WT Library - Available for Download!

[jayrtom]

18 hours ago, jwhess said:

I wonder if there will be a 2018 DVD in the following year. We have already ordered the 2017 version a couple of months ago.

I think we will continue to have the DVD

The downloadable file is about 2 GB in size. If internet bandwidth or cost is an issue, you can obtain an installation DVD from a local congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Click the download button to find out if Watchtower Library is available in your language./

[jayrtom]

There are only english and greek languages for now

[Tortuga]

10 minutes ago, jayrtom said:

There are only english and greek languages for now

That's interesting....

I would have assumed Spanish...

[Thesauron]

I also think the search feastures of wtlib are better than on the online version

Got an example?

[Thesauron]

you asked  "What does WT Library do that WOL or JW Library does not" the copy with caption is a feature I use a lot
I agree that for me the brothers don't need to make  a major app upgrade, I like working on a PC so I will use the WT Library on my laptop

My question was:

What does WT Library do that WOL or JW Library does not that would warrant a major app upgrade or a whole new app?

So, it’s a nice feature, but not useful enough to warrant an app rebuild or a new app?

[Qapla]

WT Library has been around for many, many years. If it were going to be made available in another OS, I would think it would have been done by now.

 

It has been stated in the past, in the documentation of the WT Library, that there are NO PLANS to make it available for Apple/Mac.

 

Just like the JWL app for PC use at the KH has not been made for other OS - while the Branch uses ALL the popular OS, they also use CERTAIN ones for SPECIFIC jobs. I seems that, when it comes to the WTL and the app for use at the KH, they feel the PC platform (Windows) is the one that best fits their design.

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

I always thought that once you had the WTL (2016 forward), it will automatically update. I then assumed the DVD's were for whoever wanted to update or get 'onboard' for the auto-update system, without having to start from 2016.
For the rest of us, we just update and match the DVD. This would reduce the need for everyone to get a DVD annually.

Older
{still waiting for the 'Wiser'}

[Tortuga]

39 minutes ago, TonyWenz said:

I always thought that once you had the WTL (2016 forward), it will automatically update. I then assumed the DVD's were for whoever wanted to update or get 'onboard' for the auto-update system, without having to start from 2016.
For the rest of us, we just update and match the DVD. This would reduce the need for everyone to get a DVD annually.

Older
{still waiting for the 'Wiser'}
 

The only advantage for me is if I get a new computer without a CD/DVD player and I want to install the WTLIB for the first time. I use to create my own ISO or package and transfer it to the new computer using a flash drive. I wont need to do that anymore..

[hatcheckgirl]

I was left behind with the WTlib2014 version, and it never got auto updated.  I just used it for extra study for the older publications that were not available until just recently on WOL.  This was especially useful for the meeting prep, to add more to the comments than just the sited publications.  I'm happy to have the downloadable version now that it's available.  

[carlos]

On 8/11/2018 at 5:55 PM, Qapla said:

It has been stated in the past, in the documentation of the WT Library, that there are NO PLANS to make it available for Apple/Mac.

This is true. However, maybe a reason why a Mac-specific version was never planned is that Watchtower Library works perfectly in a Mac by using a free and easy to configure emulator. 

[Meditate!]

On 8/11/2018 at 4:56 AM, 1MKnight said:

Now I can finally get the Library on my wife's computer! 

I'm glad you mentioned that.. I ended up looking on this site in need of help getting the library on A windows tablet. (no Dvd player) even an external USB player failed to load the program, properly. 

[jwhess]

5 hours ago, Alan said:

I'm glad you mentioned that.. I ended up looking on this site in need of help getting the library on A windows tablet. (no Dvd player) even an external USB player failed to load the program, properly. 

That is too bad.  My external player loaded fine.  Could it have been your USB connection?

Other tablets I have used have been loaded by copying the DVD onto a USB flash drive and installing.  This would require the same USB cable or connection that the external player used.

Perhaps you will find success in the ISO download.

[carlos]

On 8/11/2018 at 4:06 PM, Thesauron said:

I’m sure many of the friends who decided to use the unofficial apps didn’t realise they were entering a very grey area, or felt it was justified. Of course, I believe the GB wishes to make it easy for the friends to stay well within the boundaries of the law.

I very much disagree with this comment. The organization did prepare a version of Wachtower Library for PocketPC / Windows Mobile, but they did it too late, when that platform was beginning to disappear from the market. I guess they were very frustrated that all the work they invested into that version was soon useless, and that discouraged them from preparing a port to Android and iOS.

 

However, the fact is that many brothers felt the need to have the publications in their mobile devices and they found different ways. I for one I am very thankful of the huge efforts some brothers made to develop Watchtower Publications for iSilo. Even though its functionality was far more limited than that of the official Watchtower Library, it's been extremely useful for me and it's still is since I don't always have signal or data to use WOL. For preparing meetings, meetings for service, return visits, shepherding visits, doing research and simply having spiritual discussions with the friends, having all that information on your phone is invaluable.

