Review by Ms. Rocki

GLO is a visually stunning bible program with so much to offer. Gorgeous graphics, a unique interface, beautiful easy-on-the eyes bible pages, and so much more it’s overwhelming. You can go from casual reading to in-depth historical research with a few clicks. There’s so much to GLO…I’m still discovering stuff about it.

GLO at its base offers the bible in five versions, an atlas, a timeline, topical, media, and a place for your stuff. Reading the bible on GLO is a joy. The pages are laid out beautifully - like a book displayed on a screen. Makes it easy to read. In the bottom you can view commentaries or add your own notes. You can also see notes that other have made via YouVersion. (Nice feature!) Also, it will display any media (video, pics, and more) that may be relevant to the part of the bible you’re reading. If you right-click on bible passages, another sub-menu appears to copy it or take your study further.

GLO’s gorgeous screens reminds me Linux Ubuntu’s darkly colorful Unity interface mixed with Apple’s love of icons all in a unique interface package. Icons glow and grow, screens slide, all on a black background - except for when you’re reading the bible. Your work sessions are recorded as icons you can return to. The different parts of the menu and program options are accessed on sliding tabs and icons. This is not a flat bible program - it’s a 3D bible world that you are navigating through. Is visually exciting, but the possibility to get lost or wander is too easy as well.

Be forwarned: you do need a very capable computer with a good amount of processing power. GLO is graphically intensive. Icons glow and fade, the background shifts, something is always moving making it visually exciting. However, I don’t doubt this will tax some older computers graphics capabilities. Make sure you have the minimum requirements (hopefully more) so you can enjoy this program for how it is created.

The one thing that annoys me to pieces is that I really don’t know how to process all this information. I have a fully loaded and gorgeous program and no skills to how to use it to my benefit. I wish GLO had included a follow-along tutorial explaining all the different features, how they work together, and the different ways I can benefit from it. I did see a short video trailer about GLO and it just affirmed that there’s so much that can be done with this program that I haven’t conceived yet.

I’m also disappointed that there isn’t a Strong’s concordance or similar (or at least I haven’t found it yet) to do word research on the Greek or Hebrew meaning. That’s so automatic with so many other bible programs it’s surprising not to find it with this one.

GLO is quite frankly mind-boggling! It offers so much that you are pretty much blown away. It offers a stunningly beautiful interface and a tons of information and resources to draw from. It also offers the ability to link your information to an iPhone/iPad app so you can carry it around with you. The only drawback is that you do need a rather powerful computer to get the most out of it without lag or frustration. I also believe a tutorial is would have been sorely helpful so you get the most bang for you buck rather than just wandering around.