malcolm@pur-ee.UUCP (Malcolm Slaney) (09/05/86)
Does anybody know anything about the program "Family Heritage File" by Starcom? It is a geneological program for the Macintosh based on work that the Church of Later Day Saints did. Any comments by people that have seen this program would be appreciated. Anybody seen any other geneological software they like? Please reply directly to me. Neither I or the person that I am submitting this for read this newsgroup. Thanks. Malcolm Slaney {decwrl,pur-ee}!spar!malcolm malcolm@ecn.purdue.edu
shulman@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (Jeff Shulman) (09/06/86)
QUINSEPT, P.O. Box 216, Lexington, MA 02173 (617) 641-2930... ...is working on a genealogy program for the Mac called "Family Roots". It is not out yet, but is due out sometime this autumn. Quipsept has previously written their "Family Roots" program for the Apple II and some other microcomputers. The company is well-known amongst genealogy enthusiasts (I believe) and they must have several years of genealogical/ microcomputer experience behind them. I personally am waiting for it to come out so I can purchase it. A friend of mine (a Mac enthusiast and a genealogy enthusiast) who knows more than I about "Family Roots" says it is well worth the wait. I understand they use the Mac interface extensively. I think they are going to Beta-test it soon. I suggest you write to Quinsept to find out details of exactly what's happening. A firm called Applied Ideas announced what a year ago was their up-coming program called "MacGene". I have not seen their program, but I do know for a fact that their customer service is poor since I wrote and called, wrote and called, and finally found their phone disconnected with no forwarding address or phone number. This same friend of mine (mentioned above) had a similar yet independent experience regarding the MacGene people. I don't know Applied Ideas' address, although I saw a blurb somewhere indicating they had moved from San Pedro, CA to Manhatten Beach, CA. Last time I heard, MacGene is finally available. However, I am willing to wait the extra number of months for what my friend says is an very elegant program ("Family Roots"). [My purchasing criteria includes BOTH the quality of the product and the quality of the firm's customer service.] As for my genealogy background, I have mainly researched one branch of my family for a little under two years as a hobby. I eventually want to become skilled enough in genealogy to do it professionally part-time. This same friend said the LDS's "Family Heritage File" does not use the Mac interface at all. I have seen announcements for yet two more Mac genealogy programs that are not yet available, but I haven't paid much attention to the announcements because if "Family Roots" is all my friend says it is, I will be more than satisfied with all its features <although it is slightly more expensive than MacGene.> Yours, Laura Jarrard Shulman
shulman@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (Jeff Shulman) (09/07/86)
Today I started reading the book "Computer Genealogy: a Guide to Research through High Technology" by Paul A. Andereck & Richard A. Pence ($12.95; published 1985 by Ancestry Incorporated, P.O. Box 476, Salt Lake City, UT 84110). On page xii, the authors state the following: "'Genealogical Computing' chose... [Steve Vorenberg of Quinsept] Family Roots as 'the genealogy software to beat' in its September 1984 issue. The reason why will be evident to you." A good portion of Chapter 7 of the Andereck & Pence book is devoted to an overview of Vorenberg's Family Roots program. Andereck & Pence seem to be impressed with Quinsept's various versions of Family Roots (for the Apple II, IBM PC, Commodore 64, and selected CP/M systems such as the TRS-80 Model 4) because on page 103 they say, "We chose Family Roots because its features and operations are illustrations of excellence in genealogy as well as computer programming."