on DVD

[Sheep]

Okay, since I've got Watchtower Library 2016 now, I think I'm on the same page as everyone else here. I installed the new update today, and all went smoothly. But I noticed something I've never seen before (I'm not sure if anyone else has). I took a peek in About Watchtower Library... in the Help menu. It indeed says Update 4 in it, Version 18.0, Build 7038 (whatever that means). However I've never noticed that link at the bottom that says Open Source Licenses. Do you have that in yours? I thought open source meant that anyone could modify the code of an open source program and repost it somewhere on the Internet. Isn't that what it means? Anyway I peeked inside there and it's got names of certain individuals and their email addresses. Does that make any sense? Who are these individuals, and what do they have to do with developing and licensing of Watchtower Library software?

[Tortuga]

7 minutes ago, Sheep said:

Okay, since I've got Watchtower Library 2016 now, I think I'm on the same page as everyone else here. I installed the new update today, and all went smoothly. But I noticed something I've never seen before (I'm not sure if anyone else has). I took a peek in About Watchtower Library... in the Help menu. It indeed says Update 4 in it, Version 18.0, Build 7038 (whatever that means). However I've never noticed that link at the bottom that says Open Source Licenses. Do you have that in yours? I thought open source meant that anyone could modify the code of an open source program and repost it somewhere on the Internet. Isn't that what it means? Anyway I peeked inside there and it's got names of certain individuals and their email addresses. Does that make any sense? Who are these individuals, and what do they have to do with developing and licensing of Watchtower Library software?

I thought that was a list of some of the open source software that was used to create the WTLIB, one of the conditions of using the open source code was to acknowledge the author...so they did...

[WilliamChew]

Update 4 now contains the NWT Study Bible including all the media (videos included).

 

 

[On the huh]

You will find the same thing with Open Source with JW Library.

And the Study Bible was included since WTLib 2015 - well Matthew was.  Mark and Luke came with an earlier update.  Update 4 package does include all files since updates 1-3.

[WilliamChew]

6 hours ago, Jonathan77 said:

You will find the same thing with Open Source with JW Library.

And the Study Bible was included since WTLib 2015 - well Matthew was.  Mark and Luke came with an earlier update.  Update 4 package does include all files since updates 1-3.

Thanks. You are right. I just checked and update 3 already had all the media for Matthew, Mark and Luke too.

[Sheep]

On 6/1/2017 at 5:44 PM, Tortuga said:

I thought that was a list of some of the open source software that was used to create the WTLIB, one of the conditions of using the open source code was to acknowledge the author...so they did...

Ummm. Do you mean it wasn't the brothers who wrote WTLIB, but they were various individuals all over the place who wrote various parts of it? (Kind of like Open Office maybe? Parts of the suite were written by several different programmers.) And then the brothers put together all the parts in one project? I'm not sure I get what you mean. Please clarify.

[Tortuga]

1 minute ago, Sheep said:

Ummm. Do you mean it wasn't the brothers who wrote WTLIB, but they were various individuals all over the place who wrote various parts of it? (Kind of like Open Office maybe? Parts of the suite were written by several different programmers.) And then the brothers put together all the parts in one project? I'm not sure I get what you mean. Please clarify.

I don't know anything about programming but when I read the information in that link my impression is that some open code that was created by other individuals was used in creating the WTLIB. I hope someone here can clarify that for both of us..

[Qapla]

Since the JW app works on Android then, by the nature of the operating system, it MUST use some Open Source code since, to work on that platform, it has to include some routines that allow it to access the OS. There are other routines that are commonly used to do some tasks that are already written in the Open Source - rather than "re-invent the wheel", you use the code that already exists.

[WilliamChew]

Under JW Library for windows,  Settings / open source licenses.

The following software was listed as the copyright owners.

MVVM Light Toolkit
Windows.UI.Interactivity
CommonServiceLocator
JSON.NET
MetroLog
SQLite-net
react-select
autosize

 

These are the open source software that JW Library uses.

I believe its free for use and the society is acknowledging the use of the software.

