Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Bombshell News: Ancestry.com to Sync with RootsMagic AND Family Tree Maker

I received this via email from Kendall Hulet of Ancestry.com today, embargoed until 3 p.m. Mountain time.  It is a really big announcement about genealogy desktop software syncing with Ancestry Member Trees:

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Dear Family Tree Maker™ community,

Since our Family Tree Maker announcement last December, we have continued to actively explore ways to develop and support Family Tree Maker and ensure you have choices to preserve your work in ways that matter to you.

Today, we are pleased to announce two options for desktop software that will work with Ancestry.

Software MacKiev

Software MacKiev, with whom we have a long-standing relationship, is acquiring the Family Tree Maker software line as publisher for both Mac and Windows versions. Software MacKiev has been the developer of Family Tree Maker for Mac for more than six years and is thrilled at the opportunity to publish future versions of Family Tree Maker for Mac and Windows.

This new agreement means you will receive software updates and new versions from Software MacKiev, and have the ability to purchase new versions of Family Tree Maker from Software MacKiev as they are released. You will have continued access to Ancestry Hints, Ancestry searches, and be able to save your tree on Ancestry with Family Tree Maker moving forward.

RootsMagic

We have made an agreement with RootsMagic, a leading genealogy desktop software program publisher, to connect Ancestry with the RootsMagic software by the end of 2016. With this new relationship, RootsMagic can serve as your desktop family tree software, while having access to Ancestry hints, Ancestry searches, and the ability to save your tree on Ancestry.

We have heard your concerns and are working to provide the solutions you requested. These new agreements will make it possible to preserve your work on Ancestry and Family Tree Maker and enable future features and benefits to help you discover your family history. Be assured that Ancestry, in cooperation with Software MacKiev and RootsMagic, will continue to support you as you discover your family history. 

We ask for your patience as we work diligently through all the details to make these solutions available. You can find additional details about these Family Tree Maker partnerships on our blog. We also encourage you to continue to check back on our blog for future updates in the coming months.

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This is very welcome news - Family Tree Maker software will continue to work, syncing FTM database with an Ancestry Member Tree will continue to work past 2016, and RootsMagic will sync with an Ancestry Member Tree after 2016.

I was at the Family History Library all day and did not read my email to hear this news before the announcement.  Several geneabloggers and friends gathered around my microfilm reader and we discussed it for about half an hour.  That was fun!

I will have more commentary on this news in the coming days.



Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

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2 comments:

Geolover said...

"Family Tree Maker software will continue to work, syncing FTM database with an Ancestry Member Tree will continue to work past 2016"

FTM never did work without glitches. Medium-large tree databases (over 8 or 9k tree persons with fair amount of media) prompted crashes. The FTM software is a memory hog.

Syncing had constant problems. Hopes for trouble-free operation were not fulfilled. Failure to incorporate simple fixes to GEDCOM flaws in FTM is inexplicable. Now it's being fully turned over to the same developers?

Will FTM users' hopes for glitch-free operation be dashed?

T said...

Ancestry couldn't have done this 4 months ago? They had to upset all of their customers and leave them hanging all this time. If they knew they were going to do this, why not do it FIRST and then discontinue their involvement with the software? I don't trust ancestry.com any farther than I can throw them. I've already left. Won't go back.