Transcript The `Demise’ of TMG - Part 1 by Mike More Ottawa TMGUG 20 Sep 2014

The `Demise’ of TMG - Part 1
by Mike More
Ottawa TMGUG
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
The `Demise’ of TMG - Part 2
Ottawa TMGUG
15 Nov 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.
• Maintain the support forum for user-to-user
support. Other online support forums, including
the TMG-L mailing list, are available.
• 30-day free trial is still available.
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)
• I am no expert and have not tried any other
program (nor do I intend to) but I have
monitored the TMG Mailing List for
information on alternative software
• Two programs seem to have most
consideration:
– RootsMagic 6: https://www.rootsmagic.com/
– GENP v5: http://www.genp.com.au/
Roots Magic Direct Import
• John Cardinal: After reading the "Moving Data from TMG to RootsMagic" document, it's clear I
won't be moving to RootsMagic. There are a variety of specific issues, most of which have been
enumerated in other TMG-L posts. Those would probably be enough to make me wait for a better
alternative, but there's also the conceptual issues, like "Facts" vs. "events", two-principal events
become "Family Facts", etc.
• Virginia Blakelock: I have registered copies of both RM and Legacy to test but will also be staying
with TMG. I can resolve the data input in RM and live with the conceptual differences if need be,
but, equally important to me at this point, the quality of RM output - reports and charts, falls far
short of what we are accustomed to in TMG.
RM has fewer chart options (no ancestor with siblings, for example) and the drawing program,
while the same software as VCF uses, has fewer options and is tedious to use. RM layout
algorithms are not well done, charts are larger than necessary - not nearly as compact and
attractive as VCF. In general, the RM reports are not as nice looking as those in TMG - particularly
the FGS, which I use a lot. I have also not found a way in RM to save a report definition - a major
deficiency. I probably have 30 report definitions just for the ancestor chart - and multiple
definitions for List of Events and other reports. I can't imagine resetting those definitions every
time I want to run a report. We are looking for different qualities in genealogy software, and RM,
while a very nice program, does not meet my requirements at this time. Perhaps RM7 will address
some of these issues
Roots Magic Direct Import
• Terry Reigel: The issues described by the document provided by RM and
the answers to some of my questions by Bruce and those who responded
to my earlier post say that it would make a total mess of my project. RM
has a lot of work to do before I could consider it.
• Jean Hoffman: I have RM, did the upgrade and imported a small TMG
project without alteration, just to see. The result was as the RM
document predicted, In Descendant View I found a male descendant of
the focus person had a male "spouse" resulting from a tag for college
classmates where they were both principals. Many other problems were
obvious. It would take a lot of work to get even this small project to
import well. Then it still wouldn't perform like TMG. I know that because I
facilitate a blended user group for TMG and RM. Often we find ways to
accomplish the same thing in each, but there are other things that I can't
do in RM even with help from more experienced RM users. I have no
intention of leaving TMG as long as I have a computer to run it.
Roots Magic Direct Import
•
•
•
•
Teresa Elliott: One thing with RM family vs individual facts. RM prints Individual facts
then Family facts in reports (or vise versa, been a while since I tested). It does not have a
chronological report like TMG uses. So if one census event gets created as an individual
fact and another as a family fact, it will print in different parts of the report. I know some
people prefer that type of report and this isn't an issue. But I prefer chronological style
reports. Even to the point of adding parents to birth tags to get children's births in my
narratives.
Another thing is Principals in RM can only be Principals. They can use no other role
name. Since I use role names on my FGS, this is a big issue for me in converting to RM.
And I see History Group tags (where I store my research notes) aren't imported at all.
I realize it is early days and RM is trying to get a good import for those ready to move
and I want to say thank you for them making a huge effort so early on. At least they
have made the effort and given us a list of things we need to fix or lose before we
import. And I assume less data is loss this way over GEDCOM.
Roots Magic Direct Import
• Richard Damon (3 Oct): it looks like the second
version of RootsMagic direct import does a
much better job than their first version. The
first version implied a marriage for both
principal tags, the second downgrades P2 for
non-marriage tags to be a witness, which
normally is what you want to meet the RM
model.
GENP
• Australian company.
