Monday, March 16, 2009

Is the new FamilySearch Life Browser dead? Maybe not!

I wrote about the Life Browser feature in new FamilySearch in my posts here and here. I really, really, really ... really liked the concept, the content, and the format. Alas, the last word I had was that development on the prototype had stopped, perhaps because of human and computer resource requirements and priorities at FamilySearch.

The author of the Shoebox Genealogy blog has an ode to Life Browser today titled What we lost when Life Browser died. It is well-written and has much more information and description of the Life Browser concept, which I really appreciate knowing about. The introduction to the post said:

"Life Browser represented some of the loftiest goals of FamilySearch, and when it died, so did my hopes for New FamilySearch’s success."

Amen. Please go read the entire post for all of the context and content.

But wait - Dan Lawyer, who writes the Taking Genealogy to the Common Person blog, wrote a comment to the post that said, in part:

"According to a highly reliable source in the Family History Department, 'I will go to my grave fighting to deliver the concepts embodied in the life browser as part of the core FamilySearch experience.' (Can I quote myself? Sure, why not.)"

Read all of Dan's comment.

There seems to be hope for Life Browser yet, although it may be up to third-party providers to provide the resources and the content.

I sincerely hope so!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It is a great article. Well organised and persuasively argued. I had it marked in my feed reader and tweeted it out ten minutes ago. This should be read by many.