Thank you, Sue Maxwell, for the info. It would be interesting to know what the List members chose for their new Program...... Roots Magic is being pushed hard by our local GS, and I have read reviews on several programs that they don't convert/accept Gedcom well, requiring many manual corrections. Betsy Hare Kemp

Over the years I tried a number of different programs. I work as a software engineer for a living so I also like to export my data out to GEDCOM and run stuff I've written to analyze the data to help me clean it up and find things that otherwise I might not find when the data is sitting in a large database. I also dislike being constrained to only the functions that some other sofware writer has decided to grant that I can do with my data :) Writing an entire program is a big task so I never took on totally writing my own but I found that the combination of programs I could find and the ones I wrote myself did the trick pretty well for me. When I first started using other programs (I started years before with DOS version of PAF) I quickly found out one big truth. If I sent data out from PAF to other programs using GEDCOM I would usually be pretty successful. Trying to bring it back in from other programs was a different story. Most other programs want to add on niceties to make their programs more attractive and often that would put things into the data that just didn't transport nicely back into PAF. Because PAF was not being updated it became the old, solid, this is how its going to be, stick in the mud as far as how data should look :) So truth #1 became keep PAF as the main file and when I want to print out my data in some other report format or in a fancier way then use the secondary programs as a print engine. Export the PAF data out to GEDCOM, import in any other program and do reports in them. Another reason that I kept on using PAF instead of just picking my favorite other program was that being known as a software professional quickly gets you on everyone's call list when they have a question or problem with their PAF. So it was good for me to keep up on how it worked in order to help other people. Then one day about 8 or 9 years ago I ran across Ancestral Quest by Incline Software (http://www.ancquest.com/index.htm) I found that I really liked it and it had very good compatibility with PAF. I also soon learned that Ancestral Quest was more or less the continuing evolution of PAF. At one point when the Church wanted to put out a version of genealogy software with a Windows GUI interface (rather than the old DOS version of PAF) they contracted with the Ancestral Quest folks and used a copy of their current program (plus put a few of their own modifications in) and released it as the PAF you all know. In a very general sense if you are currently running PAF you are just using an older version of Ancestral Quest. Ancestral Quest continued on making improvements and releasing new versions since that time. Currently it integrates with New Family Search (NFS) very well. You can search and connect the people in your local database (i.e. Ancestral Quest local data file) to the same record in NFS and have it sync the data either up to NFS or down from NFS with your local data. It will also let you know when there are changes to that record in NFS that you don't have. Overall I'm very pleased with it. Its easy to use, is reasonable priced ($30) and releases corrections and updates a few times a year to keep it current. Another bonus is that in the 8 or 9 years of using Ancestral Quest and getting updates several times a year I don't recall ever being asked for more money (i.e. upgrade fees). I don't know exactly what their upgrade policy is but so far I get an announcement of new stuff and its freely available for me to download. There is a discussion group for Ancestral Quest also so just like here you can stay connected with other users and ask questions. Incline software is located in South Jordan, Utah so if you want to sort of 'keep it in the family' with people who are obviously closely connected with the Church and the genealogy work then there is another consideration. That is as opposed to some big software company that does want to keep users happy but at the same time is probably more concerned about how much money can they make from their software. There is a very nice person from Incline Software named Gaylon Findley who seems to be right on top of user's concerns and often helps in the discussion groups. Ancestral Quest just recently announced Ancestral Quest Basic. This is a completely free version that you can use and it is unrestricted. In other words it doesn't have a limit that you you can only enter a certain number of records or anything like that. It is a basic version of the program and doesn't have all the advanced features. If you want those then you purchase the program and everything that Ancestral Quest offers is then available. So there is my two cents worth. That's what I use and I'm quite pleased with it. There are several other good programs and I'm not saying that you wouldn't be pleased if you use them. I'm just saying that after I checked several out I came to the conclusion that Ancestral Quest was the one for me. Warren -----Original Message----- From: paf-5-users-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:paf-5-users-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of