Genealogy Chat

We had FTM 2006 and liked it.
I got my wife the 2009 version for Christmas last year, and it wouldn't load on our computer, which was an old P3-660 mhz with Win XP. The P3 was too old for it. IN October we finally upgraded and got a P4, and loaded FTM 2009, and relinked with Ancestry etc.

Then I went to import the database from the old program...well...it crashed. It crashed a second time. It froze.

I did other things for a month, and tried again, and this time, it loaded, and took nearly two hours to import and compile its file. Maybe I'm dumb, but I would have thought it would have just picked up where the old program left off.

There wasn't a great deal of media (photos etc) in it- perhaps 80 jpgs. The rest were names & families- sure there were about 55 000 of them, but still, the version 2006 only took a moment to boot up.

The 2009 version, I do like now, but is shifted the data in many 'facts' to the wrong place compared with that which the 2009 version expects. There's a lot of sense in the new way, but still, it wasn't an easy crossover process for us. Still a lot of editing to do.

When creating reports, it took a long while to work out how to 'add' certain facts. I created a few reports, and much data was missing. I didn't find it as intuitive as version 2006 was.

In summary, yes, I'm glad version 2009 is loaded & running, and I wouldn't go back, but it wasn't a smooth conversion with a huge database to begin with; and no, I won't be getting version 2010, no matter how good it sounds! We'll stick with this one- I don't like the planned obsolescence some things seem to exhibit (I'm not saying FTM does that, but I''m not for upgrading unnecessarily, or to keep up with the neighbours, that's all!)

NIce program. Previously we used PAF, back in the days of DOS, before we ever got Windows 3.0.
Also used Brother's Keeper- the shareware version. It was useful, but FTM was great, in comparison.

All programs have the ability to import & export GEDCOM files which are universally exchangeable with other programs, albeit with limited but important details attached.

Interesting, Ian.....and after reading of all the hassle, I think I'll stick with my FTM 2006!!

K.

Interesting to hear peoples experiences.

I installed 2010 recently having received a copy at Christmas.

The installation was completely straightforward and the conversion of my old 2006 data file took about 30 minutes in all - over 10,000 names. Again, no problems, everything where it should be.

It does have a different look and feel to 2006 - I suppose it is more mouse oriented - but fine once you get used to it. I spent a couple of hours finding the differences in the basic operations and after that there is no turning back.

n

I think that the Next question to ask is

IF you only had, say, the Who Do You Think You Are? version(2005) and were satisfied,
Would you go out and BUY a newer one?


dont larf,

BUT on my pc I have the 2005,
my Lappy has version 11
and my wife is still trundling along on Version 6!!

Bob
edited.......now the only reason I have the 2005 version was to get the web search facility which appears to be a bit naff, As I dont subscribe to ancestry I very rarely get any useful info out......I seem to get more results if I search through "dogpile"......

Bob

Well now - I'm still using version 7 (1998) and it runs perfectly even after upgrading/downgrading to Vista. I don't like these 'new, improved' things that are usually a hassle to come to grips with.
Off to hunt a sabretooth tiger for tea.
Bernie