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efcharvet

TMG v.8 is here! At Charleston NGS

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"THE MASTER GENEALOGIST V8 IS HERE!"

 

See last photo:

http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genea...ston-day-2.html

 

1. Great communication Wholly Genes! Why did I have to read this first on EOGN (Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter) first??? I don't understand why this announcement was not made on the board, via e-mail to the current installed base, etc.

 

2. This is supposedly a "public beta." Where can the "public" download this?

 

3. Is there a list of the features THIS beta test product contains?

 

4. I would love to read reactions to this beta from general public users who have actually tried it. PLEASE POST HERE! (How "rough around the edges" is this beta?)

 

Earl

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Just remember that the TMG v8 Public Beta is a work in progress and be sure to take the time to read and carefully follow the instructions on the web page.

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Earl,

It was announced to the TMG List on RootsWeb on May 10. Details are posted on this site here. There have been a few posts about it on the TMG List.

 

Oh... So a message board owned and operated by Ancestry.com, the publisher of Family Tree Maker - a competitor (or so I thought) - which is the owner and operator of Rootsweb - is the place for TMG v.8 announcements - rather than Wholly Genes' own message board!

 

I'll remember that. -- It makes this message board rather pointless for obtaining the latest news about TMG, it seems to me.

 

Thanks for the information.

 

Earl

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Earl -

 

If you read Bob's announcement on the TMG mailing list, you can see it was an advance notice of info to be in an upcoming newsletter. This was posted last Tuesday night, a day before (and a few hundred miles away from) the NGS Conference where I understand he was teaching a class. I expect he just hasn't had time to get out the newsletter - which is posted here and goes out to subscribers.

 

I put up some screenshots here that I made of a couple of the v8 public beta reports and the new color-tag-type feature if you want to see what they look like and haven't had a chance to download the beta yet. Note the color-coding of the -ado relationship on the mother and daughter views. Pretty neat.

 

Virginia

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Earl -

 

If you read Bob's announcement on the TMG mailing list, you can see it was an advance notice of info to be in an upcoming newsletter. This was posted last Tuesday night, a day before (and a few hundred miles away from) the NGS Conference where I understand he was teaching a class. I expect he just hasn't had time to get out the newsletter - which is posted here and goes out to subscribers.

 

I put up some screenshots here that I made of a couple of the v8 public beta reports and the new color-tag-type feature if you want to see what they look like and haven't had a chance to download the beta yet. Note the color-coding of the -ado relationship on the mother and daughter views. Pretty neat.

 

Virginia

 

Hi Virginia,

 

Wow! It sounds like making the beta available really must have been a true "last second" decision - either that, or someone's ducks weren't in a row!

 

I did not know that it was possible to post messages to a TMG mailing list "a few hundred miles away", as you say, but it was not possible to make to the same message available on Wholly Gene's own message board when away. Thanks for making that clearer for me.

 

Help me out. I guess I do not understand what you mean by the "TMG mailing list." Is that the Ancestry.com Rootsweb TMG-L message board? or, is this a true Wholly Genes owned mailing list that my e-mail address is not on, it seems?

 

Does Wholly Genes ever plan to make any announcements prompt through their TMG software?? (My TMG program searches for announcements everytime it boots up -- but it never finds anything. Is this a bug, or a Wholly Genes communication problem?)

 

Thanks for putting up the screen shots.

 

Another quick question: Has the restriction on the number of Accent color conditions been raised or eliminated in TMG v8 beta?

 

Regards,

Earl

Edited by efcharvet

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Earl -

 

The TMG mailing list to which I referred can be subscribed to here. It is a rootsweb mailing list - not a message board - and is sort of the grandfather of TMG communication, with many of us who have been users going back to v3. It is a very active list - and better than this forum for discussions of how to use TMG, rather than as an official support group for help with problems. You can browse the May archives here. I hope you will join us.

 

There has been no change in v8 in the number of accent color conditions.

 

You know you can set your software message prompt to fewer days - because, as you noted, it is not very active. The mailing list is often the first place to hear TMG news - as in the case of beta v8.

 

I see there is a new Newsletter out this morning. If you are not subscribed you can read it in the Newsletter section at the top of the forum page.

 

Virginia

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Thanks for your replies, Virginia and Jim.

 

I was aware of what you call the "mailing list" - its the name I was confused about, it seems. Mea culpa.

