This sounds interesting. I haven't checked it out fully, but it does have promise if you are tired of commercial companies stealing your information and selling it on CD. -Mark JECrain wrote: > Received from another list I'm on: > > Several colleagues and I have finalized a new, > peer-to-peer network for > genealogy. With this application, you can publish > your genealogy > directly and search genealogy on others' computers > all around the world > in a very efficient manner. > > We've written the initial application and are giving > it away free to the > genealogical world in hopes that it will help > accelerate research. We > need beta testers to download and publish their > genealogy on the network > and participate in its pilot run. > > The Linked application can be downloaded from > http://genealogy.byu.edu/. > > This new network provides many benefits above and > beyond the traditional > methods of publishing to the web or submitting to a > central authority: > > 1. It is exact searchable for names, dates, > relations, and events, > whereas web search engines retrieve all sorts of > irrelevant results you > have to sift through. You can now submit searches > such as "John Smith, > married to Deanne, born within 20 years of 1830" and > get results that > only match that exact query. > > 2. It allows you to publish directly from your own > computer. When you > update your genealogy, it is immediately available > to the worldwide > network. You maintain control over the data you > have researched. There > is no longer a delay in publication when you submit > your genealogy > (since you only "submit" to yourself). > > 3. Think of a "Napster" of genealogy--that is what > this is--unhindered > by the legal issues associated with music. In > contrast, genealogists > love to share information and knowledge with each > other! > > Visit the faq at the web site for more information: > http://genealogy.byu.edu/faq.jsp. See also the > presentation that I gave > at BYU's Family History Technology workshop that is > on the site. > > Readers might be wary of a "free lunch" application. > This network is > part of P2P research that I am doing at Brigham > Young University's > E-Commerce Center and will further my research. The > application indeed > is free, both as the installable application and the > source code (GNU > public license). I decided to use genealogy as the > testbed for this > research because something like this is needed badly > by the genealogical > community. As the network becomes more popular, > I'll probably turn it > over to a central governing committee for oversight. > > Finally, please understand that while this research > and network are > being developed at BYU, it is not endorsed or > developed by the Church of > Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or its genealogy > department. Rather, > the network is for genealogical research completed > by all individuals of > any religion or nationality. It is part of research > being supported by > BYU's E-Commerce Center. > > Thank you for your time. Please pass this message > along to genealogical > groups and friends. I hope to see many of you on > the network. > > -- > Conan C. Albrecht, Ph.D. > Brigham Young University > [email protected] > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.281 / Virus Database: 149 - Release Date: 9/18/2001 > > ==== CRAIN Mailing List ==== > More CRAIN(E)/CRANE/CRAYNE info at web site: > http://www.dcrandall.com