Recommend software?
phil reed {domain actually ic.net - reversed for anti-spam}
My mother and a cousin have spent some significant time doing genealogy
research on my family, but it's all on paper. I'm interested in putting it into
a database, and starting work on filling in the gaps. However, I'm new to the
genealogy biz, so I'm looking for recommendations. What's the consensus? Which
software package do people like?
From what I've seen, Family Tree Maker seems to be the heavyweight. Any other
contenders?
(Sorry about the email address thing, but I'm trying to confuse spammers. The
part to the right of the at sign should be ic.net.)
--
...phil
Copyright, Phillip C. Reed, 1998.
Naughty words: eWorks! OT7 AOL bomb Green Card hack phreak breast sex
PGP fingerprint = C5 41 B5 9E B4 56 0C C3 26 FC B9 ED BC D7 CA 8B
Otto Jørgensen
{domain actually ic.net - reversed for anti-spam}) wrote:
> Greetings!
>
> My mother and a cousin have spent some significant time doing genealogy
> research on my family, but it's all on paper. I'm interested in putting it into
> a database, and starting work on filling in the gaps. However, I'm new to the
> genealogy biz, so I'm looking for recommendations. What's the consensus? Which
> software package do people like?
>
> From what I've seen, Family Tree Maker seems to be the heavyweight. Any other
> contenders?
Go to
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Brothers_Keeper/
and you will find a nice program for DOS, WIn3.1* , win95 and NT.
It is shareware, and have translation to several language
--
Otto Jorgensen - N-2020 Skedsmokorset - Norway
http://home.sol.no/~ojorgens/ e.mail: otjo...@online.no
Michael Burley
> My mother and a cousin have spent some significant time doing genealogy
> research on my family, but it's all on paper. I'm interested in putting it into
> a database, and starting work on filling in the gaps. However, I'm new to the
> genealogy biz, so I'm looking for recommendations. What's the consensus? Which
> software package do people like?
>
> From what I've seen, Family Tree Maker seems to be the heavyweight. Any other
> contenders?
>
<snip>
> ...phil
<snip>
I'm not sure what you mean when you describe Family Tree Maker (FTM) as
the
"heavyweight" but let me "weigh in" here with my own very biased
opinion.
I'm assuming you use an IBM compatible. I've used FTM since it was a DOS
only program so have some experience with it. It's the heavy weight as
far
as sales are concerned. Many start with this program because it's on the
shelf and most of the others aren't. It's abilities for printing reports
and books are quite good. It's rather limited as a research tool since
it
isn't very flexible - alternate names, dates or other conflicting data,
have to be stored in notes elsewhere in the program. It can't make
global
name changes/corrections - you have change each individually (whew).
More
complicated searches aren't possible. It's easy to use and getting
better,
but it seems to be a program many tend to grow out of. I import (via
GEDCOM)
into FTM for printing purposes.
A much better program is Legacy 2.0 from Millennia
<http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/>
- check out this web site where they show various screens and have a
downloadable
demo. This is a very capable program, just as easy to use and is quite
affordable.
Upgrades are frequent and free!
I just received my new copy of The Master Genealogist (TMG) [lofty
sounding huh?]
Friday and it appears even more capable. This has a steeper learning
curve and is
more expensive (than Legacy) but looks very flexible and configurable.
Many users
claim this is the one to beat. The web site is at:
<http://www.whollygenes.com/>.
I've also given Ultimate Family Tree a spin and didn't like it's
convoluted data
entry system. It's a powerful program and many people (Roots users esp)
like it.
Really though, the bottom line is: try them out and keep the one your
comfortable
with and suits your research style. You may end up with more than just
one!
Mike
Craig Sturgeon
Check out TREE-O, a genealogical, historical and genetic management
system at:
Craig
phil reed {domain actually ic.net - reversed for anti-spam} wrote:
>
> Greetings!
>
> My mother and a cousin have spent some significant time doing genealogy
> research on my family, but it's all on paper. I'm interested in putting it into
> a database, and starting work on filling in the gaps. However, I'm new to the
> genealogy biz, so I'm looking for recommendations. What's the consensus? Which
> software package do people like?
>
> From what I've seen, Family Tree Maker seems to be the heavyweight. Any other
> contenders?
>
Ron Heroux
being something they themselves are using. Here's a list of software
sites. Compare and choose. A quick grab at one program without
adequate comparison may in the long run cost you valuable time when you
decide that you need a different program.
Updated list of genealogical sofware sites. For the IBM-compatible
unless otherwise
indicated.
