Family Tree Maker 2008 RC1
ThinkGenealogy ยป Easter Egg in Family Tree Maker 2008 RC1: "Mark Tucker is a software architect by day and a family historian on as many nights and weekends as possible."
Ancestor Search Blog: Family Tree Maker 2008 Beta WebSearch: "FTM has had a complete program rebuild from the ground up. If you have been using FTM for a long while as I have (about 12 years), you will see that the FTM 2008 interface looks completely different. I believe that with version 2008 they are building a strong foundation for the next generation of FTM. Because it is a new program, and not just an add-on upgrade to the old version, some things are done differently than before, so you might consider downloading the beta to check it out.
. . . I like FTM2008 but everyone has different needs and wants in a genealogy program . People have different sized family tree files and different computer configurations. People may use different features than I do. For example, I didn't try the merge feature of FTM 2008 since that is something I never use, but if it is important to you, consider downloading the beta to see if it works for you the way you want.
I think it is great that the FTM 2008 beta has been made available for the public to try before they buy. Because this program is different from previous versions, give yourself time to give the program a good workout to see how things function."
I found the difficulty of entering data in the family view completely discouraging
"family tree maker" - Google News
"family tree maker" beta - Google Search
Ancestor Search Blog: Family Tree Maker 2008 Beta WebSearch: "FTM has had a complete program rebuild from the ground up. If you have been using FTM for a long while as I have (about 12 years), you will see that the FTM 2008 interface looks completely different. I believe that with version 2008 they are building a strong foundation for the next generation of FTM. Because it is a new program, and not just an add-on upgrade to the old version, some things are done differently than before, so you might consider downloading the beta to check it out.
. . . I like FTM2008 but everyone has different needs and wants in a genealogy program . People have different sized family tree files and different computer configurations. People may use different features than I do. For example, I didn't try the merge feature of FTM 2008 since that is something I never use, but if it is important to you, consider downloading the beta to see if it works for you the way you want.
I think it is great that the FTM 2008 beta has been made available for the public to try before they buy. Because this program is different from previous versions, give yourself time to give the program a good workout to see how things function."
I found the difficulty of entering data in the family view completely discouraging
"family tree maker" - Google News
"family tree maker" beta - Google Search
posted by Hugh W at 7:14 am
1 Comments:
I opened up the FTM 2008 RCI beta with excitment last week that I could try a Beta that was dated only a couple weeks from the release. Knowing software development, it had to be pretty close to the final version.
The data entry interface screen was interesting with the 4 frames and tabs. However, the key for me is always the ability to quickly enter data. I gave it a trial run with repeated entries and could not find a rhythm. Entering children is extremely awkward and the response time between fields is slow. I appreciate the pedigree view but I don't want to enter data in the pedigree view. I like entering a name and being able to enter a whole family by tabbing from field to field.
Then I looked for the Ancestry report. It is not there! Customer service responded to my concern and said the developers couldn't meet the deadline and it will be in a future release. OK...generally when you have a new software release, you don't leave out core functionality. You delay the release until it is in there! I also found the book function was not there. So I find out my data needs to be uploaded which I don't want to do. I tried the Beta version of Ancestry Press with 11 people and while there is some cool technology used, FTM v 16 has far more ability to actually create a book and is much faster.
In checking out the other reports that are available in FTM 2008, I found that some of the features are gone. For example, the Outline Descendant Report has only name and birth year - death year. There are no options to add details. I also found missing options on a few other reports and then some of the options with checkboxes were non-functional. Granted they may have been able to complete some of the reports by release but I am disappointed in what I saw.
The location / map function is o.k. but came up with some wierd results on some of them. For me, it might be helpful to see where I am missing a county and update it for those people that show being linked to that location. However, I used to do that with the Find and Replace function which isn't there anymore!
While I could go on and on with my findings, the summary is that they took away core functionality and are giving half developed new functionality such as Ancestry Press.
I for one am not upgrading and hope they release a complete well thought out release next time or they will have permanently lost a customer who has been with them for more than 10 years.
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