Family Tree Maker* (FTM) 2019 was released on 29 Sep 2019, as a 30th anniversary edition. I’ve been using FTM for over 20 of those years, ever since Brøderbund Software released version 4.0 on CD-ROM for the first time. The software has seen many changes and improvements since its inception. The pre-order sale email from the current developer, Software MacKiev, touted 10 main reasons to upgrade to version 2019. I’ll cover each of those reasons in turn, as well as a few other points, based primarily on using the version for macOS (Mojave), but I took a gander at the Windows version, as well.
[Read more…] about Family Tree Maker 2019 Released – A Review (Updated 26 Oct 2019)Family Tree Maker 2019 To Be Released Soon
Jack Minksy, president of Software MacKiev, the developer and publisher of Family Tree Maker, posted the following announcement on Facebook on 23 Sep 2019:
[Read more…] about Family Tree Maker 2019 To Be Released SoonShould You Contribute to WikiTree? A Review (Updated)
Bottom Line Up Front
Like FamilySearch Family Tree (FSFT), WeRelate, and Geni.com, WikiTree is a shared family tree website. The following table compares their size and cost:
[Read more…] about Should You Contribute to WikiTree? A Review (Updated)Family Tree Maker 2019 Pre-Order Sale
I recently received an email from Software Mackiev announcing a sale for the upcoming Family Tree Maker 2019 upgrade. That offer has since expired, with the upgrade price now $39.95, $40 less than the regular price and $20 less than the normal upgrade price. There are some interesting new features that might make it worthwhile. These are the top 10 reasons to upgrade, as presented in the email:
[Read more…] about Family Tree Maker 2019 Pre-Order SaleWhy You Might Not Want to Contribute to the FamilySearch Family Tree: A Review
Bottom Line Up Front
FamilySearch Family Tree (FSFT) is the largest free shared family tree website with 1.2 billion profiles (not all unique). This compares to 20 million profiles at WikiTree and 3 million at WeRelate. Geni.com, a “freemium” website, contains 131 million profiles. So FSFT has the potential to be a great option for those who want to work on a collaborative family tree. It contains all the tools necessary for good family tree building: access to a plethora of free historical records and indexes and the ability to attach them as sources; automatic record searching and duplicate profile detection; the ability to add notes and discussions and various media files; an extensive help center with information on how to use FSFT, search for records, and do genealogy research. Unfortunately, FSFT contains key flaws that prevent me from recommending that people contribute to it: a lack of moderation of disputes, difficulty attaching source citations, and lack of safeguards when merging profiles of people.
[Read more…] about Why You Might Not Want to Contribute to the FamilySearch Family Tree: A Review