 

The brothers at the branch were very aware of the project and were in touch with the brothers developing it. When they gave a suggestion, the brothers applied it. What they did never broke the copyright or the law, but even if it technically had its pointless to insist on the letter of the law rather than its intent. Our publications were never copyrighted to prevent the friends from using them, but to prevent them from being used with the wrong intention.

[Old]

In the early days there was even a little underground work on an early version. There were several brothers working on a search engine for the NWT 'only'. this is addition to their other progarming resposibilities. The governing body had not yet recogized the need for a Bible and publication search engine. This was before we had the Folio NWT floppydisk collection. When one of the governing body made a visit to the department and would ask what they were working on they were told to respond in a somewhat devious answer.. Devious, not untrue. One brother left Bethel with the information and refined it to a search engine that a great number of us used in leu of the Folio Bible. It was a good program and would search any any of our publication that various brothers had copied to computer language, whichwere all publications at that time. The Insight Volumes required entering 18 floppy disks into the program. The brother that put his out did not provide any publications, Bible or otherwise. Only the search engine. The Branch did come out with strong statements on copywrites laws. But the basic fact of a copywrite is if you own a leagle copy of any copywrited material, you were free to have it in any form you preferred, but no sales.Some brothers that were selling publications for a donation were instructed to cease an desist. JWHess has mentioned this program but my 80 year old brain can't remember the name.

[jwhess]

Jerry, I can't find my diskettes to check, but I think the name of the DOS program was Qsearch (maybe QuickSearch).I started using it around 1984.  It was a great search engine if you could find the publications in scanned format (I had a lot of friends who shared).

[Tortuga]

3 minutes ago, jwhess said:

Jerry, I can't find my diskettes to check, but I think the name of the DOS program was Qsearch (maybe QuickSearch).I started using it around 1984.  It was a great search engine if you could find the publications in scanned format (I had a lot of friends who shared).

I remember QSearch...

[Tortuga]

16 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

I remember QSearch...

And wasn't there a Qverse?

[Paradise-Lover]

On 8/10/2018 at 8:07 PM, Hammerhead said:

Hopefully formatted for Android eventually

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk
 

I can't wait!

[jwhess]

15 hours ago, Tortuga said:

And wasn't there a Qverse?

There is a current commercial app for Bible study called QuickVerse (used to be sold by Parsons).  It was a pretty good program and you could add our NWT to their program search.  The published education program (inserts?) for Hebrew and Greek studies.

[jwhess]

4 hours ago, Chuka said:

I can't wait!

Our organization has been making this Microsoft-based program in various forms for more than 30 years.  It hasn't been ported to Android or IOS yet.  But publishers can hope...I guess...😉

[Meditate!]

23 hours ago, jwhess said:

That is too bad.  My external player loaded fine.  Could it have been your USB connection?

Other tablets I have used have been loaded by copying the DVD onto a USB flash drive and installing.  This would require the same USB cable or connection that the external player used.

Perhaps you will find success in the ISO download.

sorry for the delay.. Yes my USB DVD player had loaded other stuff on the tablet previously. It's wa just that the program always said it was starting to load.. vis the dialogue boxes but it never got to loading  (uncompressing, I suspect, really) I learned that you had to delete any deposits of files from previous installs before a proper install could progress.. I ended up copying the whole to a Micro SD and running that.. after deleting failed installs. uninstalling never did the trick as it usually did on a pc

 

 

[Hammerhead]

Well I had to try...I downloaded to my phone and tried to open up. Even tried an app supposed to read those files...nope

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

[carlos]

6 hours ago, Hammerhead said:

Well I had to try...I downloaded to my phone and tried to open up. Even tried an app supposed to read those files...nope

What you download is an ISO file, a byte-for-byte image of the DVDROM. I don't know why they chose to do it that way.

 

If you are using Windows 10, you need to right-click on the file you have downloaded and select Mount. Then that file is loaded as a DVD and it will automatically start the installation. After you finish installing it, you should right-click the file again and Unmount it so that you can delete it.

 

If you are using an older version of Windows I don't think you can mount ISO images without a specific software. But you can do something else: Open the ISO file with 7zip or Winrar or some other archiver, then extract all its contents to a folder and install from there.

[Musky]

He said he downloaded the ISO file "to his phone". Unless he has a Windows 10 phone, it won't work no matter how he extracts it.

The WTL only runs on the windows operating system with the exception of it running on some Apple macs using a windows emulator.

[Tortuga]

Has anyone used the downloaded WTLIB yet?

I'm curious about something, is the OD book in the downloaded WTLIB?

Is there a reminder that the OD book is an internal publication like this one in JWL?