Family Tree Maker 2008 Deluxe

List Price: $69.95 Discount Price: $46.99

Features:

• Software for exploring, preserving, and sharing family history
• Build a family tree starting with names, dates, and events
• Attach photos, documents, and audio and video files
• Design and print charts to display at home and share with family
• Includes 3 months of premium access to ancestry.com

Customer Reviews:

Don't Buy It!!! [Posted on 2007-12-27]
I've been using different versions of Family Tree Maker for at least 15 years. I've never seen a new version go so far backwards. Gone are all the features I most often use. I can no longer make the reports or charts I use most commonly. I can't make a book. My old books are gone. Now I guess I have to find a "pre-Vista" computer to run version 16 on if I actually want to do anything with my family tree? I predict the next version will simply be a link to the Ancestry website and nothing else.... for about 50 bucks.

If anyone can recommend a replacement program by a different maker, please e-mail me.

DO NOT UPGRADE! [Posted on 2007-12-31]
Unless you are a beginner, DO NOT UPGRADE! The 2008 version is not worth the trouble.

1) It's poorly designed.
2) It's a memory hog.
3) Beware of the merge feature!
4) Some of the features that are in 2006 ar not available in 2008 which they don't bother to tell you.

One feature I use a lot in 2006 is the ability to create a book with table of contents and an index. In the 2008 version, you are directed to ancestry press which only has 3 types of books for up to 4 generations. Only 4 generations! Truly only for a beginner.

I called Family Tree Maker Customer Support, who directed me to Technical Support, who directed me to a 3rd person. (I could tell none of them had really used the product.) When I asked if I could get a refund, they said to take it back to the store where I purchased it. I told them that I had opened the box and the store wouldn't give me a refund. They said Family Tree Maker couldn't give me a refund either. Instead they gave me an email address to write to - customersolutions@tgn.com.

So, does anyone know of a good genealogy software package?

Not Ready for Prime Time [Posted on 2008-01-26]
I've used earlier FTM products and been moderately happy with them. Not so with FTM 2008, which is mostly a major step back. The only positive is an improved way of managing sources with multiple citations. The major negatives are: (1) The slowest program to initialize I've ever seen, (2) Grossly inadequate help - they seem to be trying to force people to pay an extra $26 for the information they should have included, (3) A big step backward in reports - too few, and unless used in the most simplistic way they frequently give mysterious results, (4) Bugs/design flaws - One example, I have one man who was married twice. The FTM 2008 "Register Report" insists on printing the 2nd one first, and there apparently is no way to control this. And it prints out nonsense like "Isaac Newman and Eliza Evidon. He married Ruth Chase", where Ruth is wife one, Eliza wife two. (5) Because of this and other howlers, I found it necessary do editing. They dont make this easy - to get an .rtf file out you need to stumble on an undocumented right-click at a crucial momdent. The .rtf file, when read into WORD, is a complex table that is exceedingly tedious and difficult to modify. Bottom line: I should have read the reviews before purchase!

Family Tree Maker 2008 review [Posted on 2008-02-09]
Family Tree Maker 2008 Deluxe

This is a good product, much improved over the 2006 version. It has a lot of new features which make it easier to navigate and view family members. The only thing I don't like is that there is so much in the program that it seems to take longer to get from one screen to the next. All in all I like it very much.

Looking For An Alternative [Posted on 2008-05-04]
I have been using Family Tree Maker for many years, and have a very lengthy data file that goes back almost 20 generations in various lines. I find this upgrade to be something close to a horror. It is very slow to load, unintuitive and difficult to get information into or correct. I feel like the authors wanted to put together something for scapbookers (no offense) who were mostly interested in organizing photographs of several generations and adding some information. That is a far different goal from managing a huge database that goes back more than 500 years! The help functions are very confusing. I wish I had stuck with an earlier version.

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