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JonP

The Future for TMG

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You are not introducing any new issues here. The FoxPro issue has been discussed ad nauseum. And Wholly Genes is unlikely to make any statements regarding future plans. The focus at the moment is getting TMG8 out the door.

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You are not introducing any new issues here. The FoxPro issue has been discussed ad nauseum. And Wholly Genes is unlikely to make any statements regarding future plans. The focus at the moment is getting TMG8 out the door.

 

Thanks for the helpful reply Jim. My thinking is this: prospective users of TMG 8 might be interested to know that it doesn't handle unicode and is based on a completely outmoded database. So it is unfortunate that TMG8 is being pushed "out the door" right now. This forum is a place for discussion. I'm trying to discuss. Each time anyone writes something about this unfortunate defect in the software, they are told that this is a useless point to make because it has been made "ad nauseum". My sense is that people talk about the things that are most important, the pressing items. So, the foxpro debacle is a pressing item, people talk about it. Rather than receiving a negative reply, perhaps what we need is to mount a campaign to get TMG's developers to actually address the issue in a statement? To actually commit to changing the underlying database? To actually take steps to change the situation so that we can stop talking about it?

 

It would be great if prospective purchasers of TMG8, who are going to shell out money for the product, would come to this forum and discover that there is a serious, fatal flaw with it. If they would refrain from buying the product until it is fixed. And if old users who have faithfully upgraded from 5 to 6 to 7 as I have could be rewarded for the trust they put in TMG, and the hours they spent entering their data into the program. Unfortunately, these users are more or less trapped. But they won't take it much longer and will find a way out. This forum is a community of users of TMG. We all find ourselves in this terrible position. Is Wholly Genes responsive to the "community" it serves? The answer so far is a loud NO.

 

Jon

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The lack of Unicode support is an increasing problem. If WhollyGenes would make a statement about their plans for dealing with this shortcoming, or even a statement acknowledging that they actually plan to deal with it then it wouldn't continue to be discussed "ad nauseum". Ignoring the problem isn't going to make it go away.

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[edited... jeb]

 

It seems the big complaint with TMG is lack of communication as to the future of the product. I believe that is a valid concern. Many of us have been stranded in an airport with no information as to why or when the conditions would improve. It is beginning to feel that same with TMG.

 

Just my 2 cents.

Mike

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I suggest that users write emails to Wholly Genes support, and to the management if you have an email address. Here is a copy of an email I am sending now (including text from previous correspondence):

 

Dear Wholly Genes support,

 

I just wanted to draw your attention to the fact that Unicode support and reliance on Visual Foxpro continue to be a problem for Master Genealogist users. Beyond that, users express frustration that Wholly Genes has offered no official acknowledgement of the problem and has not indicated that the problem will be addressed in future versions of the software.

 

I do hope the company can be made aware of the importance of this problem to users and can address the issue directly.

 

Please see this thread on the forum, and the many others that deal with this issue.

 

Thank you,

_________

 

From: Phil [mailto:phild@whollygenes.com]

Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2010 9:54 AM

To: _____ (by way of Dorothy Turner <Dorothyt@whollygenes.com>)

Subject: Re: Question regarding database and unicode characters

 

_______,

 

Management is very aware of the desire by users for unicode support. As you noted that's not possible currently. I'm not privy to what is being considered for the future but management also recognizes the need to migrate to another database engine in the future. As you can imagine that is not a simple or inexpensive effort.

I'm sorry I can't be more helpful but that all I know at this point.

 

Phil

Wholly Genes Tech Support

 

 

 

 

At 08:57 AM 5/20/2010, you wrote:

 

Hi, I'm a user and would like to be able to use Unicode text in my TMG project. I understand this is not possible because the underlying database relies on Visual FoxPro, which is no longer being developed and does not support Unicode.

 

I've posted a thread to the forum (here's the link) concerning this, and wonder if Wholly Genes recognizes the problem and is making an effort towards changing the underlying structure and moving TMG forward. I ask because I have been using the software through several iterations and have a large project. I'd really like to stay with TMG, but am also thinking I may have to do something else in the future.

 

Can you give me an idea if/when this underlying issue will be addressed?

 

Thanks very much,

_________

 

No virus found in this incoming message.

Checked by AVG - www.avg.com

Version: 9.0.819 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2883 - Release Date: 05/19/10 02:26:00

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Frankly, the unicode and FoxPro issues are, to me, indicators of a much larger problem: COMMUNICATION. The lack of it. In any form. On any topic. unfortunatley, this does send a message and we are hearing it loud and clear:

 

"Our customers are too difficult/moody/cranky/uninformed to understand our business. They will just have to wait until we are good and ready to talk at them. Let them talk to each other - we're too busy to care what they think about our product."

 

In an era when companies from all industries, including software, are using Facebook, Twitter, RSS feeds, blogs, etc to get information to and from their customers Wholly Gene's lack of communication and attitude is all the more obvious and grating!

 

TMG is the most complete, most useful genealogy product on the market. It probably has a few years of viability before another product overtakes it. The company attitude is what will kill it.

