It's RootsTech time again, when the various genealogy software companies and websites surprise
us with big news. Tuesday afternoon Ancestry and RootsMagic had some doozies to announce.
The first involved Ancestry's Family Tree Maker software, which was being "retired" at the end of
2016. Ancestry has sold FTM to Software MacKiev, a software seller and developer. Here's part of the news release on the Ancestry blog:
Software MacKiev, with whom we have a long-standing relationship, is acquiring the Family Tree Maker software line as publisher for both Mac and Windows versions. Software MacKiev has been the developer of Family Tree Maker for Mac for more than six years and is thrilled at the opportunity to publish future versions of Family Tree Maker for Mac and Windows.
This new agreement means you will receive software updates and new versions from Software MacKiev, and have the ability to purchase new versions of Family Tree Maker from Software MacKiev as they are released. You will have continued access to Ancestry Hints, Ancestry searches, and be able to save your tree on Ancestry with Family Tree Maker moving forward.
This was good news for the avid FTM users who had been upset by the earlier news of its "retirement".
The second big announcement concerns a new working relationship between RootsMagic and
Ancestry.com. Here's what that means as described on the RootsMagic Blog:
1 Search – RootsMagic will be the only software besides FTM to search Ancestry’s extensive collections of historical records from around the world and let you download those records into your own file.
2 Sync – RootsMagic will be the only software besides FTM to let you share data between your RootsMagic files on your computer with your personal Ancestry online trees. You’ll also be able to download people, events, and even pictures from Ancestry onto your computer through RootsMagic.
3 Import – RootsMagic will be able to directly import your Family Tree Maker files, without having to go through an intermediate GEDCOM file, giving you the cleanest, most complete transfer of your data. RootsMagic will also be able to download your online trees from Ancestry.
All of these RootsMagic-Ancestry connections will be available by the end of 2016.
This is especially good news for me since I use RootsMagic and I have a public tree on Ancestry.com. Now I just need to learn how to do that "sync" thing!
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