Beta version of FTM 2008

This page is the introductory or summary page prepared when the Beta version first became available. The table shown below is being updated with the features of Beta version RC1 and for a more detailed report on the latest evaluation, go the the page on The Good and Bad features of FTM 2008.

Topics:

  1. Announcement:

  2. Online video presentation of features in FTM 2008: FTM Tutorial of FTM 2008

  3. Initial steps used in evaluation:

  4. Summary of results from comparison of FTM 2007/Version 16, FTM 2008/Beta, Legacy 6.0 Deluxe:

  5. Warning to users and suggested process to be used to determine if you should upgrade:

Announcement:
On 7 July 2007 the following message was received on the FTM-Tech email group:

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:58:25 -0500
From: Beth Gay <bethg@integrity.com>
Subject: [FTM-TECH] FTM 2008 beta now open to public
To: ftm-tech@rootsweb.com
Message-ID: <468EF341.5010802@integrity.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Here is the link.

> this beta is now available for download by the public at http://beta.familytreemaker.com. Please feel free to share this link with friends and family, post it to mail lists or forums, etc. Everyone is welcome to download the beta. Link has been removed!!

Backup and save on disk your present file. Rename your file and then
open in the new program. It is a huge download so you need the fast
download or access to it.

Have fun.


Initial steps used in evaluation:
Since this is a Beta version and now open to the public, I am trying to assist those who may be using FTM as their genealogy program and not be aware of the FTM-TECH mailing list to give some of the features of the new software and enable a more reliable and mature product to be made available when it is released later this year.

I have had both good and bad experiences with this new Beta version and will list them below

  1. Down loaded the program from the link shown above and it loaded just fine into my system which is a 2.53GHz HP Pavilion with 1GB of RAM and 46GB free disk space. Windows XP SP2. Since this download, I have also downloaded and installed a version on a Toshiba A100-VA9, Intel Celeron 2 Duo Processors @1.666 GHz. Windows Vista Home Edition, 2 GB RAM. NOTE: The file is huge, 168.82MB, and you should have high-speed internet.

  2. When I tried to import my database of 153,857 individuals into the Beta version it gave an error message "The import failed because an unknown error occurred". This error was received on both of the systems as indicated in #1 shown above.

  3. Subsequent tests using other large databases which are also large in size, ranging from 36,000 to 114,000 individuals gave the same error. However, smaller databases loaded just fine and no error was noted.

  4. To see if the error was caused from the number of individuals in the database, a GED file was created and that was imported into the Beta version and it imported with no major problem other than some errors that appear to be a problem with the GED input portion of  the software. One thing became very clear during the import was that it was very slow as it took 9 Hours and 50 minutes to complete the import. Subsequent analysis of my system determined that more memory might possibly be an answer so the memory was increased to 2GB and the time to import was reduced to just slightly over 3 1/2 hours or about an increase in speed of roughly 3X.

  5. CPU utilization while the program is running the BETA version using the large database of 153,000+ individuals is at 100% all the time and the system is very slow to respond to any input from the mouse. What is causing this is unknown and the problem was the same with the Vista system as well.

  6. The problems noted above have been reported to the Beta Development Group and also to FTM-TECH so that others can relate to what I have found and possible solutions.

  7. Major problems seem to exist in the importation of Source information and my list of Master Sources increased from 156 to 19,276. This is caused by the improper decision to make every source item a new source rather then use the Master Sources criterion from the older versions of the program and make the individual source for an item use the Master Source and any extra info that was in the actual source for that item.

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Summary of results from comparison of FTM 2007/Version 16, FTM 2008/Beta, Legacy 6.0 Deluxe:

NOTE: CPU utilization was determined by using "Task Manager" with tab set to Performance.
A more detailed evaluation of FTM-2008 is available from FTM documentation item #3.

