Unless you live under a rock, you've heard that Ancestry.com is saying bye bye to Family Tree Maker.
I'll admit, I was a bit surprised by the announcement, but after thinking about it from a business perspective, I got it.
I've worked for software companies most of my career. Still do. Software as a Service (SAAS) became a thing about 10 years ago. Then, along came all the hoopla around the "cloud". It makes perfect sense that Ancestry would eventually choose not to invest any more $$$ in development of an old-fashioned software program. That's so last century.
So they're doing away with FTM and moving everyone to maintaining their tree on their web site, which by the way charges nearly $400 a year to maintain all the resources. See, it's all about the money.
That's not as offensive as it may sound, all about the money. Without income, they won't have the resources to continue to build the empire. Or pay people to scan and index records. Or maintain their site. Or look good to their stockholders.
So, I get it.
Still, it's a bummer. We'll lose features now in FTM but not available in the online trees on Ancestry. Well, shoot. Stuff happens.
The world hasn't ended. The world still turns. We all woke up this morning. It's all gonna be ok with or without Family Tree Maker.
I promise.
I read a lot of chatter on the various forums about family trees on Ancestry. Some folks love 'em, others hate 'em.
I like having my tree available for a bunch of reasons, although I've noticed lots of folks using my photos and material without asking.
On one hand, I don't really mind as I made my tree public so it - and my wealth of information - could be shared. I want to share. But on the other hand, I must say I hesitate when I see where someone has clearly cut and paste something I wrote without any acknowledgment. I even recently saw a family photo I own attached to someone not even in the family line. Sigh.
We can't help what people do with our information. We can only hope they'll use it responsibly, do their own verification of the accuracy, and maybe somewhere down the road they will delight or inform a family member even if they don't correctly acknowledge how they obtained the information.
I love it when people email comments on my tree. Generally, it's to tell me I'm wrong about something, but even that has great value to me and I'm grateful for the time they took to make me rethink my facts.
So...check out my tree and let me know what you think! I sync it daily with Family Tree Maker so it's always up to date!