 

Lori Bragg

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What more can be said about Unicode, FoxPro, or Version 8?

 

It has all been said- over and over ad nausaum.

 

If you want to comminicate with them directly, you can always call or e-mail them. I've always found them to be most helpful.

 

Frankly, the unicode and FoxPro issues are, to me, indicators of a much larger problem: COMMUNICATION. The lack of it. In any form. On any topic. unfortunatley, this does send a message and we are hearing it loud and clear:

 

"Our customers are too difficult/moody/cranky/uninformed to understand our business. They will just have to wait until we are good and ready to talk at them. Let them talk to each other - we're too busy to care what they think about our product."

 

In an era when companies from all industries, including software, are using Facebook, Twitter, RSS feeds, blogs, etc to get information to and from their customers Wholly Gene's lack of communication and attitude is all the more obvious and grating!

 

TMG is the most complete, most useful genealogy product on the market. It probably has a few years of viability before another product overtakes it. The company attitude is what will kill it.

 

Lori Bragg

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I have brought this topic up before about 2 years ago [edited... jeb]. I decided long ago that wholly genes not replying to this old beat up topic is an "Answer", you just need to accept it. Accepting that the company has no plans on upgrading the software from old 1990's technology that has been bandaided by Microsoft to work on new operating systems is a tough pill to swallow, especially when you have spent countless hours and years on inputting data. I saw the writing on the wall a couple of years ago and jumped onto a better platform ( Microsoft Access ), with a company that responds extremely fast with updates and patches [edited... jeb]

 

Anyway.. go ahead and swallow the pill now and get your valuable data massaged into another platform is my suggestion. [edited... jeb]

 

I did not write this to offend anyone but I will probably be flamed..

 

Have a great Christmas everyone.

 

[edited... jeb]

Edited by Jim Byram

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BoricuaSeeker (and everyone else),

 

Everyone is free to express their opinion about the state of TMG and its future; however, if you want to impune the motives of others, you are going to get banned. I don't think that a single person has responded to these topics who did not agree that TMG needs to be developed using something other than FoxPro and should support Unicode and that this should have been done a long time ago.

 

And please stop mis-stating that Wholly Genes has not responded. They have and have said that they understand the issues regarding FoxPro and Unicode and won't discuss future development plans.

 

That said, I think that all of us would agree that Wholly Genes could do a much better job of communicating with the user community.

 

And the GEDCOM issue has been answered more than once.

 

Please keep the discussion civil.

 

Jim

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BoricuaSeeker (and everyone else),

 

Everyone is free to express their opinion about the state of TMG and its future; however, if you want to impune the motives of others, you are going to get banned. I don't think that a single person has responded to these topics who did not agree that TMG needs to be developed using something other than FoxPro and should support Unicode and that this should have been done a long time ago.

 

And please stop mis-stating that Wholly Genes has not responded. They have and have said that they understand the issues regarding FoxPro and Unicode and won't discuss future development plans.

 

That said, I think that all of us would agree that Wholly Genes could do a much better job of communicating with the user community.

 

And the GEDCOM issue has been answered more than once.

 

Please keep the discussion civil.

 

Jim

I do not understand how I was not being Civil ( or maybe you did not intend that remark to be for me ). Anyway I am sure that WhollyGenes knows what the issues are ( since they have been the same ones for a few years ) and as for their only reply to be "We will not talk about it" means to someone on my side of the fence " I can't trust that you have a plan for my valuable data ". Thus my post was directed to those on my side of the fence who year after year have banged their head against the brick wall. My message is in a way just as you and many others have been saying, "Stop asking because you will not have a satisfactory answer so find a solution for yourself that will ease your worries but stop repeating the problem here and instead either call whollygenes yourself or use some other software." I really do not understand why a thread like this is even allowed to exist since the answer has been the same for a few years, should just quickly post a reply pointing to an existing thread and then lock it.

 

 

I know that my stating this is the obvious but sometimes the obvious has to be verbalized as other's in this thread have stated they feel that the obvious is being ignored.

 

My message was just that their are solutions.. hope I have not irritated anyone since it was not my intention. This will probably be my last post in these forums, I come by from time to time hoping that TMG has come out or will come out with a rewritten version. TMG is a powerful piece of software and I do hope that it makes a transition.

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BoricuaSeeker,

 

Every TMG user is on your side of the fence and, if they have given any thought to the issues, have the same concerns.

 

As a moderator, I have no objection to the topic nor to people venting their frustrations. I do object to language such as "the attitude is always negative from the cool aid drinkers" and will ban anyone that can't adhere to the Forum Guidlines and keep the discourse civil.

 

Jim

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[edited... jeb] The simply fact is that GEDCOM itself can't handle thefull output of *any* modern genealogy program- and hasn't been able to for the last five years or so. The wait for version 8 really hasn't been that much longer than for some of the past version so I don't understand all the angst. In fact, I find it all rather puzzling!

