Migrating from Windows to a MAC and from Family Tree Maker to Roots Magic - thoughts?

Question

Hi, it's Black Friday and it has got me thinking about buying a new computer.  I am also thinking about retiring Family Tree Maker and moving to Roots Magic.

So, what do people think about this?  Does Roots Magic work well on a MAC?  And how have people found migrating from FTM to Roots Magic, is it worth doing or should I wait and see what the new owners of FTM are able to do with it?

The only reason I use FTM is so I can sync my desktop tree with Ancestry.   Funnily enough, this is less of an issue now that all my family history data is also here on Wikitree :-)

Comments

I found the same thing Leigh. My main FTM file has an error in it that cannot be fixed by a "compact and repair". At first I was in a panic but then realized the bulk of my information is now on WikiTree. Now I just use FTM as a search engine for Ancestry and a storage area for digital copies of records I find. I agree with Dale...take your time. Since Steve Jobs died I see a lot less innovation in Apple products...and more software glitches.

Answer 1

I have only two thoughts about this

1.) If you data is all here now and you only use the program to sync data, why bother,using Ancestry for sources is OK but others without paying can not see them anyway.

2.) The computer is a personal decision and is going to be a lot of work transferring everything, I know I just bought one, but it provides a good time to start over and decide what you really want it to do, so take your time and do a lot of research on not only what type of computer but also what programs are really needed or wanted.

I know very little about Apple products but from others that are family I have seen some problems there, I am not putting down their products but for me at least it is not worth the effort to learn everything all over.

Comments

30 years in computer development, Basic, HPUX, then Windows ... my wife has an Ipad and I can't do anything on it ... lol ... it's just so non-intuitive to me ...

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Bob, I stared with computers when PC's were just starting to come out, in fact I actually started before that, at Kent State University and worked with many programming languages and when the grandchildren ask me about their Apple products I just get a deer in the headlights expression on my face and claim my hearing aids are broken. I can not even start with them and feel no urge to learn at this time.

Answer 2

I switched from PC to Mac many years ago. It is not that big a switch. the big thing is the close window is on the opposite side. I decided I wasn't overly fond of Safari, so mostly use firefox which is free to download. And at that point the learning curve was almost nil.

Roots Magic,- I have used since the beginning. When I switched to a Mac, Roots magic didn't work on a Mac, so I kept a PC just to run RM. Then I used a somewhat awkward program from codeweavers to get it to run on my Mac. With Roots Magic 7 it now runs quite nicely on the Mac (a little slow on opening and closing).

Moving from FTM to Roots Magic - I don't know about but that's what Gedcom files are for, and there seem to be support pages to tell you how to accomplish the move.