 

I never paid any serious attention to that Ancestry.com/Rootsweb TMG-L Archive. For my taste, it has too many newbie questions (and a lot of chit chat). Plus, it is run and owned by a Wholly Genes competitor...

 

But now, by your comments, Ancestry.com appears to be less of a competitor than I thought! --- It's rather neat that TMG depends on Ancestry.com's servers to maintain its "primary" discussion group !!!

 

How does TMG depend on, or cooperate, with Ancestry.com and Family Tree Maker in other ways?

 

 

It is unfortunate that the restriction on the number of Accent color conditions remains unchanged in TMG v8. The limit of only 16 conditions seems oddly low to me for 2011. (Perhaps, another FoxPro limitation?) I hit the wall with them right away. Accents are very strong, and possibly unique feature about TMG, that has always impressed people at lectures I lead. --- Oh well. Maybe we'll see it lifted in TMG v9 four years from now!

 

Earl

Edited by efcharvet

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I might be in error, but I believe that the TMG-L Mailing List was established on RootsWeb long before they were bought by Ancestry.

 

The only other connection I know of is that Ancestry is a client of TMG as Ancestry licenses TMG's GenBridge technology.

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Earl,

 

Wholly Genes has nothing to do with the TMG-L mail list. It is a RootsWeb mail list started by TMG users. It is currently administered by Lee Hoffman, a TMG user, and is a user-to-user mail list.

 

And like Andy said, the mail list was around for many years before Ancestry bought RootsWeb. The list has always been the primary means of communication between TMG users.

 

Jim

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Maybe we'll see it lifted in TMG v9 four years from now!

I love the oh-so subtle use of sarcasm.

 

In any event; seeing that TMG is, as you say, possibly unique in offering an accent color feature, any amount of conditions are superior to the competition. There seems, to me, to be more important issues to press - such as the future of TMG on the FoxPro platform.

 

I will definitely upgrade to TMG v8 and I am very excited about the final release, but I am (and obviously not alone) concerned about the future of the program. Genealogy is a long-term hobby, and it is vitally important for me to be confident in the future viability of the software solution I use. I also need to know that the company behind it is open to assure the community of its continued efforts to maintain TMG as best choice out there. Lets see what the reviewers think of v8 when the release is final and how they feel it compares to the rest of the crowd.

 

Ken.

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Earl,

 

Wholly Genes has nothing to do with the TMG-L mail list. It is a RootsWeb mail list started by TMG users. It is currently administered by Lee Hoffman, a TMG user, and is a user-to-user mail list.

 

And like Andy said, the mail list was around for many years before Ancestry bought RootsWeb. The list has always been the primary means of communication between TMG users.

 

Jim

 

You are of course right, but it has been owned and operated by Ancestry.com for many years now. There is an Ancestry.com ad at the top of each page, frequently with Ancestry promotions.

 

Ancestry.com (and its subsidiaries Family Tree Maker, Rootsweb, Footnote.com, etc.) owns, operates, and hosts the site. It sure looks like an Ancestry.com site in every way to me.

 

A large percentage of USGenWeb sites said adieu to the Rootsweb message boards and mailing lists after Ancestry.com bought them, and notices about such are still on the site with redirect info.

 

Since Viriginia inferred that the Rootsweb/Ancestry.com board was the primary discussion group for TMG - and it seems to be the place where product announcements, like the TMG v8 public beta appears first - it looks like Ancestry.com and Family Tree Maker are to connected to TMG somehow. Appearances say a lot to me and others.

 

The comments by you, Lee Hoffman, Virginia, John Cardinal, et alia that FREQUENTLY appear on that Ancestry.com/Rootsweb TMG-L board may not be as Wholly Genes employees, but Wholly Genes should be paying you for ALL of the terrific work you do to support TMG! If you all are not getting some kind of financial benefit or perks, your are certainly geneaous spirits!

 

It is intereresting to me that Wholly Genes doesn't encourage discussions to direct here.

 

Earl

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Maybe we'll see it lifted in TMG v9 four years from now!

I love the oh-so subtle use of sarcasm. (...)

 

Ken.

 

If I had wanted to be sarcastic, I would have said "Maybe we'll see it lifted in the final version of TMG v8 four years from now!" (big smile!)

 

I think four + years in the future for the release of TMG v9 is honest! Each release is taking longer and longer to reach us. Let's get real!

 

Earl

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I think four + years in the future for the release of TMG v9 is honest! Each release is taking longer and longer to reach us. Let's get real!

