Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Then and Now -- Family Tree Software

 Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:

It's Saturday Night again -

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along - cue the Mission Impossible music!):

1)  Then and Now - Which genealogy software have you used over your genealogy career to document your genealogy and family history research?  What did you start with (Then) and what do you presently use (Now).  Please share your experiences.

2)  Write your own blog post, or leave a comment on this post, or write something on Facebook.

Here's mine:

I started doing genealogy and family history research in 1988 - 35 years ago.  How time flies by!

My first computer in 1983 - an IBM PC with no hard drive and two 64 kb floppy disks - was used to write reports and letters and (I think!) to access, via a 300-baud modem, online text sites, especially the Prodigy network in the early 1990s.  At some point, I obtained Personal Ancestral File (PAF) and was able to start entering my family tree information, and save it on a floppy disk.

In 1994, I bought a Windows PC with a hard drive and used Personal Ancestral File (PAF) until about 1996 when I obtained Family Tree Maker (Version 5?). Over time, I upgraded my computers, Windows, Family Tree Maker (to Version 16 by 2006), increased the memory capacity, and updated the modem.  

In about 2006, I changed my main genealogy software to RootsMagic (Version 3?) and have used updated versions every since (now on Version 9).  

My present family tree includes my own ancestral research, including my wife's, my sons-in-law, several surname projects (Seaver, Carringer, Auble, Vaux, Dill, etc.) and now descendants of my 4th great-grandparents.  I have about 71,000 profiles in my RootsMagic family tree now.  I update my Ancestry Member Tree (using RootsMagic TreeShare) weekly, my MyHeritage family tree yearly (using a GEDCOM file), and regularly share information with FamilySearch Family Tree profiles.

I also have Family Tree Maker 2019 (the latest version) and Legacy Family Tree (Version 9) which I occasionally use for standard genealogy reports that RootsMagic doesn't do well IMHO.  

=============================================

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2023/05/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-then-and.html

Copyright (c) 2023, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.