Transcript Subject Variable in Sentences - Ottawa TMG-UG

The `Demise’ of TMG
by Mike More
Ottawa TMG-UG
20 Sep 2014
Official Announcement 29 July 2014
• Decision has been made to discontinue The
Master Genealogist ("TMG").
• Official support will end at the end of 2014.
• May release some more bug fixes (but no new
features) before that.
• Continue to sell the full product and updates
through September with the understanding that
product development has been discontinued.
• Maintain the support forum for user-to-user
support. Other online support forums, including
the TMG-L mailing list, are.
Other Details
Wholly Genes:
• released a document that details TMG's
internal file structure.
• will make GenBridge available for free to
developers who wish to produce a direct
import from TMG.
What Does This Mean?
• TMG will continue to work after 31 Dec
• Support will not be available from Wholly
Genes
• No improvements to TMG 9.xx (last release)
Lee Hoffman
• Lee Hoffman: I and other experienced TMG users will continue to
use TMG for the foreseeable future (and likely well beyond that).
Thus, most problems can be dealt with here, on the Wholly Genes
Forum, and in other user help areas.
• The main reason for our continued use of TMG is that TMG v9
works on the current version of Windows and that can be expected
to last for many years yet -- probably even to newer versions of
Windows. Also, there is not a replacement for TMG. A few other
programs come close, but close is all.
• So, before anyone panics, consider that your data is safe and can
still be accessed and maintained in a program that is still the best.
• Of course, many of the other programs will be clamoring for our
business. With that in mind and recalling Bob's suggestion that we
TMG users push the other programs to catch up to TMG. As a
group, we have a collective interest in doing this.
Terry Reigel
• The Future for TMG Users
(http://tmg.reigelridge.com/future.htm)
• Continuing Use of TMG
– Have the Means to Re-Install TMG
– Upgrade to the Latest Version
– Protect Your Data
• I urge TMG users to not make any rash
choices.
• Rick Van Dusen: We need not worry any time
soon. TMG v9.0x will keep working until
processors no longer will run 32-bit software,
and that looks to be a long way off.
Concerns
• Richard Damon: hope that I can find a decent
replacement by the time TMG starts to have
problems when Microsoft finally does
something that breaks Visual FoxPro.
• Dennis Lee Bieber: Guess it's time to upgrade
to v9.
Upgrade?
• Lee Hoffman: Anyone having an earlier version of TMG
and wishing to continue using it would be well advised
to upgrade to TMG v9x. You get a number of bug fixes
and new features including the new Sentence Variables
and the change to many other Variables that make them
more consistent than they had been. Another new
feature is the ability of adding a new Source without
leaving the Citation window. Check out the v9 (and v8)
change log in the Wholly Genes TMG v9 Forum at
http://www.whollygenes.com/forums201/index.php?/foru
m/120-the-master-genealogist-v9/
What happens when tech support is
gone?
• Make backups, make them frequently, and be prepared to
use them if something bad happens to the project.
• Google for and also search the List archives and the WG
forum for key words in the first error message in the series?
Note that only the _first_ message in a series of error
messages is important in identifying the problem. Many of
the problems with TMG can be fixed by - or avoided by the user.
• It is also more important for users to know where their
files are. They should be very familiar with the Help topic
'Data File Storage' and the top menu 'Help / Access Folders'
button and the 'Preferences / Current Project Options /
Advanced' settings (read that context Help).
Future?
• John Cardinal:
1 - I will NOT be producing a genealogy project manager with
professional-level features.
2 - I am working on a program that will make web sites from
GEDCOM data. It will have many of the features of Second Site,
but it will be a separate program.
3 - I am planning to write a GEDCOM export facility for TMG. It will
be available within Second Site so that I can leverage all the
work I have done in SS to interpret sentences, format sources,
etc. I plan to include some extensions (following the GEDCOM
rules for extensions, for example, NAME records include
"_DATE" fields. It remains to be seen if any program will ever
use those extensions. The SS GEDCOM export should help
people who migrate their data to other products via GEDCOM.
Options
• Some have recommended other programs and
Dick Eastman is compiling a survey of other
genealogical software (http://blog.eogn.com/)
Transferring to Another Program
• Terry Reigel:
(http://tmg.reigelridge.com/future.htm)
– No Direct Transfer Tools Currently Available
– No Comparable Program Exists
• Rick Van Dusen: There is nothing on the
market which even comes close to doing the
job TMG does. No other product has the
flexibility, the power, the robustness to record
ALL the strange things our ancestors did.
Terry Reigel
• The extent to which limitations would impact you depends on
exactly how you use TMG, and how many of TMG's features you
have used and regard as essential.
• If you are considering moving to another program, give it a try first
and see if features you think are important are offered.
• But even if another program offers the features you find essential,
without a direct import capability making use of them would
require extensive data re-entry.
• Waiting to see what accommodations other developers make, or
whether any of the several efforts which have been alluded to
produce a successor program to TMG materialize, seems like a wise
choice. The more TMG users delay transferring to another program
the more incentive developers have to create more attractive
alternatives.
Ottawa TMGUG
• Will continue to meet each month (Sep to
May)
• Will continue to `webcast’ meetings
http://ottawa-tmg-ug.ca/index.htm