Let's hope not! Unfortunately, if WG have any plans of moving away from the FoxPro platform with v9 I fear that they may need at least that amount of time... so you might be right.

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I will certainly upgrade when the time comes as well but i really wish the announcement had given any clue about under the hood changes and what is coming. Among other things fox pro and the printing module are huge issues for me. Also the lack of ability of the printing module to deal with big Tif files is an issue. Truthfully if those things worked I could peacefully work on TMG the way it is without front end changes

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Wholly Genes has nothing to do with the TMG-L mail list. It is a RootsWeb mail list started by TMG users. It is currently administered by Lee Hoffman, a TMG user, and is a user-to-user mail list.

 

And like Andy said, the mail list was around for many years before Ancestry bought RootsWeb. The list has always been the primary means of communication between TMG users.

 

 

 

It is intereresting to me that Wholly Genes doesn't encourage discussions to direct here.

 

Earl

 

I think Earl that you are confusing the purpose of the Rootsweb list and Wholly Genes Forum. THe Rootsweb list is for TMG users run by TMG Users. The Wholly Genes Forum is a Wholly Genes official forum. It is my understanding from a message from Bob when he set up the forum that it is the official site. He keeps a close eye on it. He looks at the Rootsweb from time to time and is welcome there. It is up to the users of Rootsweb to encourage users to join both. I belong to both and many others do as well. The forum is from the developer and the List is from the users.

 

I received my copy of the newsletter today. Yes I did see it on the list when it first came out and was able to pass it on to others. I did not get upset about it and in the circumstances I am glad it appeared there. Bob has adequately explained the circumstances that lead to that delay.Seems the newsletter came by carrier pigeon down under.

 

Have you read the history of Rootsweb? Do a little research and you will read that the people who started it could not possibly support it in later years. It needed a big player to take it on. Yes it is a worry about how control is getting into less and less hands, but we do have a choice whether we play or not.

 

 

Janice Cornwell

Melbourne

Down Under

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It is intereresting to me that Wholly Genes doesn't encourage discussions to direct here.

Huh? Most TMG users that have discussions prefer to have their discussions on the TMG-L mail list (as opposed to using the forum). Wholly Genes has nothing to do with this.

 

The fact that RootsWeb is owned by Ancestry is completely out of sight and out of mind for the mail list users. The only time that you would see the word 'Ancestry' is when you go to view the mail list archives web page.

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Let's hope not! Unfortunately, if WG have any plans of moving away from the FoxPro platform with v9 I fear that they may need at least that amount of time... so you might be right.

 

I'm not sure where I read it, or how long ago but I thought that TMG was moving away from FoxPro with V8. The odds are pretty good that I will still upgrade to V8 as I've been using TMG for over 10 years but Microsoft has announced that support for FoxPro will end in 2015.

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I'm not sure where I read it, or how long ago but I thought that TMG was moving away from FoxPro with V8. The odds are pretty good that I will still upgrade to V8 as I've been using TMG for over 10 years but Microsoft has announced that support for FoxPro will end in 2015.

 

I don't think moving away from Foxpro has been said by WhollyGenes. I remember only that they accepted Unicode as a problem and put it on their Todo-list. But unfortunately, I never have seen a date.

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FoxPro, as far as I know, doesn't support unicode natively, so any plans for true unicode support may require a departure from the FoxPro platform. I have read, however, that there are workarounds to allow the use of unicode within FoxPro. In any event, the end-of-the line for FoxPro in 2007 (and the end of the support cycle in 2015) calls into question the long-term viability of any program that insists to remain on the foxpro platform.

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FoxPro, as far as I know, doesn't support unicode natively, so any plans for true unicode support may require a departure from the FoxPro platform. I have read, however, that there are workarounds to allow the use of unicode within FoxPro. In any event, the end-of-the line for FoxPro in 2007 (and the end of the support cycle in 2015) calls into question the long-term viability of any program that insists to remain on the foxpro platform.

The inclusion of unicode support is really the only additional feature I care about at this point. While I'm creating a wish list, I guess it would also be nice if things were moved to an OS independent platform (Linux and MacOS compatibility would be nice) but I don't see any of that happening soon / ever...

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I don't think moving away from Foxpro has been said by WhollyGenes. I remember only that they accepted Unicode as a problem and put it on their Todo-list. But unfortunately, I never have seen a date.

 

I'm pretty sure that I heard that V7 would be the last version to run on the Foxpro platform and this was BEFORE V7 even came out. Seems that what I remember was either not official or not feasible.

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