[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Software recomendations

[Gary Warner]

Peter,

I understand your concern, and it is well founded, especially when 
either the sending program or the receiving program does not completely 
follow the gedcom format.   Family Tree Maker is famous for using its 
own brand of gedcom file, and it creates huge messes in other programs, 
including loss of data, or muddling it so bad that it takes great effort 
to correct it.   Further comments below in CAPS.   I am not shouting, 
but need to use simple text enhancement, because our mail server strips 
out special formatting.

Gary


On 12/29/2014 1:32 PM, Peter wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 4:11 PM, Gary Warner <garyw555 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I like Legacy for the following reasons:
>>
>> 1.  The standard version, which is adequate for most users, is free.
> Free in terms of price, but not in terms of format -- Legacy stores
> your data in their database in it's own closed, proprietary format. I
> take great issue with this.
LEGACY USES THE APPROVE GEDCOM FORMAT, AND AS NEAR AS I CAN TELL, DOES 
NOT VARY FROM IT.   IN ADDITION, LEGACY IS BASED ON MICROSOFT ACCESS, SO 
IT THE DATA CAN BE COMPLETELY RETRIEVED FROM THE DATABASE IF ANYONE IS 
KNOWLEDGEABLE ENOUGH TO DO SO.  IN THAT RESPECT, IT IS NOT CLOSED.
>
> What would happen in the unlikely event that Legacy were to go under?
> Or development of other softwares were such that you wanted to move
> your data elsewhere? Your data is locked into Legacy, and you're stuck
> exporting it using the lossy Gedcom format. I've worked too hard on my
> database to feel comfortable keeping it locked into a closed format in
> proprietary software.
AS NOTED ABOVE, THE GEDCOM FORMAT IS ONLY LOSSY IF THE PROGRAM RECEIVING 
THE DATA FROM A LEGACY CREATED GEDCOM FILE IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THE 
GEDCOM FORMAT.   IN ADDITION, AS MENTIONED BY EARL SCHULTZ, THE PROGRAM 
HAS NO CLOCK THAT MAKES IT UNUSABLE LIKE MANY SOFTWARE PROGRAMS THAT 
REQUIRE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS TO CONTINUE TO RUN.
>
> Some may be perfectly comfortable doing that, but I prefer Open Source
> software which is completely free in terms of price AND in terms of
> data formats. Keeping my data in an open format for which the code
> will always be open and available, even if those who write it no
> longer exist or choose to continue with the software. Anyone can
> examine the source code of the database -- your data is truly free!
YOUR DATA MAY BE FREE, BUT IF IT DOES NOT HAVE MASTER LISTS AND THE 
OTHER FEATURES I MENTIONED IN MY FIRST EMAIL, THEN YOUR DATA WILL NOT BE 
AS CORRECT AS IT CAN BE.   YOU ARE, OF COURSE, FREE TO USE WHATEVER 
PROGRAM YOU WISH, BUT PERHAPS YOU WOULD BENEFIT FROM IMPORTING YOUR DATA 
INTO LEGACY TO SEE WHAT ERRORS IT FINDS?
>
> The poor souls still using The Master Genealogist are suffering the
> effects of closed source software right now -- security updates end
> for TMG on 31 December 2014, and their data is stuck in a closed
> source format. Sure, they can export it using Gedcom, but they'll also
> lose tremendous amounts of information in their database at the same
> time.
I AM NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE MASTER GENEALOGIST GEDCOM FORMAT, BUT IF IT 
CREATES GEDCOMS THAT ARE COMPLETELY IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE GEDCOM 
FORMAT, THEN THERE SHOULD BE NO LOSSS OF DATA.
> What if that happened to Legacy? You could argue that it's
> unlikely, but it also seemed very unlikely for The Master Genalogist
> to go under when I first started using that software many years ago.

AS NOTED ABOVE, IF THE COMPANY THAT MAKES LEGACY WERE TO GO OUT OF 
BUSINESS, THE SOFTWARE WOULD CONTINUE TO OPERATE WITHOUT LIMITATION.
>
> So, using closed source proprietary software for important data is not
> a risk that I'm willing to take. I like to truly "own" my genealogical
> data. I think it should be "free" in every sense... not just monetary
> cost.
THE CHOICE IS YOURS, BUT AS NOTED ABOVE, PERHAPS YOU WOULD CHANGE YOUR 
MIND IF YOU IMPORTED YOUR DATA INTO LEGACY TO SEE IF IT IS STILL ALL 
THERE.   BEST WISHES IN WHICHEVER PATH YOU CHOOSE.
>
> Peter