Technology and the Ever Changing World of Genealogical Research Tools
It is easily said that I can sometimes be too quick while other times be very slow to adapt to new technologies, hardware, software, peripherals or other genealogical research tools. Tonight, of course, the old workhorse software program that I’ve “grown up with” is going away. Family Tree Maker® is currently in its last iteration and support will only be available until 1 January 2017.
OK, that gives me plenty of time to to do one of three things:
- Train myself on RootsMagic
- Train myself on Legacy Family Tree
- Begin to use a 100% cloud based family tree database i.e. Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, etc.
Since I’ve already been unsuccessful trying to accustom myself to RootsMagic or Legacy…mostly due to a lack of perseverance…my choices are substantially limited. But, I’ve been here before.
Right now, I’m leaning toward abandoning all PC based software in favor of Ancestry. I’ve used Ancestry and FTM since the late 90’s and have become very comfortable of the simplicity of syncing one with the other. So I’m sorry to see that aspect go away. The downside is reports, tables, pedigree charts and all the various data organizing products that are currently available in FTM.
Other than reports, using Ancestry.com exclusively isn’t such a bad thing. But then there’s the issue of worrying about Ancestry itself folding. This approach puts all the data I collect automatically “in the cloud.” After all, what is the cloud other than a remote server (not in the clouds!) that is a repository of data, all stored in 0’s and 1’s.
Pedigree Chart of Erskin Coleman Robison (1878-1942)
Speaking of reports, I’m not aware of any means to create any type of reports strictly out of Ancestry.com family trees. If I’m wrong, I’d happily be willing to find a way to produce the same type of reports that are currently available in FTM under “Publishing.” So that brings me back to Legacy or RootsMagic.
Now I, along with thousands of others, have some decisions to make. But as of yet, I don’t think we have enough data to even begin the process.
UPDATE: After posting this blog, I checked my email and found this link to RootsMagic. They certainly didn’t waste any time and I suspect they may have had this “in the wings” and ready to post at the appropriate time.
2 Responses
There are functions in FTM that just are not available with the online Ancestry tools.
For me, importantly, is that FTM allows one to search by geography. With half Scandinavian pedigree this is how I check for people in my tree – by location. Norwegian genealogy is heavily dependent upon place studies – surname studies are of no real use.
Additionally, the ability to merge and sync trees I find really important. And for those people using AncestryDNA to find their biological ancestors it is important to change trees, looking for hints, then merging trees.
I understand (I think) why ancestry.com made this decision, but I don’t consider it a good one for me.
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