Program & website
Genealogical Information Manager
http://www.mindspring.com/~dblaine/gimhome.html (demo available)
Family Origins http://www.parsonstech.com/genealogy/ or
http://members.aol.com/famorigins
GED2WWW http://home.nordnet.fr/~jbfahy
FamPub (Progeny) http://www.progeny2.com
Ancestral Quest http://www.ancquest.com/download.htm (demo
available)
Genius http://www.gensol.com.au/ (demo
available)
The Master Genealogist http://www.whollygenes.com/ (demo
available)
Ultimate Family Tree http://www.uftree.com
Legacy http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/ (demo
available)
Family Tree Maker http://www.familytreemaker.com/abtffiv.html
(demo available)
Brother's Keeper
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Brothers_Keeper
Parents http://win95.daci.net/ (search for
"genealogy")
GenDesigner http://home.sol.no/~salthe/gendesigner
Generations http://www.sierra.com/titles/genealogy
Ancestors and Descendants http://www.AIA-AnD.com
Fzip Family Tree (shareware) http://www.ozemail.com.au/~acroft/
Cumberland Family Tree http://www.cf-software.com
(demo available)
Family Matters (shareware) http://members.aol.com/matterware
TREE-O (GCS shareware) http://bfree.on.ca/vmall/gcs/
Family Scrapbook http://users.southeast.net/~vesd (demo available)
Reunion (Mac)
http://www.leisterpro.com/Default.html
Gene (Mac shareware)
http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/gene
Amiga: Scion, A-Gene*, Family Connections, and Origins, located at
Aminet:
http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/aminetbin/find search for
"genealogy" (no quotes)
GeneWeb http://pauillac.inria.fr/~ddr/GeneWeb/
Runs on Windows NT/95 and Linux.
A-Gene(Windows and Amiga* versions)
http://www.btinternet.com/~genealogy/agene.htm
Kith and Kin (British shareware)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/SpanSoft/kk.htm
Heredis (French) http://www.heredis.com
HazaData (Dutch) http://www.hazadata.com (demo available)
Dwight Kilpatrick
anti-spam}) wrote:
>Greetings!
Greetings Back at you:
Having been a "newbie" not so long ago 2 1/2yrs (to using Gen
software, with over 10yrs+ comp work) I'll tell you how I went about
choosing my software:
>My mother and a cousin have spent some significant time doing genealogy
>research on my family, but it's all on paper. I'm interested in putting it into
>a database, and starting work on filling in the gaps. However, I'm new to the
>genealogy biz, so I'm looking for recommendations. What's the consensus? Which
>software package do people like?
Be prepared to spend almost as much time setting up your "system" as
your mother and cousin did getting their original info, here's why:
- I've yet to find any one package that does what I want, how I want
it, for a price I can live with. (In other words, set out your systems
limitations, your goals, and how much you want to spend!! FIRST,
before you get software!!)
you can do this like this:
1/ Decide who is going to use your system/program, ie: are you, your
mom and your cousin going to use the output of the program ie: get
their ideas as to what they'd like, pictures with the charts/books,
copies of land deeds, bmd certificates (you might want to start saving
for a scanner!!
PS- they might want to "help" $$ wise?? You could always show them
some drop leaf charts and mention that they'd look even better with
pictures?? :-))
Color charts can be much more impressive, with the right software.
2/ Ask them if they collaborate with other relatives/exchange info,
they might have heard of programs.
3/ Join the local Gen society, and get their input.
4/ read the Gen groups, are you looking for a particular ethnic group,
using non-English characters' in your notes/sources section??
>From what I've seen, Family Tree Maker seems to be the heavyweight. Any other
>contenders?
5/ If you think FTM is a "heavyweight" you haven't been reading long
enough, while being a good program, at a nice price, it doesn't help
if most of your relatives aren't from America (USA).
There are some real heavy weights, ie: like TMG (but as a rule they
also come with "heavyweight pricing" (but then they also usually have
$ back options if you don't like them??)
Be prepared to try lots of different software, and also be aware that
there will always be a better program/version coming out (watch out
for some of the very steep learning curves!!)
- Do a dejanews search on "best" and you'll see that everyone has
their own opinions as to what works "best" for them at this particular
point in their lives!!
Here's my "best":
- Brothers' Keeper (comes in DOS/WIN3.1 and 95/NT) DOS version is nice
for using on a laptop, doing notes in a library, and info is easily
transfered to Win95 version (5.2F) which I use for my everyday input.
The "shareware" version is actually full featured (other than RTF
export) and gives you an idea of exactly what this software can do,
ie: printing searching, unlimited number of entrees!!
Updates, about every month or so, are usually easily downloaded of the
authors' site for FREE!!
(Watch out for the "cripple ware", software demos that only allow 20
or so entries, don't print or do .ged transfer, Unless they have a $
back option you don't know what you're getting!!)
- Legacy, seems to do a few things that Brothers Keeper is lacking,
but being the "new kid on the block" I'm still waiting to see, I'll
probably switch within the next month or so if the software holds up.
