Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - Wed, 10 Jan 2007

I bought the December 2006 issue of Family Tree Magazine because it had a very interesting article by Rick Crume listing 23 common dilemnas people have with genealogy software and his solutions for them. He mentions 10 different programs, but highlights three: Family Tree Maker, Personal Ancestral File, and Roots Magic, with Roots Magic coming out on top in many of his solutions.

What was of most interest to me were the particular problems he highlighted. They included categories of Names, Events, Locations, Relationships, Documentation, File Management and Organization, Collaboration, and Pictures. All were little nuisances most programs cannot handle - due, in my opinion, to the fact that most programs are essentially similar in nature to each other.

I’ve had a similar problem/solution type of writeup on the Behold home page for quite some time. I give 18 problems and solutions. Rick in his article gives 22. What’s amazing is that none of our problems are the same. Rick’s are aimed at small (but important) problems that are inherent the family tree programs that are in use today. Whereas my problems and solutions are directed at the whole philosophy of today’s collection of programs, and I’m trying to improve the current model.

None-the-less, I have dutifully taken note of the problems that Rick points out. The concepts and way editing will work in Behold should solve thos problems and be able to provide a new and innovative solution that will seem just right. If only Version 2.0 was already completed!