B.H. Kemp Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2011 9:37 AM To: PAF-5-USERS@rootsweb.com Subject: [PAF-5] Life of PAF Thank you, Sue Maxwell, for the info. It would be interesting to know what the List members chose for their new Program...... Roots Magic is being pushed hard by our local GS, and I have read reviews on several programs that they don't convert/accept Gedcom well, requiring many manual corrections. Betsy Hare Kemp ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PAF-5-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I have many genealogy programs available on my computer and I am sure, that if and when I change from PAF it will be to Ancestral Quest. I use it now as a extra facility or subordinate program with my PAF data for any of its additional features, as it saves any changes I make to the data as, a PAF file. The only thing I use Roots Magic for is when I want to make an excellent large Wall Chart. However to my knowledge they still haven't mastered the problems of using it with Windows 7. Ross GH Cotton Burlington ON CAN 905)639-2929 Skype me at - Cottonian Library Genealogy of the Cotton surname is my Enigma I haven't sent an attachment if the details aren't mentioned above GOONS member responsible for tracking the surname COTTON, #1437 Coordinator for Cotton DNA testing Project, Worldwide See http://home.comcast.net/~Cottondna/ -------------------------------------------------- From: "B.H. Kemp" <bkgenea@yahoo.com> Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2011 11:37 AM To: <PAF-5-USERS@rootsweb.com> Subject: [PAF-5] Life of PAF > Thank you, Sue Maxwell, for the info. > > It would be interesting to know what the List members chose for their new > Program...... > > Roots Magic is being pushed hard by our local GS, and I have read reviews > on several programs that they don't convert/accept Gedcom well, requiring > many manual corrections. > > Betsy Hare Kemp > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PAF-5-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I have asked before but never got an answer to my question that I recall. Ross are you saying that AQ and PAF will read off the same database? They did several years ago and then with changes made they wouldn't. I also like to have a few different programs to use for different things. I just didn't want to take up room having more than one database. Thanks, Mika ________________________________ From: Ross G. H. Cotton <rgcotton@skylinc.net> To: paf-5-users@rootsweb.com Sent: Sun, February 20, 2011 2:06:46 PM Subject: Re: [PAF-5] Life of PAF I have many genealogy programs available on my computer and I am sure, that if and when I change from PAF it will be to Ancestral Quest. I use it now as a extra facility or subordinate program with my PAF data for any of its additional features, as it saves any changes I make to the data as, a PAF file. The only thing I use Roots Magic for is when I want to make an excellent large Wall Chart. However to my knowledge they still haven't mastered the problems of using it with Windows 7. Ross GH Cotton Burlington ON CAN 905)639-2929 Skype me at - Cottonian Library Genealogy of the Cotton surname is my Enigma I haven't sent an attachment if the details aren't mentioned above GOONS member responsible for tracking the surname COTTON, #1437 Coordinator for Cotton DNA testing Project, Worldwide See http://home.comcast.net/~Cottondna/ -------------------------------------------------- From: "B.H. Kemp" <bkgenea@yahoo.com> Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2011 11:37 AM To: <PAF-5-USERS@rootsweb.com> Subject: [PAF-5] Life of PAF > Thank you, Sue Maxwell, for the info. > > It would be interesting to know what the List members chose for their new > Program...... > > Roots Magic is being pushed hard by our local GS, and I have read reviews > on several programs that they don't convert/accept Gedcom well, requiring > many manual corrections. > > Betsy Hare Kemp > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PAF-5-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PAF-5-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

There are several great genealogy data managers out there. All of the major ones (if not all of them) follow the current gedcom standards. I think most of us know that genealogy has surpassed the existing gedcom restrictions. FamilySearch as well as another group of genealogists are now working on updating the gedcom standards. I'm sure that as soon as that happens all the vendors will implement those new standards into their existing software programs. They ALL transfer data that are covered in the gedcom standard. Genealogy has been moving at such lightening speed that we get frustrated when parts don't move as fast as we want them too. I guess it's a test of our patience! When it comes to passing data back and forth between different software packages the problem usually lies in the new bells and whistles we all want, but not every program has the ability to handle every other software's new features. It takes time and cooperation between them all. So the fact that new gedcom standards are being developed will move us closer to having better collaboration between programs and each other. I don't think the issue is necessarily which program you choose to migrate to, but rather acquiring the patience to look at each one and determine