- TREE-O, a great relational gen database, presently only available
for Win3.1 (runs under 95 though), has some features such as a
separate but integrated cemetary and source database that is really
nice, I found the learning curve for this prg to be rather steep, but
usually worth it.
- Family Origins, excellent program for beginners, easy to use, costs
less than $30 US??
- FTM, could never really get into purchasing it, some of my friends
use it, but most of the CDs' are American based info, and most info
can be gotten of the net for free??
PPS- GET YOURSELF a BACKUP system, or at the very least backup all
your data, once a week to diskette.
I originally started with a 486, 540Meg HD, and only backed up
infrequently to diskette, then I had my first crash, and lost the
previous months input (about 60megs) now I use a tape backup,
(400/800Meg drive $20USD, tapes are $15-20USD) which backsup while I
sleep, so no problems if I loose a couple of hours work.
And as I've just installed a new 4.3GIG HD, I'm updateding my BU to a
2/4GIG tape drive $73USD.
I also have "copies" of all written documentation that I use as
sources (scanned onto tape), just in case "Murphy" does his thing ;-))
Dwight
phil reed {domain actually ic.net - reversed for anti-spam}
Thanks for your input. I'll grab Brother's Keeper, since it's on the Net and I
can get started quickly. I may yet spring for FTM, since a great deal of what
we've got to work with is American-based.
Paul Burchfield
First of all, the Family Archive CD collection of genealogical CD-ROMs can
be used from within Family Tree Maker but are separate in that they are
purchased separately. If you don't have a need for any of the 130+ CD-ROMs,
then you can buy Family Tree Maker in a configuration that includes just the
program CDs and the Social Security Death Index CDs. Price-wise, this is the
same price that used to get you only the program. In effect, we're giving
the Social Security Death Index CDs away.
Also, there is little information that is on our Family Archive CDs that is
also available on the Internet. If you check our listing of Family Archive
CDs you can get an idea for the wide variety of titles that are available.
--
Paul Burchfield, Broderbund Software
Visit us at:
www.familytreemaker.com
www.GenealogySiteFinder.com
www.GenealogyLibrary.com
Dwight Kilpatrick wrote in message <6t1r52$k4...@dragon.sk.sympatico.ca>...
<snip>
>- FTM, could never really get into purchasing it, some of my friends
>use it, but most of the CDs' are American based info, and most info
>can be gotten of the net for free??
<snip>
Leif B. Kristensen
ic.net - reversed for anti-spam}) wrote:
>In article <6t1r52$k4...@dragon.sk.sympatico.ca>, ki...@sk.sympatico.ca says...
>
>Thanks for your input. I'll grab Brother's Keeper, since it's on the Net and I
>can get started quickly. I may yet spring for FTM, since a great deal of what
>we've got to work with is American-based.
One small word of warning: Brother's Keeper has a very limited
number of input fields. Sooner than you think, you may find the
program restricting in several ways. I started out with Brother's
Keeper myself, and entered some 1300 persons before I gave up. As
I found the same persons mentioned in several sources, it became
increasingly difficult to register supplemental or contradictory
data. As one may enter only one source per event, that is one
birth, one baptism, one death, and one burial event per person, I
suffered and ever increasing anguish as I had to remove my first
source in order to enter a new, and presumably more reliable,
one.
I recently heard a horror story about a guy who has entered
30,000 persons in Brother's Keeper. Due to the limited amount of
fields, he has used those available in strange and unusual ways,
resulting in major conversion problems as he's now considering
other programs.
I changed to The Master Genealogist last Christmas, a choice I
don't regret at all. Still, I'm not half done with the
restructuring, source reassertions and general cleanup from my BK
days. If I were to start all over again, knowing what I know now,
I'd never even considered using Brother's Keeper.
--
Leif Biberg Kristensen mailto:leif...@alfanett.no
Nils Kirkeruds vei 8 B phone: +47 67 13 22 64
N-1313 VØYENENGA, NORWAY Researching Solum, Telemark
Kaare Albert Lie
My own experiences with these two programs are very similar to what
Leif is writing here. I heartily support his advice!
Best regards,
Kåre A. Lie
--------------------------------------------------------
Things are not as they are seen, nor are they otherwise.
Otto Jørgensen
leif...@alfanett.no (Leif B. Kristensen) wrote:
> On 8 Sep 98 00:11:23 GMT, p...@ten.ci (phil reed {domain actually
> ic.net - reversed for anti-spam}) wrote:
>
> >In article <6t1r52$k4...@dragon.sk.sympatico.ca>, ki...@sk.sympatico.ca says...
> >
> >Thanks for your input. I'll grab Brother's Keeper, since it's on the Net and I
> >can get started quickly. I may yet spring for FTM, since a great deal of what
> >we've got to work with is American-based.
>
<cut>
> I recently heard a horror story about a guy who has entered
> 30,000 persons in Brother's Keeper. Due to the limited amount of
> fields, he has used those available in strange and unusual ways,
> resulting in major conversion problems as he's now considering
> other programs.
