Hi Gena, Just another opinion re genealogy programs. I wrote my own genealogy data storage and reporting system back in the early 1980's, as there were none available in the marketplace. I continued to expand and enhance that system until I found a commercial program in the late 1990's (The Master Genealogist) that provided all of the support that I had designed into my own system (and a lot more!). I now use The Master Genealogist, and recommend that everyone looking for a genealogy program consider it before they make their decision. The Master Genealogist (TMG) definitely provides the most complete and versatile genealogical support available in the marketplace today. I feel the price is a tremendous bargain for the functionality you receive. But TMG is not the best genealogy program for everyone. There is a significant learning curve in order to take full advantage of the functionality provided. In a way, it's similar to a sophisticated word-processing or spread sheet program. It doesn't take long to learn the very basic functions. But, the program provides a lot of options on how to store data and report data, to take full advantage of the system. As with any program, the complexity and learning curve increase with the versatility. The complexity is not in the operation of the program. Data entry and simple reports are pretty straight forward. The complexity, in my opinion, is understanding the different ways that the program can be used (because of its versatility), and selecting the methods that you want to use to store your data. Some will find it exciting to learn the various functions and decide how they want to use those functions, while others, who are not as comfortable with computer software, or perhaps are very new to genealogy, may find it intimidating. So, if you enjoy learning and using computer programs like word processing and spread sheet programs, and want a genealogy program that will allow you to do just about anything you want to do with your data, TMG is probably the best way to go. If you aren't very comfortable learning how to use computer software (or you are brand new to genealogy), and just want a simple-to-use program that supports the basic needs of the genealogist for storage and reporting of family information, Family Tree Maker is a very popular program. FTM has a short learning curve, is easy to use, and provides the basic functions needed by most genealogists. I am sure that there are other good programs out there, but FTM is the only one I have tried other than The Master Genealogist. Genealogy software is a very personal choice. I found FTM to be very limiting. I have a lot of experience with computer software, as a developer and a user, and have been actively pursuing genealogy for many years. FTM didn't provide the flexibility or all the functions I was looking for. Others will be very satisfied with the support provided by FTM, and may consider TMG to be overkill for what they want to accomplish. TMG provides a lot of support for those who want to move their family information from another genealogy program to TMG. And I have found TMG to be extremely reliable. I am currently using version 4.0, as I have not yet upgraded to the latest version, version 5.0. I anticipate upgrading later this year. Previous upgrades have been very easy to accomplish. I have been using TMG heavily for six or seven years, have about 17,000 relatives stored on my data base, and have never lost any data because of any program problem. In the event of a problem or technical question, I have found the company's technical support to be excellent. You can find out more about this product at their web site, www.whollygenes.com. You can also use Google to search on the name of the product to find other opinions about the product. Good luck with your decision. Mike Landwehr