Friday, November 11, 2016

Family Tree Maker Software News Update

I found this information on the Family Tree Maker Users group on Facebook and thought my readers might want to know about it.

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  1)  Jack Minsky of Software MacKiev wrote on 5 November:

WHATS HAPPENING TO FTM AT THE END OF THE YEAR?

As it gets closer to the end of 2016, I'm understandably hearing this question a lot. I've answered this a few times in response to questions in posts in this group, but it keeps coming up, so I thought it might be helpful as a post on its own. If you have been worried about what happens at the end of the year, well you can stop worrying. Here is what I've answered previously about this:

Ancestry did say once upon a time that they were going to stop supporting FTM at the end of this year. But that was a million years ago back in December 2015 when they also announced the brand would not continue at all. All that changed 7 weeks later on February 2nd -- the day Ancestry announced that they'd decided after all to sell this wonderful old brand to us, and that together we would be building on what Ancestry had started. Including building a new sync technology together.

So relax. TreeSync is not ending at the stroke of midnight this December 31st. And though it will be retired at some point, before that happens, there will be new syncing technology available to replace it. It's already well into development and we will be starting outside beta testing of it later this month. And that means syncing as we know it for FTM is going to live on. Not just into 2017, but as my kids like to quote Buzz Lightyear as saying -- to infinity and beyond. So stop worrying. And stay tuned.

If you'd like to keep up with the latest news about the new sync technology, as well as be the first on your block to hear about new products, free updates, and whatever else we've been up to with Family Tree Maker, then it's a great idea to sign up for the FTM mailing list if you haven't already done so. You'll find a link to the sign up page at http://www.mackiev.com/ftm/

2)  And on 10 November, Jack Minsky posted:

OK, WHAT ABOUT THAT FREE UPDATE, JACK?

I get this question often and I've been answering individual questions about it in member posts. I thought it might be helpful to have a full post on it that you can point to, with a kind of compendium of what I've been writing. So here goes:

When we happily rescued FTM earlier this year, we set out to create free updates we could wholeheartedly recommend to all current users of FTM 2014 and Mac 3. That work is still in progress, but if you'd like to get your hands on a copy and you're OK with a near-final build, then you can have one any time. Even right now.

That's because a couple of months ago we started making the latest interim builds of FTM 2014.1 and Mac 3.1 available for free from our Replacement Center for any registered FTM 2014 or Mac 3 user. And since then, when anyone has come to us with a serious issue that's fixed in the new editions, we have sent them there to get a copy right away.

Why so cautious? Well, because this is a very complex product. And because we feel an awesome responsibility in dealing with what often enough is literally decades of a user's work. So we are taking the time to get it right - to ensure that when we release final builds of Family Tree Maker 2014 and Mac 3 they're as ready as they can be to meet that high standard.

So, should you get the latest build right now then? Well, it depends. The improvements we're made are mostly in stability and performance. So if FTM is crashing or has slowed to a crawl with large trees, then have at it. Same if the waiting is driving you crazy, or you usually download interim updates anyway.

But if, like most users of FTM 2014 and Mac 3, your copy is working just fine, and you like being conservative about installing updates, we still suggest waiting for the final build. This is, after all, not a new version. It's a patch. That's why it's free. And if you don't think you need it right away, then you probably don't.

Having said all that, by all accounts, the builds we have placed on the Replacement Center are stable and safe to install. They have already been downloaded by a few thousand FTM 2014 and Mac 3 users, and — so far so good. Most are reporting that crashes have all but disappeared and actions with really large trees that previously took minutes, now take just a few seconds.

If you'd like to try out the latest build of FTM 2014.1 or Mac 3.1, here’s how:

GETTING THE LATEST FTM UPDATE BUILD

1. Go to support.familytreemaker.com
2. Click "for further assistance" at the bottom of the page
3. Select the Replacement Center tile.

Or if you decide to continue to wait for the final release and you'd like to be notified when we post it, just sign up for the FTM mailing list (at www.familytreemaker.com) and we'll let you know the moment it's available. Promise.


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Disclosure:  I have always paid for my Family Tree Maker software at each update as far as I can recall.


Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

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