NOW THIS IS WHAT FTM SAYS IS NEW IN 2008 I do not see where hardly any of these items are really NEW items. My comments are after >> on each item. ===================================== What's NEW in Family Tree Maker Family Tree Maker opens with a whole new look. Every effort has been made to make family history welcoming and fun. The program is now divided into seven distinct areas (workspaces) that focus on the key tasks of research and data management. The following list explains the new features available in each of the workspaces. Plan Improved file merge. >>Not the case it took 10 hours 5 minutes to merge a 21 person database with an existing 104,215 person database. Global task management. Ability to import PAF, Legacy, The Master Genealogist and various other file formats. >>You could already do this in prior version using a GEDCOM file. People Family view that combines the family tree and family group. >>Looks good but is slow. Person view that displays facts, sources, notes, and tasks in one view. >>Slow and unresponsive and duplicate information shown twice for some item on the screen. Timeline view that lists personal, family, and historic events. >>Timeline report already existed in prior versions. Relationship view that lists family relationships. >>Slow and prints a head in the box to the left of the persons information. I see no way to remove the heads. You could produce a similar type report in prior versions. I don't see much use for this report the way it works. You can select the person relation from a drop down box but to change the person relation to you have to fumble through the tabs of the few people listed at the top of the screen. You cannot pick someone from a drop down box to pick the relation to person. Index groupings that allow searching by family name, given name, birth date, marriage date, and death date. History list that displays the changes made to records in the tree. >> History tab existed in 2006. Places A database of 3 million complete place names connected to FastFields name completion. >> Slow and these so called Place FastFields cannot be changed. They are inaccurate as to name of locations and leave out locations where the name changed. I see no way to turn off FTM place names and only use your place names. A map to find each location in the tree. >> Slow and a similar map existed in prior versions. A view to see all of the people associated with a location. >> Slow and a similar view existed in prior versions. Media View all of the images and media in your tree from one location. >> Nice. Link one media file to multiple people and view all of the people a media file is linked to. >> This might be of use to people. Sources View all of the sources in your tree from one location. >>Available in 2006 under edit master sources. Rate sources using standardized rating criteria. Full reference notes. >>Notes existed in 2006. Flexible citation/source/repository model. Publish >> Existed in 2006. New charts and reports >> These so called new charts could for the most part be produced in 2006. Improved chart and report customization. >> Not the case, they appear to be of lower quality and features removed that existed in 2006. The tree chart looks like something a child would draw when compared to the features it could do in 2006. Output charts and reports to PDF, CSV, RTF, HTML, JPG, PNG and other formats >> Most of this was available in 2006. Web Search >> Available in 2006. Search Ancestry.com, Rootsweb.com, and Genealogy.com and merge the results into your tree. >>Available in 2006. Search anywhere on the Internet from within Family Tree Maker and merge the results into your tree. >> Can do the same thing in Internet Explorer. I don't need to search the web form inside a genealogy program, although others might want this feature. Add your own bookmarks to web sites. >> Can be done in Internet Explorer. Capture text, images, and entire web pages and merge them into the tree. >> Nice but was able to copy and paste into 2006.