FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS-L Archives

Archiver > FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS > 2002-06 > 1024264065


From: "Alan Westoby" <>
Subject: [FHU] Moan Moan Moan
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2002 22:52:20 +0100


In many ways this message board should be for owners of the program to discuss user issues, and provide Simon with ideas for further improvements to the program. Instead so far all I have read is people moaning about the price of the program and comments comparing it to programs that have been on the market for some years now.

I think you should all consider the following point before moaning again:

1. Can you code a commercial windows program?, do you know how long it take to write a program like 'Family Historian'
2. Do you know what cost's are involved in producing a program like 'Family Historian' for the market, CD's, packaging, manuals, marketing etc? Remember we are not talking huge volumes like FTM and the others sell here.
3. Do you remember how much you paid for the first version of FTM or Ancestry, and how good was it?
4. In the volumes that the major players sell there production costs will be very low compared to Simon, who I presume is probably still working on small batch runs.
5. Not withstanding the travel costs to the FRC, the program costs less than 8 certificates, I have in my possession at least 8 that after I got them found they did not belong to my family.
6. Everyone moans about the American slant of other programs, well here is a chance to get a product geared to what we the British public want.
7. There are loads of other point I could think of, but stop whinging lets have constructive comments after all this is a major part of someone's life we are talking about. HOW WOULD YOU FEEL!!

I have had the program for just two weeks, and find its intuitive interface and speed of operation excellent. The implementation of images and the ability to link individuals in a family photo is outstanding, as is the ability to globally reassign that link. The query language is easy to use and offers searches similar to Custodian II. If the above sounds like I have shares in the company, then let me assure you I have no link with Calico at all, and until I read the review had never heard of them. For information I have used FTM, UFT, TMG, and PAF2 and they all have there good points but after using FH for just 2 weeks, I will be sticking with it in the future even if some features are currently missing. After all why would I want to upload my Family History on the internet in some gobbledegook fashion just because its automatically generated for me by my Family History program.

Lets just get on with helping one another to benefit fully from the program and give Simon and Calico praise for having the guts to release an interesting product on to what many would think is an already saturated market.

For Simon:- Based on point 6 above, why does the program come with an entry for US social security code as standard and not one for UK national insurance number. And can we have implementation for scrolling through lists with the scroll device wheel found on most mice.

Best wishes to all enthusiastic users

Alan Westoby
www.westoby.info




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