• GENP is an event linked genealogy program with
sources, citations, witnesses and flags. Unlike TMG,
it is Unicode enabled and languages can be mixed.
• GENP supports GEDCOM data from TMG.
• GENP Version 5 runs on Windows 8.1, Windows 8
and Windows 7.
• www.genp.com.au
GENP Concerns
• Michael Dietz: Import is through Gedcom. One issue I have
seen already though is that relationship tags sort to the top of
the list, despite the fact that there is a date in the child's birth
tag that could be used to sort them in the list. TMG uses the
child's primary birth date to sort relationship tags on the PV
instead of sorting them all to the top of the list. Who wants to
scroll past 15-20 relationship tags to get to a person's birth
tag?
• Jack D. Lovelace: The only way I found to import data was via
GEDCOM. Also, the program only supports BMDB type events
(with a Note thrown in). The program does not support TMG
type events. However, the program does have some nice
features, such as the ability to link databases.
Legacy Import
• September 22, 2014 Legacy Family Tree will soon
import files from The Master Genealogist software
• We have been working really hard and are getting close
to releasing an update to Legacy that will directly
import TMG files (no GEDCOM necessary). We are
working hard to make the import to Legacy as seamless
as possible to limit the amount of post-import cleanup
that may be necessary. If you are a TMG user looking
for new software, give our free edition a try at
www.LegacyFamilyTree.com
Family Historian
• Family Historian has direct import, but it is
very buggy (sources linked to wrong persons
etc.). Besides that, it uses a GEDCOM file for its
"database" and I doubt that it will be able to
support most of the TMG features .
TMG Comments
• Stuart Armstrong: I expect to hang around for a long
time. Of course I am interested in the ability of
migrating my data eventually, but having purchased
the full versions of Legacy and RootsMagic, I don't
see them as alternatives - not yet anyway. My
main interest in these programs is the ability to
share data with others, who now most definitely
won't be purchasing TMG. I want to preserve my
work for my nieces and nephews some of whom
hopefully will get interested in family history
someday and continue where I left off.
TMG Comments
• Lee Hoffman: I plan on using TMG in the future. I
don't see a need to change. We've already seen that
it runs well with Windows version 10, so that gives us
at least ten or more years. Only major advances in
hardware would be a problem, but even that won't
be a problem for some time yet. Those on TMG v7,
8, & 9 should not have to worry. For that matter, I
know a few who are still on TMG v4x, v5x, & v6x. Of
course, these are running 32 bit machines and if they
upgrade their computers they will need to go to a
newer TMG or switch to something else.
TMG in the Future
• TMG's download is the whole, actual program package (wrapped up in
an installer executable program). Once you've downloaded this file-and have a license key (and your email addr), you'll be able to install
the program on any computer running any version of Windows at
least through Win10, at any time in the future.
• So with the very unlikely scenario that it's 2064 and you've just
bought a computer with Win10 on it, you'll be able to install TMG9
using the "30-day-trial" download (which you downloaded prior to Jan
2015) or your CD. (Also, some products require registration or
"activation" through Web access for the "full function" to happen.
Again, TMG9 is not like this, either.)
• TMG9 has been tested on Win10 beta, so we `know’ it works.
However, there's no reason to expect any problem with any 32-bit or
64-bit processor and Windows version out into the future. So
potentially, TMG9 could run on Win37 or Win53.
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. 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).
TMG Re-installation
• If you have the latest version of TMG (v9.04), you do not need
anything else (other than your license key information) to install the
program. If you do not have v9.04, then you need to go on the
Wholly Genes web site at
http://www.whollygenes.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?screen=UPGRADES
and download the v9.04 full installer. Save that to a secure location
on your computer. You can also burn that to a CD which can then
be used to install or re-install the program at any time in the future.
You do not need the web site again if you have the v9.04 installer.
TMG Refugees
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/Miscellaneous/TMG-REFUGEES.html
• This group is for people who have decided to
abandon TMG as a database platform.
• As for alternatives, Wait. Other programs are
working on direct imports, and adding TMG-like
features, but they aren't there yet. Give their
developers time to enhance them.
Ottawa TMGUG
• Will continue to meet each month (Sep to
May)
• Will continue to `webcast’ meetings
http://ottawa-tmg-ug.ca/index.htm