The first presentation of the Genealogy Software Showcase is a roundup – a look at some of the top tree building software on the market.
Software only has value when it works for us. While tree building software can do many things, it has two main jobs:
- Provide a way to store and organize our research data (database).
- Present that data to us in a meaningful way (graphs and reports)
In this post we look at the first job of tree building software. Specifically we will look at how each program handles data entry.
I know, it sounds boring. But it is a critical part of our research, and if these programs can make the task easier, well…
In each program I will enter the same three generations of my family. For each person I will include birth date, death date, and marriage date. This should give us a good look at the design of each user interface, how it handles names, dates, and relationships.
For time’s sake, not all of the demonstrations in this post were included in the Livestream.
RootsMagic 7
Publisher: RootsMagic, Inc Designer: Bruce Busby History: Been around since 2001, Family Origins before that http://rootsmagic.com/
Family Tree Maker 2019
Publisher: The Software Mackiev Company Designer: Originally Kenneth L Hess History: Been around since the 80’s, Blue Banner Software, Broderbund, The Learning Company, Mattel, Ancestry, with Mackiev taking control in 2016 https://www.mackiev.com/ftm/
Legacy Family Tree 9
Publisher: Millenial, Inc, MyHeritage Designer: Ken McGinnis and Dave Berdan History: Been around since 1997 Millennial corporation until it was bought by MyHeritage in 2018 https://legacyfamilytree.com/
Heredis 2020
Publisher: BSD Concept, French, employee owned Designer: Originally Bernard David History: Been around since 1994 https://www.heredis.com/
Reunion 12
Publisher: Leister Productions, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Designer: Frank Leister https://www.leisterpro.com/
Family Historian 6
Publisher: Calico Pie Limited in the UK Designer: Simon Orde History: Been around since 2002 https://www.family-historian.co.uk/
