It is not clear what the costs might be but it might be worth looking into a not-for-profit trust or similar vehicle that would seek grants and endowments for the purpose of developing and owning "in perpetuity" a successor to TMG. Depending on Bob Velke's status he might even encourage this way to immortalize his legacy. Jerry@Fillebrown.com www.fillebrown.com/d3/i0001510.htm#i1510 RUFTR Fillebrown, Barger, Ferrill, Wallace -----Original Message----- From: tmg-refugees-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:tmg-refugees-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of John and Lee Wood via Sent: Sunday, August 31, 2014 3:52 PM To: Carol Judge; tmg-refugees@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [TMG-REFUGEES] Collecting our wisdom Carol and the List in General: Yes, I like "Alternatives to TMG," but I would like to expand on the alternatives idea to offer some cautionary notes. I too am looking for alternatives, but not yet ready to abandon TMG, at least until I get my data converted to HTML via John C's Second Site, or to print it on old-fashioned paper. Having said that I am not leaving TMG just yet, I am looking at alternatives. Right now I am playing with Roots Magic. It and Legacy seem to be on most folks' minds as the leading contenders for their data. OK, but what bothers me about both of these programs is that they both seem to be products of essentially one-man-shops like TMG. Correct me if I'm wrong but, Roots Magic is the child of Bruce Busbee. I'm not sure about Legacy. Someone on the TMG List commented, when talking about a GEDCOM standard, that the two 800-pound gorillas in the room were LDS and Ancestry.com. What we need for long-term safety in a genealogy program is an 800-pound gorilla on our side. I wouldn't give you 2 cents for choosing Ancestry, they already have Family Tree Maker. Remember when Roots became UFT and CommSoft was purchased by Broderbun, then Broderbun was purchased by Ancestry? (forgive me if I have my company/chronology mixed up, I am writing this from memory--I started with Roots for DOS close to 30 years ago.) John Cardinal said that it wasn't an economically viable idea for him to try to develop a successor to TMG. Therein lies the crux of the matter. No single software developer can create a program for such a small market and expect to survive for long without some big corporate money behind him/her.. Ask Bob Velke. I have a gut feeling that LDS is working behind the scenes to fund the work on a competitor to FTM, whether it is Legacy or RM, I don't know. However, I do know that the LDS has a large investment in their web site Family Search. I suspect that it does make sense for them (LDS) to have a program for folks like us. One final thought: As I said, I am staying with TMG 9.03 for the moment, but I have seen how MicroSoft works. Don't be surprised that when Windows 9 is released Visual FoxPro won't work with it. Yes, you can keep a computer around that runs Windows 8 so you can access TMG. I could have kept a computer around that would have worked with my dBase or WordStar files. If I subscribed to that mind set, I would have to have had maybe 10 compters in my office (my first computer was an IBM PCXT in 1984). Maybe I should have kept a horse and buggy in my barn as well, so I could use my buggy whips. My father swore up and down that tubeless tires would never replace inner tubes. Once again, technology and economics seems to be calling the shots for us. I guess I am just an old anti-Luddite. All I am saying is that you should keep your eyes and ears open, put you data in as many places and formats as possible, especially print and don't panic. John Wood On 8/31/2014 2:48 PM, Carol Judge via wrote: > Somehow, subscribing to a list that says I'm abandoning TMG, almost > made me feel guilty for even considering something else. How about > something like "This group is for people who are looking for > alternatives to TMG"? > *** > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TMG-REFUGEES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the message subject and body.