As the new year begins, it is time again for the annual GenSoftReviews Users Choice Awards. Since 2008, GenSoftReviews, www.gensoftreviews.com has had users write 5,874 reviews for the 1,041 different genealogy-based programs listed at the site. If you haven't looked at the list of programs and reviews on this website, you are probably not fully aware of the huge number of old and new genealogy programs available.
I am always interested in the Users Choice Awards because they reflect a broad base of people who use a variety of genealogy programs. I am grateful to my friend Louis Kessler for his wonderful contribution for his blog and for the GenSoftReviews website.
One of the most remarkable and from my perspective is the reoccurring popularity of DEAD programs such as Personal Ancestral File which wins every year. The winners, meaning those with the highest number and best ratings, are a commentary on the failure of the efforts of the large online family history websites to fully educate their users. My observation of this issue comes from the number of reviews every year for "unsupported" programs. These are programs that have been abandoned by their developers and are no longer upgraded. My concern here is that the information stored in these programs will ultimately be lost due to computer operating system changes and hardware upgrades. Computer programs must change over time to adapt to new technology or die.
Again, take the time to look at the list of User Choice Awards and also review the long list of programs on the GenSoftReviews website.
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