ENGINEER'S Report - Tech Info

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This is a story from
someone that wishes he was a real techno guy...
me!

I found one of my flash drives (AKA: portable, thumb or USB drives) and hooked it into my computer to see if there were any photos on it that I failed to put onto the regular desktop computer. I found that this was the little drive that I downloaded & installed the Family Tree Maker (FTM) program with its database & it also had an installed Personal Ancestral File (PAF) with database. This little drive could be carried around by me anywhere and I could check my database on anybody's computer and I could add, delete or otherwise edit anything in my family files to bring home and put into my desktop genealogy program. The good part was that the computer I would use did not need to have FTM or PAF installed on its computer! This reminded me about the lost Christian County, KY huge PAF database that my cousin Tom Henderson had given me several years back. I bought a new computer about 2.5 years ago with Vista... which was not compatible with the PAF version 5, but not to fear because it was on my old computer that still worked. I was going to make a gedcom of the PAF data to export to my FTM program that was installed on the new computer. But... well, you know I never got around to doing that, of course!

Well, the old computer died on me and I have not been able to access that great database my cousin Tom Henderson gave me. Back to that little flash drive, that I could read that PAF database without any problem - I decided to see if I could export a gedcom copy of the PAF data to my new computer's FTM program. It worked!!!

Now, I can access the file without the flash drive & I can use it in a program that I am very comfortable with its use (FTM ver. 2006). I also have FTM ver. 2009 on the new computer, but it is seriously different than my 2006 version that is similar to version 1 of FTM that I began using in 1996 and upgraded every 2-3 years. Since the gedcom worked from the PAF 5 to FTM 2006, I need to now convert the FTM 2006 to the FTM 2009, just in case the next genealogy program will not be compatible with a gedcom from a program as old as 2006.

I learned a long time ago that if you skip too many upgrades from one version to the latest version that you may not be able to merge your old saved files into the newer version. So, you need to update your files every few years just to be able to access them later.

A Review - Family Tree Maker 2009

Family Tree Maker 2009

A Review

My copy of the all new completely revamped Family Tree Maker 2009 came in the mail yesterday. It has undergone many changes in ownership, since I bought the very first version back in about 1994 or 1995. It has undergone many revisions. Ancestry.com began making more drastic changes, but it was still similar to the original basic format. This 2009 version is all new - a totally new type of program that only has the same name. I have not had it long enough to play with everything - so, I may be able to change the layout on the screen, but the default has four frames on display at once. There is a generation chart (displaying up to four generations) in middle top with a lower section that is similar to a family group sheet. On each side are other two frames - left side is an index listing of names in the database file and on the right side is the individual data for that person highlighted on the generation chart. The various sections are not as easy to navigate as the older versions in finding notes, etc. but, it is just different than the way it has been for 15 years.

For some reason the default "Home Person" is one of my father's uncles. I do not know haw to change that, yet. But I have not had time to do extensive changes to the default settings. You can transfer databases into this program quite easily... it only took about a minute to download my older files from FTM 2006. You can also download Personal Ancestry Files (PAF), The Master Genealogist, Legacy, Gedcom's, etc.

Now, of course, I bought this version because Ancestry.com had it on sale that also included a reference library CD - all for about $30 for the upgrade & the library. At first I thought I was going to have to return the CD since it did not seem to function. It uses Adobe Reader to read the PDF format. I learned that I could open up the Adobe Reader and go to the CD Drive through the program and then open up any of the books which includes: a genealogical dictionary, finding answers in the US Census, historian's address book, The Red Book, The Source, U.S. military records and the Library of Congress guide to genealogical research. These are every page PDF's, searchable and printable.

Overall, my first impressions are good for the new FTM2009 and the reference library is a great resource... a definite bargain for $30. Of you who have this new program, please share your comments on it.

- Reviewed by JGWest