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Family Tree Maker 2008 FAQs, Tips, Hints and Updates Posted: 23 November 2007 By: Rick Roberts, Biography & Archived Articles Often referred to as the "grandfather" of commercial genealogy software, Family Tree Maker successfully used the same data management structure for 18 years. That is a remarkable feat in a time of rapidly changing technology. Over the last few years FTM's competition introduced many new and useful features, while FTM was stuck on a old database system that could not be developed to match the performance of others. The answer was to start from scratch and write a completely new program that would allow FTM to catch up to their competitors and provide a new robust architecture that would serve as a dependable foundation for many years to come. As with many brand-new software releases, FTM 2008 has encountered growing pains that have some long-time users expressing a variety of concerns. The most common complaint from long-time users is that they have to learn a completely new genealogy program, a fact that many are not pleased about. New users report that FTM 2008 is easy and intuitive. Earlier versions of Family Tree Maker are as different from FTM 2008 as they are different from competing programs like RootsMagic or Legacy. Those who have been patient with the newness of the design are rewarded with many improvements that were beyond the capacity of the earlier design to provide:
Smaller, or more usual-sized family files like mine run fine. Two issues with the Book feature have caused strong user concern too. One concern is to be addressed by FTM (free). FTM 2008 currently requires the user to work across the internet with Ancestry.com servers when building a BOOK within FTM. That makes the Book feature useless for users with dail-up internet access. It also means that a high speed internet user has to be actively connected to the internet when working on their book. Further, many users are concerned about privacy, fearing that they are losing control of their data when it is on a computer that is owned by a commercial seller of data. Ancestry has committed to build an update to the book feature that will provide options to either work on your book over the internet, as presently designed, or to build the book on your own local computer. This is a significant project which is not expected to be complete before mid-2008. FTM has again committed that the book feature update will be a free download for registered FTM 2008 owners. If you are currently working on a book/s in FTM version 16 or earlier, we recommend that you complete that task in the version that you have. The other issue has been acknowledged by the manufacturer who has specifically said that they will not be fixing it. Books that were created in an earlier version of FTM cannot be imported into FTM 2008 even after the free update. Registered users will be automatically notified when free updates are available. That notification comes when you start up Family Tree Maker to begin a session. If an update is available, a dialogue box will appear on the screen to let you know. After you click to allow the update, it will automatically download and update your FTM 2008. Another feature that has been popular with some FTM users, but will not (as of the date of writting this article) be added to FTM 2008, is the ability to read and use the "old" family tree Data CDs. I've addressed that personally by leaving a copy of FTM 16 on my computer to use as a data CD reader. I've purchased a lot of those CDs over the years and still like using them. This is non-issue for the majority of FTM users who do not have a collection of the Data CDs. Listed below, please find a list of links to Tips, hints and responses to frequently asked questions as answered by the developers of FTM 2008...
A list of FTM tech issues and FAQs are on the Global Genealogy website and is updated regularly. FTM FAQs, Tips and Hints Shopping Cart & Order Desk Global Genealogy & History Shoppe 1-800-361-5168 ( 9-5 Tuesday to Saturday )
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