>
Don't forget that the program was not used as mention in the manual.
And it seems to the fact that the user must have started with the
DOS-version sometimes before 1991 and not used sources and text-field,
but put a lot of information in the data field for location.
My best advice anyway, take a look around, look for demo and shareware.
Test them and then decide what is the best for you; not for me or
anybody else. If you decide to use a shareware, don't forget to pay the
registration fee to the producer :=)
You will be the user, in the same way that you are the driver of a car.
You shall like what you have.
Good luck :=)
phil reed {domain actually ic.net - reversed for anti-spam}
both here in the newsgroup and in e-mail. I really can't thank everybody
individually, so I'll do so here. You've all given me a lot to consider. I
downloaded Brother's Keeper, just so I could take a look at it and get a little
more background, without making a major committment. That decision is not
carved in stone, and I *will* be looking at other packages.
Thanks everybody for your info. It's been very helpful
Cheryl Singhal
PC>Greetings!
PC>My mother and a cousin have spent some significant time doing genealogy
PC>research on my family, but it's all on paper. I'm
PC>interested in putting it into
PC>a database, and starting work on filling in the gaps. However, I'm new to th
PC>genealogy biz, so I'm looking for recommendations. What's
PC>the consensus? Which
PC>software package do people like?
PC>From what I've seen, Family Tree Maker seems to be the heavyweight. Any othe
PC>contenders?
Which software package you will like is so highly personal it hardly
bears discussing (again).
If your entire computer experience is in the Windows world, if you do
state-of-the-art research in your professional life, if you want to
publish a Respected Genealogy, if you are doing this to pass out as
Reunion favors ... all those things enter into it.
The following are MY PERSONAL OPINIONS.
1) I like PAF, possibly because I've used it so long I can do data entry
in my sleep (and judging by some of the typos, I did!). It's a DOS
program and doesn't like non-American alphabet (until v3.0m out now),
doesn't accept more than one parent of each sex, insists that parents BE
opposite sexed, and is generally for the stereotypical All-American
Family as Ozzie & Harriet and Donna Reed portrayed it. It will run on
an XT or anything newer and can be used by your great-aunt Tillie in
South Podunk who thinks Dial phones are new technology. There are over
500 user groups around the US, many of which run BBS or web operations
(see also: CPAFUG's page http://www.elvandar.gt.ed.net/paf/ )
2) The Master Genealogist (TMG) is a space-hog, and last specs I had
wanted a Pentium with lotsa RAM and free disc space. I find the screens
busy, cluttered, and distracting. It permits multiple parents for
the same child, allows two parents of the same sex, allows you to enter
data you know is incorrect and mark it disproven, has a large number of
user-defined fields (Religion, occupation, cause of death seem to be
popular fields). It is widely considered one of the three best, and
comes in DOS and WIN versions. It is a one-man shop with excellent user
support; it too has several user groups; I know of three locally.
3) Ultimate Family Tree used to be Roots and is highly regarded; I
haven't had any truck with it, since when I first bought a program ROOTS
was $350 and well out of my price range. I heard the learning curve for
UFT was rather steep, but then so is TMG; and it has user groups.
4) Family Tree Maker is (sorry, Donna) OK if you like Windows programs.
I don't. It is supported by a large number of users because it is
frequently the ONLY genealogy program a store carries. One of their
reps hangs out on this newsgroup and is available to answer questions
either here or via their webpages or maillist. Learning curve is too
steep for Aunt Tillie, but most others shouldn't have trouble.
5) a host of others including Brothers Keeper, Reunion, Eucalyptus,
Kith & Kin, Kinfolk.
Check http://www.cyndislist.com and go to the software section for links
to the various pages with info on each program.
Cheryl
* OLX 2.1 TD * sing...@erols.com
Doug Anderson
out as Ultimate Family Tree (UFT). Check out the web site at
http://www.uftree.com/.
I find that it can be easy and powerful at the same time. They have a
switch between easy and advanced mode that doesn't require you to change
your existing data - it makes more functions available.
I highly recommend that you spend time on research. Transferring data
between the packages is not much fun (even with GEDCOM).
phil reed {domain actually ic.net - reversed for anti-spam} wrote:
>
> Greetings!
>
> My mother and a cousin have spent some significant time doing genealogy
> research on my family, but it's all on paper. I'm interested in putting it into
> a database, and starting work on filling in the gaps. However, I'm new to the
> genealogy biz, so I'm looking for recommendations. What's the consensus? Which
> software package do people like?
>
> From what I've seen, Family Tree Maker seems to be the heavyweight. Any other
> contenders?
>
> (Sorry about the email address thing, but I'm trying to confuse spammers. The
> part to the right of the at sign should be ic.net.)
>