Product Description

Whether you're new to family history or a seasoned genealogist, Family Tree Maker 2008 makes it easy for you to discover, preserve and share your family history.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: #1597 in Software
• Brand: Encore
• Model: 14850
• Released on: 2007-08-28
• Platforms: Windows XP, Windows Vista
• Format: CD-ROM

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 3 months of premium access to ancestry.com

From the Manufacturer
Whether you're new to family history or a seasoned genealogist, Family Tree Maker 2008 Deluxe Edition makes it easy for you to discover, explore, preserve, and share your family history. Three months 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

Newer doesn't always better
Today, I received an email from the makers of FTM who are hosting a webinare to try and get people more familiar with the FTM 2008 program. I also received a first - a survey to ask me what I liked and disliked about the program. Evidently FTM 2008 is not being embraced by enough people. For me it has been an unpleasant program to work with and I have removed it from my computer and have reverted to a much earlier version. I am not a Luddite - but if a program like FTM 2008 doesn't work easily or make my hobby easier, then I have no time to fuss with it.

FTM 2008 is for me the Edsel of genealogy programs for two reasons. First, the developers have created a program for genealogy beginners, one that is very tightly tied to Ancestry.com's fee based product lines accessible through their web site, and two, the developers have completely forgotten how advanced hobbyists approach family groups.

And like the dashboard of the 1958 Edsel, the user interface of FTM 2008 is full of lots of clutter, distractions and commands which seem to be counter intuitive. I would assume that for older users, this clutter would make it not only difficult to add data, but would also make those who use it yearn for Version 11, the last "plain Jane" version of the program.

What I wanted to see on this program was greater functionality in its report generator area and its ability (when exporting *.rtf reports) to better interface with standardized office productivity suites (MSWORD, etc.) - which is an issue with the core program not being updated to work with non-ancestry fee based services.

It just seems to me that with all the advances in data manipulation available today that the people behind FTM could do a better job at charting marriage between families and within families, but they seem to have a finite skill set and think that enough tinkering will distract people from the lack of innovation that their products feature.

In my personal opinion, this version of this program is not only unnecessarily complicated, and makes no real strives beyond what previous versions accomplished.

Give me the old stuff
This isn't a step backward - it's a three hour flight backwards. I've been using FTM products for 10 years, enjoying the improvements with most of their updated versions. Some have been minor and some have shown true innovation. Until now, none have been a step backward.

This program is a memory pig. It takes a long time to initialize - longer than any other program I run. Once up, the entire interface is new with no option to use FTM "classic" like so many other programs now permit. Processes that I have frequently performed quickly and easily in the past are now either unavailable or too complicated to figure out.

When I uninstalled the program to run FTM 9, I found that all the online support features had been disabled. So much for that. Trapped.

Online searches that used to be easy are now difficult and most require some sort of subscription, none of which are cheap.

Family Tree Maker is going to have to work hard to get my business next time. Frustrating.

DO NOT UPGRADE!
Unless you are a beginner, DO NOT UPGRADE! The 2008 version is not worth the trouble.

1) It's poorly designed.
2) It's a memory hog.
3) Beware of the merge feature!
4) Some of the features that are in 2006 ar not available in 2008 which they don't bother to tell you.

One feature I use a lot in 2006 is the ability to create a book with table of contents and an index. In the 2008 version, you are directed to ancestry press which only has 3 types of books for up to 4 generations. Only 4 generations! Truly only for a beginner.

I called Family Tree Maker Customer Support, who directed me to Technical Support, who directed me to a 3rd person. (I could tell none of them had really used the product.) When I asked if I could get a refund, they said to take it back to the store where I purchased it. I told them that I had opened the box and the store wouldn't give me a refund. They said Family Tree Maker couldn't give me a refund either. Instead they gave me an email address to write to - customersolutions@tgn.com.

So, does anyone know of a good genealogy software package?