 

[On the huh]

8 hours ago, Sheep said:

Ummm. Do you mean it wasn't the brothers who wrote WTLIB, but they were various individuals all over the place who wrote various parts of it? (Kind of like Open Office maybe? Parts of the suite were written by several different programmers.) And then the brothers put together all the parts in one project? I'm not sure I get what you mean. Please clarify.

On the whole, WTLibrary and JW Library are made and written by the brothers (are there sisters on the team?).  Its just that certain parts of the code that make up the apps were made by third-parties.  As John mentions, why write code that already exists.  On their own, these pieces of code are not really useful.  They are designed to be used by other programs.  You will find the same code libraries used in many other apps, and if you google them you will probably find out what each one does.

 

 

[Thesauron]

On the whole, WTLibrary and JW Library are made and written by the brothers (are there sisters on the team?).  Its just that certain parts of the code that make up the apps were made by third-parties.  As John mentions, why write code that already exists.  On their own, these pieces of code are not really useful.  They are designed to be used by other programs.  You will find the same code libraries used in many other apps, and if you google them you will probably find out what each one does.
 
 

There's no need to reinvent the wheel. And yes, sisters are involved in most parts of the organisation. A suitable sister who is who is willing could well work on our various tech departments with projects such as JW Library and Watchtower Library. Some do it from home as remote volunteers.


Johan

[carlos]

Are Watchtower Library updates cumulative? I mean, if I do a fresh install from the DVD, do I have to go through all the updates 1 to 4, or does update 4 contain all the previous ones?

[Old]

19 minutes ago, carlos said:

Are Watchtower Library updates cumulative? I mean, if I do a fresh install from the DVD, do I have to go through all the updates 1 to 4, or does update 4 contain all the previous ones?

Just check to see if you have all the study WTs  back to January 2017, if so you are up to date. (I think)

[Tortuga]

20 minutes ago, carlos said:

Are Watchtower Library updates cumulative? I mean, if I do a fresh install from the DVD, do I have to go through all the updates 1 to 4, or does update 4 contain all the previous ones?

Based on the size of Update 4, I assume it contains the previous updates.

[Qapla]

The update feature of the program will know what updates you need and download and install all necessary files 

[ChrisC]

It does seem strange that going from update 3 to update 4 was a 400mb download. I wonder why.

[Tortuga]

26 minutes ago, ChrisTheConfused said:

It does seem strange that going from update 3 to update 4 was a 400mb download. I wonder why.

I assume it updates the Publication Index and the Research Guide too. I don't know how big those files are...

[carlos]

OK, I can confirm the updates are cumulative.

 

I uninstalled WT Library, reinstalled it, checked updates, and it directly downloaded update 4.

 

I guess updates cannot be cumulative forever. Otherwise, after three or four years the update would be several GB heavy. Maybe one final update per year.

[Sheep]

6 hours ago, carlos said:

Maybe one final update per year.

That might make it difficult if there is an update to the actual software program (aside from publications), especially after a few years. What if the software gets an update every year? Then someone installs WT Library on a new computer after five years... He would need all five updates, wouldn't he?

 

Software updating is very complex. But Microsoft can do it when you run Windows Update; it "sees" what is on your computer, installs only what it needs and disregards the rest. The brothers in Bethel are smart too, and so can do something similar.

[On the huh]

It is the video files that make the download size large.  The pub files for the publications are quite small.  If the publication has pictures, it adds to it.  The media file is normally a lot larger than the pub data file.  Example - the Kingdom Rule pub file is only ~300k, the media files is ~17mb.  The Research Guide is again only ~300k.  The Index is 12mb, and is probably the biggest one.

 

If it were to have a final update every year, then each update would only contain what is needed for that year.  So an update package for 2016-2017, then 2017-2018, 2018-the end of the world! (maybe ) 

[On the huh]

Are updates cumulative?  Yes and No.

Updates 2 and 3 did not include updates that were part of Update 1.  Yet, Update 4 does include everything.

[On the huh]

Downloading Update 5

[Tortuga]

3 minutes ago, Jonathan77 said:

Downloading Update 5

What? Already?

 

Oh my, it's huge.

647.5MB.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Tortuga

[On the huh]

A whopping 647mb

[On the huh]

Updates a whole host of publications, including older Watchtower, Awakes and Yearbooks.