Customer Reviews

Family Tree Maker 2008 Platinum [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Despite the name, this product bears no relation to previous versions of the Family Tree Maker product line. It is a brand new product, written from scratch, and does not utilize any of the old code.

Much of the functionality that was present in the previous version (FTM 16) is missing in this one, including pretty much all of the genealogy reports. Without these reports, the product is only good for data entry, and publishing on [...]. Other omissions include the ability to read the family tree CD's that have sold alongside previous versions, and the ability to create books from your genealogy on your own computer.

To create a genealogy book, you now have to upload your data onto the [...] servers, giving them the rights to share the data as they choose, and use the new web based Ancestry Press functionality to generate your book (for an additional fee). Ancestry Press, also being new, is extremely limited and does not contain a fraction of the functionality of the old, local book creation software.

So, buyer beware. This is NOT Family Tree Maker as you know it. I would recommend treating it as a 1.0 version of a new product, and holding off on buying it until they complete the implementation of the basic functionality which is missing.

I've been using different versions of Family Tree Maker for at least 15 years. I've never seen a new version go so far backwards. Gone are all the features I most often use. I can no longer make the reports or charts I use most commonly. I can't make a book. My old books are gone. Now I guess I have to find a "pre-Vista" computer to run version 16 on if I actually want to do anything with my family tree? I predict the next version will simply be a link to the Ancestry website and nothing else.... for about 100 bucks.

If anyone can recommend a replacement program by a different maker, please e-mail me.

While there are some things I do like about this version, and things I did not like about the previous version 16, be aware that the sofware is extremely SLLLOOOWWW and is a memory and CPU hog. You can no longer search for a married woman by her married surname, there is no Family Sheet, etc.

I'm not getting any corruption errors like previous versions, and there are features I do like, but the speed, or lack thereof, will drive you nuts!

My husband and I were absolutely disgusted with FMT V17 Platinum. It is totally not user friendly and has done away with quite a lot of the information we had collected previously and transferred to the new system. We lost our reference numbers, our Also Known As (AKA), which were in lineage,just to name two. There was no Genealogy Report and several other were also missing. Notes are confusing if you don't watch were you are you can easily make a mistake. We are definitely going back to the original version of FMT. Designers take note we won't be buying any new versions until you correct the FMT V17 and make it much more user friendly and similar to the previous versions in the way it displays records and information.

I have have had numerous program crashes. Particularly when working with sources. Try to create a new source - crash. Try to link a fact to an existing source - crash. The lady on the help desk said they had other reports of similar problems. She said the programmers were aware of the problem and were working on a patch. No hint of when the patch would be ready. In the mean time, she apoligized for my inconvenience but had no help for me. If I were no locked into FTM 2008 due having Vista as my operating system, I would drop it in a heartbeat.

I have to agree with others. There are some ok features in this version but I find using the older version is much more practical. I think I'll buy version 16 and work from there instead of this one.

Version 2008 is unstable, buggy and has very limited functionality. Reports in particular have been dramatically shortchanged; working with sources and media files causes numerous crashes. Data entry is non-intuitive and time consuming.

FTM 2006 is still available for purchase, and this was the last, completely working version of the product. It has far more features and doesn't crash on you every 5 minutes, and you gain nothing by upgrading to 2008.

Get six months of access to Ancestry.com and the Family Tree Maker software. That's a great value.

Things I like: interactive maps, new interface, merge capability, place authority, and the training video. If people are having a hard time getting around this new FTM, I highly recommend watching the included training video. They do an excellent job of taking you through jobs step-by-step. They used to charge extra for the FTM training videos in previous versions of FTM (2006, 2005, etc.) The training videos are now included with your purchase of Family Tree Maker. Thank you!!

What I don't like: I don't like that we are missing some charts and reports that were in previous versions of FTM, but I received an email from Family Tree Maker stating those reports will be added in an upcoming free program update. They quoted October 2007 as the projected release date for that update.

I have used past versions of this product so I was already sold on the item before I purchased it. This version is somewhat different from the earlier versions so a learning curve is involved. I am still learning the items that have changed. I think the family page is much easier to work with and the web search and merge makes this a splendid program. I did have one problem with the program. I had started my family tree on the internet in a gedcom file and after getting this program downloaded my tree from the internet. This program wasn't sure where to put some of the information from the gedcom file. Names, dates, locations transferred perfectly. However the obituaries I had entered into the gedcom file under personal notes were not transferred to this program. The resource notes (census etc) were transferred to personal notes instead of source notes. Keep in mind that I was transferring over 1,000 names and documents so this glich is really not that bad. Given the advantage of hindsight I would still purchase this program, but before I entered so much personal data into the gedcom file.

I've been using this product for about 3 months. I'm not tainted by having used the previous versions of Family Tree Maker.

The killer feature for this tool is its tight linkage to [...]. As you add people to the family tree, Family Tree Maker automatically looks for references to that person in [...] very extensive data base. This feature alone makes this version of Family Tree maker invaluable. I've filled out my family tree to about six generations in just a few weekends of usage. To me that is just freaking amazing.

The downside is that the tool is not as complete as I would like. I've found that I need to use another product (RootMagic) to do basic editing and error checking because I've found Family Tree Maker lacking in general editing and importing.

Even with these deficiencies, I'd still say Family Tree Maker is a good value (considering it includes a subscription to [...]). I highly recommend Family Tree Maker but would also recommend RootMagic as a companion piece of software.