I think that the reports of the death of the GEDCOM standard have been grossly exaggerated. If one part of the genealogy community, Even a part as large as the LDS Church, tries to change the direction everyone else is going now, they will have a mighty big job on their hands. It will take an extended period of time to accomplish anything as big as changing an old standard like GEDCOM. -------------------------- from the pages of the Webopedia: http://www.webopedia.com/ "XML" Short for Extensible Markup Language, a specification developed by the W3C. XML is a pared-down version of SGML, designed especially for Web documents. It allows designers to create their own customized tags, enabling the definition, transmission, validation, and interpretation of data between applications and between organizations. ----------------- But, if after a few years, everyone has grown comfortable with a new way of doing things, the old way will just fade away and no one will even notice that it isn't there anymore. (When was it that you last saw a 5Œ" floppy disk in a store) It is nearly that bad with the 3œ" floppies now that every program is so large they have to be distributed on CDs. I would Imagine that Bruce will add support for XL transfers to Family Origins when and If it looks like it will become a standard. I wouldn't loose any sleep over it. Most of it is hidden from the end user like us so that we have no idea what language is used to write a program. Alfred ==================== ----- Original Message ----- From: <ABLass@aol.com> > I just read in the latest Ancestry Magazine that the LDS Church has selected > XML for future software programs. They plan to create a new file format to > replace GEDCOM. It said that XML would allow more programming freedom and > better data sharing. It said that GEDCOM would not be improved any further. > > Does anyone know about XML? I assume that FO will be compatible with this new > software, right? > > Bill >

If they don't update the standard any more, the others will have to change. The LDS is/was the originator of the gedcom standard, I believe. Aloha Wayne ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alfred Eller" <adeller@santel.net> To: <FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 01, 2001 6:53 PM Subject: Re: [FO] XML > I think that the reports of the death of the GEDCOM standard have been > grossly exaggerated. > > If one part of the genealogy community, Even a part as large as the LDS > Church, tries to change the direction everyone else is going now, they will > have a mighty big job on their hands. It will take an extended period of > time to accomplish anything as big as changing an old standard like GEDCOM. > > -------------------------- > from the pages of the Webopedia: > http://www.webopedia.com/ > > "XML" > Short for Extensible Markup Language, a specification developed by the W3C. > XML is a pared-down version of SGML, designed especially for Web documents. > It allows designers to create their own customized tags, enabling the > definition, transmission, validation, and interpretation of data between > applications and between organizations. > > ----------------- > > > But, if after a few years, everyone has grown comfortable with a new way of > doing things, the old way will just fade away and no one will even notice > that it isn't there anymore. (When was it that you last saw a 5¼" floppy > disk in a store) It is nearly that bad with the 3½" floppies now that every > program is so large they have to be distributed on CDs. > > I would Imagine that Bruce will add support for XL transfers to Family > Origins when and If it looks like it will become a standard. I wouldn't > loose any sleep over it. Most of it is hidden from the end user like us so > that we have no idea what language is used to write a program. > > Alfred > > ==================== > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <ABLass@aol.com> > > > I just read in the latest Ancestry Magazine that the LDS Church has > selected > > XML for future software programs. They plan to create a new file format to > > replace GEDCOM. It said that XML would allow more programming freedom and > > better data sharing. It said that GEDCOM would not be improved any > further. > > > > Does anyone know about XML? I assume that FO will be compatible with this > new > > software, right? > > > > Bill > > > > > > > ==== FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS Mailing List ==== > PLEASE remove as much of the Original Message as possible when replying to a List Posting. Include only that part of the original message important to your reply. > > ============================== > Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp >

Wayne Jones wrote: > If they don't update the standard any more, the others will have to change. > The LDS is/was the originator of the gedcom standard, I believe. =========== Wayne, While the interest in family research has exploded among the general public in recent years, many of the "standards" have been adapted from the original system developed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the core doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ is the performance of proxy ordinances for one's deceased family members in an LDS Temple. In an effort to computerize the system several years ago, the Church wrote a DOS based genealogy software program (Personal Ancestral File) for it's members to use, and developed the GEDCOM as a means whereby members could make a floppy disk on their PAF software at home and send it by mail to the nearest LDS Temple. The information would then be loaded into the computer at the Temple. I understand that it had a few bugs in it, but it sure beat the old hand-written paper family group sheets that had been used up to that time. (Although some were neatly typed, everyone didn't own a typewriter). As interest in computerizing and transferring family research information became "popular" among the general public, commercial software makers saw a new market for their products in genealogy software. Each begin to adopt the system already set up and working by the LDS Church, and the Church willingly cooperated in sharing it's system. The GEDCOM standard works fine for what it was developed for in the LDS Church, but new technology replaces old. How many of us still use 5 1/4 inch floppy disks, or, in many cases, have even seen one? If the LDS Church decides to go with a better way of transferring computer files, I'm sure that it will work with those commercial software developers who may be affected, as it has done in the past. At the same time, the LDS Church is not in the software business, and it will develop and use the best system that will meet the needs of it's members. I have heard for a while now about a possible "intra-net" that may be set up between the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, all the local LDS Chapels in the world, and all the LDS Temples. Quite an undertaking. If some new method of file transfer other than the GEDCOM would be necessary to move information through such a proposed "intra-net", I'm sure that one would be developed. Jim