TMG is The Master Genealogist, a genealogy research record-keeping software that was originally developed to meet highly professional genealogy research standards. At the time it was created, there were few options in genealogy software and most professional genealogists had little familiarity with personal computers, much less the internet. In my opinion, most other genealogy programs seem to have been made specifically to create and capture the hobby market in relation to the internet and really only give minimal thought and effort to sound research practices. I think anyone who uses or wants to use the most sound genealogy research practices will find TMG to be a very welcome tool, and not particularly difficult at all; but they will probably find the less capable programs frustrating when they can't keep detailed records and sources the way they should. It's much more frustrating for an inexperieced computer user who knows proper research methods to try to get a program to keep records properly when it wasn't designed to do so, than to have a capable program and simply not know how to use it. Anyone with the analytical ability to do genealogy research is capable of learning how to use TMG, but they can't make a less capable program do things properly when it wasn't designed to do so. TMG comes with a practice mode to put you through the basic paces of learning the program, as well as excellent help files, instruction manual, users' group mailing list, and extraordinarily good tech support from Wholly Genes Software if needed. When I first got The Master Genealogist I already had a lot of years of research experience behind me but was a complete novice at computers, and I had absolutely no problem at all learning how to use TMG. Although TMG was designed to meet detailed professional research standards, it is also flexible enough to allow you to make your record-keeping as simple or as detailed as you wish. This much flexibility (i.e. more ways to do each thing in one program) does mean you may have to pay a bit closer attention to the help files or manual until you learn everything and get it set up just the way you prefer; but it also allows for you to grow in your abilities without outgrowing the program. I think more problems may actually arise for people who have learned their research practices based on another particular computer program first, rather than selecting their software based on proper research methods. Those who have learned "easy" research practices on supposedly "easier" programs simply get used to over-simplified standards and cutting corners; and then they perhaps don't recognize or understand the need for detailed records or the deficiencies in those other programs until they are so far into using them that it would be "too much work" to change. Nevertheless, even people who prefer the detailed abilities of TMG do find some things to like about other programs and some actually use different programs for different purposes. TMG is far above all the other genealogy software programs available in terms of flexibility in research and record-keeping, allowing you to keep every detail of your research (no matter how lengthy), with surety values, whether it's the actual facts or the sources from which you obtained those facts, even when you've found multiple contradictory "facts" for the same event. (For example, what if you have five different birthdates from five different sources and you aren't yet sure which one is accurate? Even if you figure out which one is accurate, ten years later when someone else challenges your findings and brings up a different date again, you need to be able to consult your files to see that you, too, had considered the erroneous date and why you discounted it. Ten years down the road, or even after you've gone on to be with your ancestors, you don't want the veracity of your research disregarded simply because you didn't keep complete records.) Beiing able to record *everything* is crucial to the most sound research, so at any time (even years down the road) you can see exactly where you've been and where you currently are in your research, and clearly understand just *how* you arrived at your final conclusions, not just what those final conclusions are. The difference between TMG and all the other genealogy programs is easily summed up for me in the difference in the meanings of the words "professional" vs. "hobby" as they relate to genealogy research. You can learn more about The Master Genealogist at http://www.whollygenes.com/ If shopping for genealogy software, you may also want to check out all the links connected with http://www.mumford.ca/reportcard/ (although we should be seeing a newer report soon). You may also want to "listen in" on all the various software mailing lists that can be found at http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Software/ and try out the various free demo programs you can download from the software sites. If you really don't want as much detail, flexibility, and professionalism as TMG offers, any one of several popular hobbiest programs (including some free ones or demo copies) may suit you well enough for now. Diane jmh1925 wrote: >Diane, > >In your message to the list you mentioned that you prefer TMG as the >best record-keepingsoftware. What is TMG? > >Jim Hall >

The Master Genealogist - I bought it, I used it, I hated it. I wasted my $100 for a program that, contrary to its overdeveloped hype, couldn't even accept my gedcom from Family Tree Maker. Even so called "tech support" couldn't get that to work. Diane, your long discussion of TMG really comes across as a bit snobbish about us amateur hobbyists who use other programs and you serious professionals who use TMG. The research is not in the program, it's in the family historian. Or it isn't. Fancy, expensive, highly touted software will not turn a sloppy researcher into a careful one, and most software programs have ample storage capacity for all the sources, notes, and other proofs of your professionalism you'd care to display. Personally, I don't think the sun rises and sets on my genealogy work. I putter, get serious, putter some more, share stuff, have fun, do good work and mediocre work. That's me, not my Family Tree Maker Program. Sharon >