glamberson

Hello everyone. I have a point I would like to make that is really a feature request for TMG 8 or even 9. Could the process of providing proof for and explanation of hypotheses be intrinsically part of TMG?? PLEASE??? I know there are some ways to accomplish this is some ways, but why must I customize TMG a significant amount for this? One would think it would be a front-and-center function/highlighted feature. I am specifically referring to the process of explaining an hypothesis and applying the Genealogical Proof Standard to my data. Recently, when working on another hypothesis that a colleague wanted some facts on, I very briefly brought up this issue in a blog post, and it occurred to me that this would be the proper venue to mention this in. When documenting a theory in my data based upon quite a lot of research, I would like there to be a way to apply a methodology like the Genealogical Proof Standard, Preponderance Of Evidence, or others, indicating what I had done, what records I had searched, with positive, negative, inconclusive and with no results, that is VERY APPARENT, instead of having to add customized tags (like a PROOF tag or something), generic notes, etc., do accomplish this. How many times have you been asked, "Why do you think Jimmy is the son of Mary?" It's not like methodologies do not exist for explaining theories and making proofs. I really feel this aspect of my research should be readily viewable, summarized and available in TMG as a major, very visible feature/function. This may be way too late to be included in TMG8 as a major focus, but maybe, if it is not accommodated enough in TMG8 this discussion can be useful as a precursor to the Genealogy Tech conference next year (along with a MAJOR GEDOM standard upgrade), and of course, TMG9.

Mike, Sorry for being a little too vague. I would like TMG to include as a major feature that is apparent to even novice users that allows for the inclusion and presentation of theories, proofs and the status of the same based upon various genealogical methodologies. I would like to be able to enter into my data that on Feb 26, 2006, I went to the Brehm Public Library and searched the microfilm of the Mt. Vernon Register News newspaper from Feb. to March 1857, which I searched personally, I found NOTHING. I would like to be able to make a survey list of relevant records and log my results, whether positive, negative, inconclusive, not applicable or whatever, in a way that is central and integrated into the way the information in TMG is viewable. Providing proofs and theories is an intrinsic part of my research, and I think this is true of anyone. I have numerous theories, good and bad, proven, unknown and disproven, that I certainly do not have incorporated in any way into TMG. Who doesn't? Why should this be the norm? I don't think one should have to be a professional genealogist to have, discuss and present such theories and proofs. TMG is in fact used both to present information via various forms of output as well as an information store. The ability to provide an interpretation of the presented data, as is constantly necessary, should be readily available to both the novice and the professional. -- I used to work at a very large company in the technology section. We would often hire gifted people with limited experience in working with a huge infrastructure that was already in place. When a problem arose, they would often try to solve it by adding yet another piece of technology when in fact we already had the tools in the toolbox to solve the problem. They simply weren't familiar with these tools. My point in saying this is that TMG has the infrastructure to provide better integration of research, theories and proofs. As intrinsic parts of genealogical research, these should be ready and accessible to any user of TMG, regardless of aptitude, right out of the box. The Genealogical Proof Standard, for example, can be applied in basic form by any user or be applied in exacting detail sufficient for any professional genealogist. Applying such an approach using a checklist, presenting a theory, summary, proof, or whatever should be easy for any user and presented in such a way as to be as apparent as how to add a mother or a marriage tag to a person to cite a couple of examples. I hope this helps clarify my thought, although there are no doubt still many vagaries in my statements.

Hi. As the subject says, after loading TMG 7.04 (works fine, but my database seems to have had some problems I hope are corrected now) and FTST2 on my new Win7 64 bit Home Premium computer FTST2 says my TMG 7.04 DB is too new, so FTST2 won't open it. Also, to get FTST2 to run the FIRST TIME, I had to run FTST2 as an administrator. Now it runs fine, but it couldn't find/access the ".upd" files that apparently are part of the initial installation. Not a big deal, but it is inconsistent with my experience with TMG 7.04. I did initially have problems with my TMG database. I killed TMG manually after starting a huge report I didn't want to wait on. After doing so, my letter "S" database file was corrupted and I had to restore from a backup. My database now appears to be ok now though. Thanks, Greg Lamberson

Hi, I have had some problems with my database that came up when switching everything to my new computer, which is Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. Anyway, this database problem existed on my old WinXP system as well, and, well, I just didn't do anything about it (I know, I know). Well, now I see the problem has existed since 2007, and since that time my database won't optimize! It reindexes fine, but fails on an optimization. File integrity also works. Could you guys have a look at my backup? Greg Lamberson

I decided to add "occupation" and "residence" tags to my standard person entry screen, so I hit setup in the bottom left corner of the screen, added my tags, and WHAMMO! I've now got 14 extra lines in my Name-VAR section to tab through before getting to my Birth tag! I had this problem before, and eventually I did something that fixed the problem (don't ask me what). But now I'm entering a bunch of data, and this is a real pain. I'll attach a picture of what my entry screen looks like now as well (if I can figure out how to do it...). HELP PLEASE!!!

Yay! Problem fixed. (whew!) Wholly Genes Tech Support sent me a file to fix my database. Noone is sure how this occurred, but after talking over the details of what was wrong, it wasn't nearly as troubling as I thought it was. Anyway, all is well, and I have my tags set up on my New Person entry screen. Off to the library again...

I just talked to tech support again. Contrary to what I said previously, THIS IS IN FACT ONLY A DISPLAY PROBLEM, so there is no corruption of my data. (YAY) They said it wouldn't take long to fix and that I should go ahead and use my most recent dataset, since the problem is merely a display problem and will be fixed very soon. So it's off to get some lunch and to the library for me. Thanks, WG Tech Support!

I'm using TMG version 6.07. This morning I called technical support, and it appears I have found a bug. This was a problem in earlier versions, but it had been fixed. Apparently it's broken again. They're working on the problem. Since this problem as related to my dataset is so far irreversible, I would recommend that anyone who tries to alter their tag setups for their Add New Person entry screen should back up their project before doing so. I will probably have to revert to a backup which is 2 days old, but I could still lose a very valuable entire day's worth of work. As things develop, I'll update this posting.

Thanks, I tried that, but it didn't fix the problem. I think I'll call in to tech support, as I am kind of in a bind right now. I don't feel like entering in 600 people while tabbing through all those extra lines!!

Hello, I am preparing to build a new command workstation for my work area, and I'm debating between using Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. The Media Center Edition is the same as regular Windows XP for the purposes of using TMG, and this is kind of my fallback solution. What I want to do is use Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. Has anyone experience with using the 64-bit version of Windows and TMG? If not, could some of you Wholly Genes folks give me your opinion about any issues you would see in using TMG 6 within WOW64? Also, how far in the future is any TMG version that would be native 64-bit? Thanks much. Greg Lamberson