 

[Refer to the post above... jeb]
Edited by Jim Byram

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The wait for version 8 really hasn't been that much longer than for some of the past version so I don't understand all the angst. In fact, I find it all rather puzzling!

While version 8 hasn't been significantly longer than some past versions, I suspect the angst is from lack of communication and seemingly lack of progress. There were 18 newsletters in 2008, 11 in 2009, but only 4 so far this year. During their lifetimes, version 5 had 15 releases, version 6 had 12, but version 7 has only had 4. I suspect WG is hard at work on V8, but a little more frequent communication would go a long way.

Edited by Jim Byram

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I don't think that users who are passionate about particular issues should be using this site to vent their frustration. I'm concerned that casual users of the site may not have enough perspective to understand that some of the issues raised will probably never impact most users. I think that contacting Wholly Genes directly with concerns is much more appropriate than making strongly worded negative statements on this forum.

 

In regard to some of the issues raised :-

- TMG needs to move off Foxpro at some time in the future. Most users trust Wholly Genes to do it before it has too much impact. Very very few users are going to lose any sleep over the issue.

- Unicode will come when TMG moves off Foxpro (presumably). It has never been a feature of TMG so to get overly excited about it's absence isn't terribly logical. On my own wishlist it would come it at about no. 100.

- Gedcom is an issue for all software so I have no idea how anyone could hold the short comings of Gedcom against Wholly Genes.

- Windows 64 bit. It would be nice to get more info on when this is going to get resolved.

 

[sentence deleted. jeb]

Edited by Jim Byram

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Promoting or bad-mouthing other genealogy software packages will also get you banned. Again... This topic is about the future of TMG and not about other programs. Please keep it civil.

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[The contents of this post were completely inappropriate and off-topic. And have been deleted. jeb]

I had posted this message in response to the claim by other posters that other software was becoming better and would replace TMG. I did not think it would be inappropriate to give my evaluation of software that was being touted by other people.

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Dust settles and now for some good news from Bob Velke

 

=== TMG v8 status report ===================================

 

The beta testers are now in the possession of a version of TMG v8 with the extensive new report writer engine fully implemented.. There are also more than a dozen major new features, 50+ new options, and more than 200 bug fixes. While everyone is working long hours to get this major release to you as soon as possible, there is still testing to be done and some issues to be resolved and I’m afraid that it won’t be available before Christmas. We appreciate your patience, however, as we press for a happy end to the long wait.

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What would be nice is a crippled "read only" version of TMG that I could send them and then let them make all the corrections they want in a text file (preferably stories, anecdotes, etc and critical date corrections). Then I could make the corrections myself.
Why not create a web site from your TMG database using John Cardinal's Second Site, and let your relations comment on that? To create a simple web site embodying all your data (sources and all) is only a few clicks...

 

Rowan

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Last September I decided I needed a new computer. I bought an Apple iMac but in order to run TMG I installed Parallels v.6 and run TMG on a virtual 64 bit Windows system. Everything works well except the printing but this problem was widely known (where is TMG v.8?).

 

I'm really liking the Apple and I do not think I would ever revert back to a PC so I wonder if there would ever be an Apple version of TMG? With maybe an iPhone or iPad application?

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One more comment on the potential longevity of TMG.

 

When Windows 7 64 bit came out as the standard retail operating system, many older programs no longer worked. This includes older versions of TMG, as well as Ultimate Family Tree (which also uses Fox Pro), for which support disappeared in the 1990s. Microsoft did come out with a workaround, which is called XP mode under their Virtual PC system. This does require an upgrade to Win 7 Professional, and the free download of the additional XP software. It is not quite as convenient as native XP, but it does work satisfactorily.

 

When TMG 8 comes out with a solution to the report writer Win 7 problem, there will be ways to get it to work on the latest PCs and Windows operating systems for probably 20 more years, just like I can still run UFT that was designed to run on Windows 3.1. By that time I will probably be past being able to do genealogy.

 

Pierce

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I too am getting frustrated at the lack of progress of Ver 8. What would help is a definitive statement about when the product will, or will not, be shipped by. As a long term user of TMG i am being tempted to migrate to TNG which meets all my requirements and has a very customisable interface to suit all skill/integrity levels

 

Michael

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How do you know there is a lack of progress? All we know is what we are told- and one thing you can bet we won't be told is a definitive statement about when the product will, or will not, be released.

 

I too am getting frustrated at the lack of progress of Ver 8. What would help is a definitive statement about when the product will, or will not, be shipped by. As a long term user of TMG i am being tempted to migrate to TNG which meets all my requirements and has a very customisable interface to suit all skill/integrity levels

 

Michael

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How do you know there is a lack of progress? All we know is what we are told- and one thing you can bet we won't be told is a definitive statement about when the product will, or will not, be released.

 

Exactly! I no longer want to deal with a software company that cannot and will not communicate with its users. Really... who needs that kind of aggravation? Version 8 will have to be amazing for me to pay premium $$$ for it and we have no indication of any kind what it will be. :angry: We might as well move on.

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