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Beta? - Categorized in: 
General Discussion
11 posts.
Started 9 Sep 2012 by trolleydave. Latest reply 24 Feb 2014 by qbuster.
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Beta? - Categorized in:
11 posts. Started 9 Sep 2012 by trolleydave. Latest reply 24 Feb 2014 by qbuster. RSS
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Joined: Sat, 8 Sep 2012
4 blog comments, 10 forum posts
Posted: Sun, 9 Sep 2012
Given all the highly significant changes you're making in 1.1, wouldn't a public beta be useful so we wouldn't all have to hold our breath until you've ironed out all the complexities of date checking and manual updating? Even if the life events weren't all as polished as you'd like, it would us adoring acolytes a sample to play with, get a feel for where you're heading, and possibly even result in useful feedback (probably from the many more qualified than I am). After all, it's not like we're going to follow you over a cliff with our data, it's liability-free. Of course I can see why you might not want a lot of public exposure of the Grand Idea yet - it'l have to be your call.
Like the cat waiting by the mouse hole with baited breath . . .
Dave
Joined: Sat, 8 Sep 2012
4 blog comments, 10 forum posts
Posted: Sun, 9 Sep 2012
Whoops, messed up the punch line. ...cat who ate cheese ...
Joined: Sun, 9 Mar 2003
288 blog comments, 245 forum posts
Posted: Sun, 9 Sep 2012
Dave:
This wouldn't have been a problem if I didn't string this out so long. From February to now September is much too long between releases. So please bear with me a while longer. Summer and Genealogy Q&A and BetterGEDCOM and work and family and well, life in general, has been getting in the way.
Once I get 1.1 out, I know it won't be perfect. It will be pretty good, but I will look forward to everyone's feedback and suggestions for usability improvements and any bugs that need to be squashed.
But I like being pushed. Thanks for the push. Meow!
Louis
Joined: Mon, 12 Jan 2009
36 blog comments, 59 forum posts
Posted: Sun, 9 Sep 2012
Push...push...push
Joined: Tue, 19 Jan 2010
1 blog comment, 6 forum posts
Posted: Fri, 18 Jan 2013
Louis
You said you like being pushed - this is not a push but a general comment. Its been over year now since the last update and my latest glance shows me that dates set last year for the beginning of this year (2013) are already slipping.
For that reason, I would like to endorse trolleydave's suggestion that you put out a beta not only to keep us interested and get us to help you look for issues but also to give you that push you said you liked.
Cheers
Will
Joined: Sun, 9 Mar 2003
288 blog comments, 245 forum posts
Posted: Fri, 18 Jan 2013
Will,
I appreciate the push - again - and your suggestion.
One good thing to let you know: I got past the "roadblock" - i.e. figuring out how to do the Life events properly. I had been bouncing back and forth on that for several months now.
The not so good thing is that there will be a bit more of a delay. I'm preparing for my Australia trip which starts in two weeks and is three weeks long. There won't be much developing going on for that period of time.
But I'm optimistic now about where I am and there will be some exciting and innovative things coming out of Behold within a short while after that starting with the Life Events.
The Life Events and Consistency checking are both currently in a state of partial completion, and can't be released like this, even in beta.
But maybe I can and should comment them out if I can, and get a new working version out that will at least have all the other changes and fixes in it. Yes, a year is too long, so your suggestion is a good idea.
I'll see if I can get that release out in the next two weeks before I leave.
Louis
Joined: Tue, 19 Jan 2010
1 blog comment, 6 forum posts
Posted: Thu, 7 Feb 2013
Louis
I read your blog piece about the Aussie cruise - I've heard about going from the fat into the fire but my brother (who lives in OZ) told me recently that temperatures there were 50 degrees centrigrade! And you are leaving temps well below freezing...the comparison should be intriguing...
Is it possible we could have a look at the presenttaions you will be giving on the cruise?
Whatever, here's wishijng you and your wife enjoy the break. I admit to being jealsou - here in the UK we have had rain and floods not quite of biblical proportions but when it wasn't even safe to use one's boat one wonders....