which one meets the majority of your needs. And today, it costs nothing to check out the other major programs. They each have a free version and all the family history centers have the full programs for you to test your data on. So, take your data and test it with each of the software programs. Just remember to use a copy of your data to do the testing. You will always have your original. Sue On 2/20/2011 9:37 AM, B.H. Kemp wrote: > Thank you, Sue Maxwell, for the info. > > It would be interesting to know what the List members chose for their new Program...... > > Roots Magic is being pushed hard by our local GS, and I have read reviews on several programs that they don't convert/accept Gedcom well, requiring many manual corrections. > > Betsy Hare Kemp -- Sue Maxwell http://granitegenealogy.blogspot.com/ Vice President - Utah Genealogical Association

I don't think Sue has ever used a GEDCOM file with Family Tree Maker. Believe me it doesn't move the Notes and other non basic data to the proper location. For that reason I don't use FTM as I know they developed their own version for GEDCOM files. Ross GH Cotton Burlington ON CAN 905)639-2929 Skype me at - Cottonian Library Genealogy of the Cotton surname is my Enigma I haven't sent an attachment if the details aren't mentioned above GOONS member responsible for tracking the surname COTTON, #1437 Coordinator for Cotton DNA testing Project, Worldwide See http://home.comcast.net/~Cottondna/ -------------------------------------------------- From: "Sue Maxwell" <smaxwl@earthlink.net> Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2011 4:34 PM To: <paf-5-users@rootsweb.com> Subject: Re: [PAF-5] Life of PAF > There are several great genealogy data managers out there. All of the > major ones (if not all of them) follow the current gedcom standards. I > think most of us know that genealogy has surpassed the existing gedcom > restrictions. FamilySearch as well as another group of genealogists are > now working on updating the gedcom standards. I'm sure that as soon as > that happens all the vendors will implement those new standards into > their existing software programs. They ALL transfer data that are > covered in the gedcom standard. > > Genealogy has been moving at such lightening speed that we get > frustrated when parts don't move as fast as we want them too. I guess > it's a test of our patience! > > When it comes to passing data back and forth between different software > packages the problem usually lies in the new bells and whistles we all > want, but not every program has the ability to handle every other > software's new features. It takes time and cooperation between them all. > So the fact that new gedcom standards are being developed will move us > closer to having better collaboration between programs and each other. > > I don't think the issue is necessarily which program you choose to > migrate to, but rather acquiring the patience to look at each one and > determine which one meets the majority of your needs. And today, it > costs nothing to check out the other major programs. They each have a > free version and all the family history centers have the full programs > for you to test your data on. So, take your data and test it with each > of the software programs. Just remember to use a copy of your data to do > the testing. You will always have your original. > > Sue > > On 2/20/2011 9:37 AM, B.H. Kemp wrote: >> Thank you, Sue Maxwell, for the info. >> >> It would be interesting to know what the List members chose for their new >> Program...... >> >> Roots Magic is being pushed hard by our local GS, and I have read reviews >> on several programs that they don't convert/accept Gedcom well, requiring >> many manual corrections. >> >> Betsy Hare Kemp > -- > > Sue Maxwell > http://granitegenealogy.blogspot.com/ > Vice President - Utah Genealogical Association > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PAF-5-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

It's a shame that they aren't going to support PAF and update it. What other program comes with extra languages? I can switch to German with PAF and send reports (FGS, Pedigree Charts) to cousins in Germany with the clue words in German. Since my own German is weak, with PAF I don't have to read all the words about creating the report--just create it in English and then click the corresponding blanks when I switch over to German. Yes, I can buy a program in the German language (and possibly install it, with its installation instructions in German) and GedCom my databases into it, but the screen won't look the same and creating reports won't be nearly as straightforward. I'm not LDS so using new.familysearch (or its successor) is not an option at this time--or maybe I don't understand correctly that members can use it in place of a program installed on their own computers. Lila ---------------------------------------- > Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2011 08:37:03 -0800 > From: bkgenea@yahoo.com > To: PAF-5-USERS@rootsweb.com > Subject: [PAF-5] Life of PAF > > Thank you, Sue Maxwell, for the info. > > It would be interesting to know what the List members chose for their new Program...... > > Roots Magic is being pushed hard by our local GS, and I have read reviews on several programs that they don't convert/accept Gedcom well, requiring many manual corrections. > > Betsy Hare Kemp