Product Description

Discover how easy it is to explore and preserve your family history. The Family Tree Maker 2008 Essentials Edition is designed to help beginners find results fast.Windows® XP (Home and Pro) SP2/Vista¿¹, Pentium® II 500 MHz processor or equivalent (recommended Pentium III 1 GHz or equivalent), 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM recommended), 400 MB free hard-disk space (additional space required for data files), 2X CD-ROM drive or faster & DVD-ROM drive for bonus content [recommended 32X CD/CD-R (CD-R required for the Backup to CD Feature)], Monitor with 800 x 600 resolution (recommended Monitor with 1024 x 768 resolution), Keyboard and mouse, Note: ALL online features require internet access². ¹Administrator privileges are required to properly install the program on Windows XP and Windows Vista. ²User is responsible for internet service provider account, all internet access fees, and phone charges.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1089 in Software
• Brand: Encore
• Model: 14840
• Released on: 2007-08-28
• Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows XP
• Format: CD-ROM
• Dimensions: .60 pounds

Features

• Software for exploring, preserving, and sharing family history
• Build a family tree starting with names, dates, and events
• Attach photos, documents, and audio and video files
• Design and print charts to display at home and share with family
• Includes 1 month of premium access to ancestry.com

From the Manufacturer
Discover how easy it is to explore, preserve, and share your family history. Whether you’re new to family history or a seasoned genealogist, the Family Tree Maker 2008 Essentials Edition is designed to help beginners find results fast. One month of premium access to ancestry.com is included.

Family Tree Maker 2008 lets you easily:

• Build a family tree starting with names, dates, and events
• Attach photos, documents, and audio and video files
• Quickly merge new facts and records from the Web into your tree
• Use interactive maps to explore the places where your ancestors once lived
• Design and print charts to display at home and share with family

• A new interface that combines elements of a pedigree chart and a family group sheet, making it much easier to enter, view, and edit your data
• Vastly improved integration with Ancestry.com
• A Web clipper that lets you merge data from anywhere on the Web into your tree
• Standardized criteria for rating your sources
• Features that make it easy to manage photos and other media files and incorporate them into charts and reports
• A place authority with more than 3 million place names that helps you correctly enter locations
• Dynamic lists that show you all the people and events associated with a particular place
• Timelines that highlight personal, family, and world events that occurred during your ancestors’ lives
• A robust tool for sorting and managing your to-do list
• The ability to import data from other genealogy programs, including Personal Ancestral File, The Master Genealogist, and Legacy Family Tree

• Quickly compare information you find on Ancestry with the data in your tree and use a merge wizard to selectively import new facts and records
• Take advantage of Ancestry Hints--a contextual search feature that automatically suggests records pertaining to people in your tree
• Back up your Family Tree Maker data by automatically creating a member tree on Ancestry (you can choose to share your tree with others or keep it private)
• Create heirloom-quality books using the new Ancestry Press self-publishing tool

Customer Reviews

Family Tree Maker 2008 - Won't do the Basics
Any run-of-the-mill genealogy software should be able to do at least the basic reports family researchers and professional genealogists use to some degree during almost every major session:

* register reports (descendant-ordered reports - "all descendants of")

* ahnentafel reports (ancestor-ordered reports - "your ascending line"')

Family Tree Maker 2008 has now dropped these core reports they had supported throughout the past 16 versions of their software. The usefulness of the other core reports FTM 2008 still does provide, such as pedigree and descendancy charts, is significantly chilled by the near total removal of user options in designing what data elements to include in these remaining reports. Many other key features which longtime FTM users have enjoyed have also fallen by the wayside.

* Instead, FTM 2008 offers a lot of new fluff charts and reports, some of which are interesting for occasional analytical use, and some I don't even see a real-world practical use for.

Another major show-stopper for me was that FTM 2008 has dropped the popular feature that allowed the user to produce "family books" on their own home computer, but now instead requires that such information first be uploaded to the parent company (Ancestry) with the option of then (for an additional design fee) eventually downloading and printing it out either on your own printer or through their professional press. In either case, you must first execute a waiver essentially allowing Ancestry to use your research information as they see fit. Many users may find these requirements as highly objectionable.

* Regardless, with the loss of the key reports mentioned above, I am not sure how much is left to put in a "family book" even if you could still produce one on your home computer.

* Also, all of your family books produced with previous FTM versions will now be lost.

* As for all those expensive CDs you have accumulated over the years, FTM 2008 will no longer read any CDs.

The final show-stopper for me was exceptionally poor performance:

* My copy of FTM 2008 crashed about every 8 minutes or so, requiring a cold boot to get started again. Slow install, slow loading, slow running -- a perfect trifecta of poor performance.

* Even more importantly, and truly the "last straw," was I could never get a clean upload of data from my previous version of FTM v16 to FTM 2008. Data would often be corrupted, or even missing altogether. A very large number of users have reported this same problem. I also noticed that if I did successfully do any work in FTM 2008, I could never be sure I could export it back out to a previous version so that I could do the basic reports and such which are missing in FTM 2008.

With regard to the radical new look of FTM 2008, the gee-whiz cluttered and complex new screen displays could be construed by some as a mark of sophistication or power computing, but this is all only a hollow shell if this genealogy software won't even do the most basic register and ahnentafel genealogy reports many experienced researchers use so often.

* To be able to then effectively summarize your family research for yourself and others is the true end game of doing family research in the first place.

I view this release not as an upgrade to a new and improved FTM, but instead a very sad downward departure from the core functions FTM had consistently done so very well over the previous 16 releases. I have been an FTM user since 1998.

* Video-gamers will love this new software, but many experienced researchers will find many major disappointments.

I was so deeply disappointed that I uninstalled FTM 2008 so I could go back to FTM version 16 and once again be able to do basic genealogy reports summarizing my ongoing research.

That is why I buy genealogy software in the first place.

CHT in Virginia

A Big Step Backwards
I had no problems loading FTM2008. But, as commented on by earlier reviewers, FTM2008 is missing MANY features already present in earlier versions of FTM without introducing any significant improvements (at least in terms of functionality). Most basic trees and reports are now gone. There is no longer an automatic backup of your data. Navigation is much worse than in earlier versions. You would think that the new version would support "grab and drag" functions for repositioning your view of trees and reports too large to fit on a single screen (almost all map programs do this now). I am returning my FTM2008 for a refund and returning to FTM16.

Not for Long Time FTM Users or Novices
FTM 2008 software will greatly disappoint Long-Time FTM users.
I purchased mine on-line and within a week had returned it for credit.
Not only is the program totally revamped but is missing one of the basics of any Genealogy Program - Register and Ahnentafel reports - and the functionality of the program is no where near what we FTM users are accustomed to - My Opinion: Those who have v16 should stick with it - longtime FTM users who have not yet upgraded to v16 might want to do so now while it is still available. If you are new to Genealogy Software - do your research - in my opinion FTM 2008 is not user friendly. My personal opinion is that FTM 2008 is a monster program and was no where near ready for release.