Cheers mate.....(a greeting in Australian)
Will
Joined: Sun, 9 Mar 2003
288 blog comments, 245 forum posts
Posted: Tue, 19 Feb 2013
Will,
For you and for anyone else who reads this, the presentations are up at: http://sdrv.ms/XZJKN2
I'll be leaving them up there for about a month, after which I'll take them down.
Louis
Joined: Tue, 19 Jan 2010
1 blog comment, 6 forum posts
Posted: Tue, 18 Feb 2014
Am I the only one that is disappointed that yet another year has gone by without an update of some sort?
This time last year I suggested the idea of a beta just to keep us interested. I must admit that I am getting to the stage where Ithink the modest amount of money that paid to get into Behold for the long term is one of those gambles that is unlikely to pay off. But, on the other hand it is an exciting concept but at the moment in its current format its usefulness declines every day. Meanwhile I am increasingly impressed with technological advances being made by Geni/My Heritage and Legacy/Family Search; both immensley powerful and satisfying to use because I can see the result in terms of an every better/larger family tree.
There is big money involved with the above two initiatives and I have to ask whether you have considered trying to sell your technology to a campany that could make use of it to all our benefits.It seems to me that what is needed with the ever proliferating opportunities to add more profiles to ones tree, the one thing is missing is the ability to use the downloads and merge/compare them with existing data - Behold has some of those features and that is why I am so frustrated with lack of updates - I want to play with gedcoms from multiple sources and sculture them into my own master file.
Thoughts......
Cheers
Will
Joined: Sun, 9 Mar 2003
288 blog comments, 245 forum posts
Posted: Sun, 23 Feb 2014
Will,
In a weird sort of way, it makes me happy to know that you and some other users are that interested in Behold and want to see updates.
If you've followed my blog you'll know I've been working on life events, which will be something new among genealogy software that I hope others wiil agree will really be beneficial. Then there's my New Years resolution where I'm. really gearing for not only Version 1.1 but also the next two versions to include consistency checks and GEDCOM output.
I went to Rootstech a few weeks ago, and talked extensively to other developers. I'm very impressed with the MyHeritage Application Development Interface and will be adding links to MyHeritage and other online and desktop databases to Behold's Future Plans. I believe I see what's needed in the future for genealogy and I'll be posting a blog post about that in the next few days.
So don't start thinking your gamble hasn't paid off just yet. Some really exciting stuff is coming. Stay tuned.
Louis
Joined: Tue, 19 Jan 2010
1 blog comment, 6 forum posts
Posted: Mon, 24 Feb 2014
I've benn a Pro member of Myheritage for over 5 years now and switched over to Geni in 2009 ago because the accuracy of MyHeritage SmartMatching was atrocious and the design of the software cumbersome. Tech Support I was equally frustrating and not once gave the impression that they knew anything about the process of geneology.
Geni, on the other hand, was exciting to work with and my tree grew rapidly (I joined when was still able to import gedcoms so Igot a good startwith my 6,500 profiles). I was just about to abandon MyHeritage subscription when they announced the merger with Geni. Imagine my surprise as I thought Geni was a much bigger company - I guess MH had better financial nowse than they did software developers; at first the technical merge was a mess but is now much matured and one can perceive that the Geni developers are making their mark. The Geni system of having curators is a masterstroke as they act as in-betweens between the millions of users and Tech Support.
So I am very pleased to know that you are playing with the MH/Geni API - I look forward to playing with that. If you could build somwthing like the Legacy FamilySearch interface between Behold & Geni that would be brilliant. One thing that is NOT good about Geni is the quality of the Gedcom download - the Forest version of my tree is huge - well over 10K profiles but very difficult to manipulate. I've tried using a combination of Behold and GenMerge but this mix isn't very satisfactory.
Cheers
Will
PS. As an example of how good Geni is - my earliest ancestor was for many years John Collyson b 1450 - I've found links to many branches on Geni and my tree now goes back to 1060 and includes a King of the Scots! Very impressive.