 

        FTM 2006/Version-16

 FTM 2008 BETA Legacy 6.0 Deluxe
 
Database File size, MB 91.39
Individuals 153, 861
Marriages 48, 755
Text Records 624, 547
Master Sources 158
Import Time 1GB RAM  
Import Time 2GB RAM 30 min
CPU usage: 2GB RAM 2-3%
Response Speed Very Good
Time to export GED file. 3 min: 55 Sec.
Time to produce Kinship Report of JLK 70 sec. /1338 pgs.
Ease of use Very Good
Output Reports as shown below  
Outline Total Yes/Advanced
Outline: Direct line to secondary p Yes/Advanced
Reports(see examples in FTM Reports) Yes(examples)
Charts Yes/text selectable
Ahnentafel Yes
Books/Max allowed Yes/30
Over all rating Very Good
Allows export to previous versions of FTM YES
Read CD's from FTM/WFT Yes
Advice to others to use or upgrade YES
276.897
153,861
51,508
481,510
19,276
9 hrs, 50 min, 9.47 Sec
3 hrs, 32 min, 42.573 sec
100%
Terrible
20 min: 30 sec
3 min: 40 Sec. / only 103 pgs.
Good>Medium>Poor
 
Yes/Primitive
NO
No( no examples yet)
Yes/text selectable
No
No
Medium: except missing major items
No
No/can use an older version of FTM
With extreme caution
221.448
153,861
51,508
NA
158
 
53 min
2-3%
Very Good
15 Min: 30 Sec
?? none found
Good
 
 
 
 
 
 
Yes/needs lots of work
Medium to Good
 
 
Not for me

For examples of different FTM Reports available from FTM 2006/Version 16, see FTM Reports  Examples of FTM 2008 Reports will be available shortly when I can manage to get some working examples. The items shown highlighted in YELLOW are essential for the work that I do and from the examples for FTM 2006/Version 16 you can see how these options are used.

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The next section will attempt to show some of the capabilities of the new software and also what appears to be missing in the new version. In most cases, I will leave some of this up to those who have tested the program to make their own decisions about what is essential for their use and what are "Bells and Whistles"

Online video presentation of features in FTM 2008
Use the following link for an online video presentation from the ancestrystore called "Watch the Tutorial" Once this page has loaded, scroll down to the items shown as:

  • Introduction

  • Module 1: Build

  • Module 2: Search

  • Module 3: Collaborate

  • Module 4: Publish

  • Conclusion

These will open in new screens and will need to be closed and the next item selected to view the complete Tutorial

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Warning to uses and suggested process to be used to determine if you should upgrade:
The following steps are suggested to those who want to upgrade and protect themselves against loss of data and extreme frustrations in the future with  a product that does not do what they expect.

  1. Make a backup of your data file and keep it in a safe place. Make a second backup as you will use that to import into the new program.

  2. Install the new program in a separate directory so that you keep the old version and can still use it to do further work if the new version fails to meet your expectations.

  3. Using the new program, import or load your database and note any errors or problems. This is very important as you may have to use you original program to remove the cause of erorrs.

  4. Save your database using the new program but change the name so that you can clearly differentiate between the database used in the original program and the upgrade.

  5. Using the new program, check for functionality to see if the new program will meet your requirements. If it does not have the functionality then you can abandon the upgrade process at this time.

  6. This step is the most important. Without making any changes to the data, attempt to save the database in the format that can be read by your old program as this will prove that you can move back and forth from the new version back to the old version. Failure to do this will result in much extra work if you find that after entering data into the database using the new program that it does not meet your expectations and wish to go back to your original program. Check that the saved file will work unchanged in the original program and have the same functionality as you had from your original database.

  7. Using the new program, add one or two new records then repeat step 6 as shown above to see if updated data is portable back to the original program. If additional features in the new program are used then the portability may be lost.

  8. Proceed with caution and check for backward compatibility to make sure you don't spend may hours entering data only to find that you cannot save the data in the format used by your original program. I use this all the time and actually have FTM version-11 as an old version of FTM that allows me some functionality that was lost in FTM 2005, 2006, 2007/version16.

  9. Forward and Backward compatibility between different platforms like FTM and Legacy becomes a real problem and the way to check this is to see if Books for example can be imported into Legacy if going from FTM to Legacy or Books in Legacy can be imported into FTM if going from Legacy to FTM. Importing from a different platform may mean that the info from a GED file can be imported but all the other features are lost.

  10. GOOD LUCK!!

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Last Update: 27 July, 2009

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