Hi, For the lists information,I purchased the Family Tree Maker 2006 at STAPLES this week for $ CAN 19 .95 , to me it seemed a good price. Herb Schwarz Ontario,Canada ----- Original Message ----- From: <KarenHob@aol.com> To: <GERMAN-BOHEMIAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 23, 2006 4:41 PM Subject: [GERMAN-BOHEMIAN] Family Tree Maker and other software > If anyone wants to try a program without making a big investment you can > usually find the last year's (not the latest) edition at a software outlet > on the > Internet. > > A caution about purchasing software off Ebay. If it is not in a box or a > certified OEM version that can be registered it will probably turn out to > be a > pirated copy. There is no guarantee it will work and the pirates usually > will > not refund your money, they will only promise a new disk if one does not > work. > Be sure anything you buy at Ebay says you can register it. If there is a > caveat that it cannot be registered you can be pretty sure it is sold by a > pirate. > > Some Ebay vendors also sell multiple licenses for software so it can be > installed on several computers. My husband and I each have our own > systems and we > have a laptop for conferences. We also keep a very old PC for guests to > use > to collect email when they visit (we don't have to worry about them > collecting a virus that will damage one of the other systems that way). > So we really > need at least 2 licenses for each new software package. > > We only need 2 because more recent editions of many programs allow you to > install them on 2 systems -- the makers recognize that many people now > have > laptops as well as home systems. > > I have seen FTM delux 2005 for $19.95 at one of the software outlets I > use. > That is not a big savings over the $29.95 price for the 2006 version > ($49.95 > for the program with some data disks) but in the case of other programs > the > savings can be very substantial. > > In another few months that vendor may have a clearance on FTM 2005 and the > price may be cut in half. I have been able to purchase several programs > I > wanted from that vendor for less than $10 and have seen FTM in older > versions at > that price -- in the box with manual and data. > > Since FTM sells a lot of their data DVDs in separate packages, you really > don't need to get a super-duper box with everything in it. Some of the > databases > may not interest you at all. If you get a data disk of something like > the > SSDI it would be important to get the latest one. But if you want other > data > that already includes the years that interest you (like a US census), its > publication date may not be that important. > > If you buy the $49.95 package make sure that the data disks in it are the > ones you need. If not, it may be better to look for those disks as a > separate > purchase from some of the genealogy CD outlets before buying from FTM. > > Most software outlet vendor sites let you sign up for email notices of > specials which is a good idea if you like to stay up on what is about to > go out of > date. They also have a lot of special programs that you may not learn > about > elsewhere. > > I have the Oxfored English - Duden's pop up dictionary program that I > found > in an outlet email. It lets me do a quick search for a German word right > on > my system. You have to know enough German to figure out what the root > words > are within some of the words you want to translate but that does not take > very > long to learn. In some cases the dictionary has various forms of a verb > so > you do not have to know the infinitive form. > > If that pop up dictionary interests you, search the web with "Oxford-Duden > dictionary". I believe MyFamilySoftware.com is one vendor that has it. > > Internet outlets also have a search engine for you to enter the name of a > program you want so it is easy to learn comparative pricing from one > vendor to > another. You can find any number of them with Internet searches using > combos like, "computer software outlet" " software factory outlet" > "computer outlet" "software warehouse" or others that would stand for > clearance of > overstocks from other vendors. Not all their software is outdated. > Sometimes they have current stock from companies that went out of business > or did not > accept an order. > > If you buy an outdated version of software, after testing it you can go to > the websites with the information about the current year's upgrades > available > and what features may have been improved or what extras are in the box and > decide if it is worth getting. > > After you once have a program installed and registered (it does not matter > where you got the program) you can usually get the next year's program in > the > upgrade version for less than the new program for that same year. > > In some cases I have skipped a year and then installed an upgrade after 2 > years and still realized significant savings. > > If you use an outlet website for nothing more than to compare prices with > sale prices in local stores, it is still good information. Postage from > those > places is usually minimal and sometimes shipping is free so be sure you > know > the final cost of a given program before deciding where to purchase it. > The > disks from outlets usually arrive in 7-10 days or earlier if you request > faster > shipment. > > One type of software that some more-experienced computer users know about > is > the OEM versions of various popular programs. These versions usually > come > with a new computer and they do not have a manual with them. All you get > is the > disk, not the box. A typical OEM program in a new system package will be > virus protection from McAffee or Symantec (Norton). Another is a CD & DVD > burner > program that will come with a system that has a disk writer. > > I recently found a popular CD-DVD burner program that is $72 list price > for > $22 at one outlet. It was in the box with manual. It is a program I > have > been using for years and I don't believe I need the manual to be able to > use the > program features I need so that is not all that important to me. If you > are > burning music or video CDs or DVDs then a manual can be a great help. > > The popular program is the same on the LDS has on their microfilm > digitizers > at the FHCs. If you have a CD-DVD burner on your system you still have > to > have that program in order to read the files you copy to CD at an FHC. > The > alternative is to "close" the CD on which you have made copies of > microfilms so > the disk can be read on any system. When you do that you may not be able > to > add to the CD on future visits - you may have to use a new CD every time. > > Karen > > > ==== GERMAN-BOHEMIAN Mailing List ==== > Would you like to see messages that were posted before you joined the > list? To search the archives, go to: > http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=GERMAN-BOHEMIAN > >