I tend to agree with John. I also think that what program everyone selects to migrate to will have to be based on that person's most important attributes. Some folks will stay with TMG for years and years and others will stay for a shorter period of time probably based on when there's a TMG error or dll or other file that cannot be corrected due to a windows update or other software update. Realistically, the top 5 list will not be the same for everyone. On Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 8:54 PM, John Nunnally via < tmg-refugees@rootsweb.com> wrote: > Folks, I'm concerned that our expectations may be unrealistic. After > following this list and the regular TMG list for a while, I get the sense > that many people seem to assume that all other packages aspire to be TMG > and > they just haven't gotten there yet. So we will just sit back and wait for > the other packages to "mature" to the point we can utilize them. > > So far, I haven't seen that attitude on the part of any of the other > packages. In fact, there has already been some push back from the > RootsMagic community. A post by one person on the RootsMagic list said > [paraphrase], "I looked at TMG and did not like it. That is why I am a RM > user. I don't want RM to become TMG!" That post received quite a few > rather emphatic "me too's!" Another post I saw was frustrated with the > fact > that TMG import seemed to have captured all of the attention of the > RootsMagic developers to the exclusion of issues of importance to the > RootsMagic community. > > The list of features on our web site fundamentally says, "Nothing else is > adequate. I want my TMG!" That may be exactly the way we feel, but I > doubt > is a realistic expectation. There appears to be little hope if any that > someone is going to "clone" TMG. > > My impression is that these other packages are scrambling to make TMG > import > as friendly as possible, but primarily it is an effort to shoehorn as much > TMG data into their existing packages as possible. I have seen almost no > indication that they are interested in implementing TMG features. > Certainly > if new features come along, it does not appear they will happen any time > soon and they probably will not be driven by the desires of the TMG > community. > > They may implement a few features that 1) they consider a good fit with > their existing product, 2) that would be useful to their current user > community, and 3) would also assist with TMG migration. But the first two > criterion will be weighted much more heavily than the third. For example, > I > think it was already on the RootsMagic wish list to handle alternate names > a > little more like TMG. > > After a while, I anticipate these other packages will move on with little > or > no further concern for compatibility with the obsolete TMG package that has > fewer and fewer users every month. > > For this TMG-REFUGEES effort to be the most effective, I think 1) we need > to > be producing a "top 5 list" of the features most important to TMG users, 2) > We should consider how our TMG data could best be moved into the existing > structures of the other programs instead of expecting the other programs to > adapt to our TMG data, and 3) those of us who have some programming > expertise may need to collaborate on how TMG data can be "massaged" en > masse > to better fit the format of other programs. > > > John N. > > > *** > 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. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TMG-REFUGEES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >