To bring you up to date from the last episodes of our genealogical soap opera, I purchased, in advance, the Family Tree Maker 2012 program. I have already have been using both the PC and Mac 2010 versions and liked them quite a bit. I was very interested in having a synchronization path between my online Family Trees on Ancestry.com and the programs. Actually, I thought the feature was long overdue and could never understand why the three programs did not talk to each other. Oh, didn't you know? The Mac version does not share any data with the PC versions or with the online Family Trees. (No man is an island, unless you are a genealogy program). So I thought, finally a version of the program that will talk to the online data.
Let's just say my dreams were shattered. I did get the program only to discover that it will not load. In addition, after sending an email to Ancestry.com, they essentially said tough rocks, you lose. We don't "support the Macintosh/Parallels Desktop world." But, I have analyzed the problem and it can't be a Parallels Desktop issue. Oh, I forgot to mention again, that I run all my software on an Intel iMac with Parallels Desktop. Anyway, I have never had trouble loading any other program onto my Windows 7 virtual machine. Everything works, RootsMagic, Ancestral Quest, Legacy Family Tree, Personal Ancestral File, and a whole bunch more.
So, I guess I have to give up on the new version of Family Tree Maker. Too bad, I like the other programs and now I have to say so long, its been good to know you. I would have kept my subscription next year to Ancestry.com if I had a reason to do so with the new program but now, that is a real question? Why would I buy a continued subscription when their program isn't supported on my computer? I'm sure it won't matter to all the millions of other subscribers, since I am in such a tiny minority of Ancestry.com users that they don't care about my present or future business.
I'll let you know if I get my money back.
There are plenty of libraries that have Ancestry on their computers if you decide to cancel their subscription.
ReplyDeleteLast year I cancelled the World Edition because of the cost. When I got the email about Irish record online I joined again. After I searched I found that they have very few counties and none of them were the ones that I needed to search. Needles to say I was quite irked.
That's one of the reasons I use The Master Genealogist. I had a problem once that I posted on their help forum. Imagine my surprise when the developer himself called me at home to straighten it out!!!! Needless to say, I've stuck with them!
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