What the Announcement REALLY Means
Yesterday, 9-Dec-2015, Ancestry announced that “Family Tree Maker will no longer be offered as of December 31, 2015.” This does NOT mean:
- The Family Tree Maker will disappear off your computer.
- The Family Tree Maker (whatever version) on your computer will no longer work.
- The TreeSync™ between Ancestry.com & FTM won’t work any more.
What the Announcement DOES Mean.
- On January 1, 2016 you will no longer be able to buy the software from Ancestry.com.
- Ancestry will stop upgrading or bringing out new versions.
- Ancestry will continue to support Family Tree Maker “through January 1, 2017.“
- That “all features of the software, including TreeSync™, will continue to work“ through January 1, 2017.
RootsMagic and Legacy have GREAT offers.
Tons of articles came out immediately (with more to come) with advice.
In fact, so many that those of us who were Family Tree Maker (it was our primary genealogy software) users will definitely feel information overload.
ONLY TIME TO READ ONE … at least right now.
Recommend reading Lisa Louise Cooke’s (she writes the Genealogy Gems blog & is an Evernote & genealogy expert) article, What Ancestry’s Retirement of Family Tree Maker Software Means for You. It includes the full Ancestry post. It has a clear reasons for Ancestry’s decision. Remember, we don’t have to agree with it. But IT IS WHAT IT IS.
Some advice even if you didn’t ask. 🙂
IF YOU HAVE NEVER USED ANYTHING ****BUT**** Family Tree Maker…
THEN …
Test several pieces of software before making a decision.
A key part of that test is uploading images, GEDCOMs, ***AND*** entering sources & repositories. Just entering some of your data in the people part of the form is NOT testing it.
Trust me — I wasted money on some genealogy software because I didn’t do the “key test”.
