The Master Genealogist version 7.0

The following announcement was written by Wholly Genes, Inc., producers of The Master Genealogist:

THE BAR IS RAISED AGAIN FOR FAMILY HISTORY SOFTWARE
The Master Genealogist v7.0 has been released.

Wholly Genes, Inc., of Columbia, Maryland, is proud to announce the release of The Master Genealogist v7.0, the most comprehensive family history software on the market.  For more than 14 years, The Master Genealogist ("TMG") has been the choice of professional genealogists and casual researchers alike because of its innovative features, extreme flexibility, attention to real-life research issues (like "witnesses" and their secondary roles in events), and support for the highest scholarly standards.

Despite the program's long-standing reputation as "the one that does it all," the new Version 7 incorporates more than 50 exciting new features.  The program continues to innovate with features like a new "Associates Window" which lists in one place all of the people connected to the focus person (e.g., as witnesses to the same events), customizable pop-up reminders which encourage consistent data entry, and the ability to make color "highlights" or annotations on scanned images.  The image highlighting actually happens on a transparent layer above the image so the original image isn't modified -- an important characteristic to family researchers.

A variety of powerful new features to control sentence output supplement those which, in previous versions, have helped researchers win awards for their published narratives.  Among other enhancements, it is now easier to generate sentences which span more than one event (e.g., "He died in Tazewell, Virginia and was buried three days later in the town cemetery") with mid-sentence source citations.  A real-time sentence preview now also makes it easier to see the effect of customizing those sentences.

"We're sure that researchers will appreciate the powerful new features in this release because they helped to design them," said Bob Velke, President of Wholly Genes Software.  "Many of TMG's best features started with suggestions from users," said Velke, "and Version 7 is no exception."  As examples of popular features that are already in that category, he cited the program's GenBridge direct-import technology, integrated historical timelines, customizable screen layouts, and the display of names in different colors to represent user-defined characteristics (e.g., red for people who were born in Tennessee and green for those who were born in Virginia).

Other new features in Version 7 include multi-level sorts, relationship calculation through spouses (e.g., wife of his third cousin), the ability to share your source list and output templates with other researchers through import/export, and the ability to check for duplicates while adding new people.  A number of new filtering and reporting options are expected to be very popular and a long list of interface changes make the program easier to use, especially for novice researchers.

The Master Genealogist v7.0 is native to Windows Vista but is also designed for Windows 2000 or XP.  More information is available from <www.WhollyGenes.com>.

About the company:
Wholly Genes Software is a privately held corporation founded in 1993 with the goal of providing professional-caliber software tools to family historians. Its flagship product, The Master Genealogist, is among the highest rated family history project managers and is in use in more than 30 countries around the world.

Comments

[Polly Furbush]

I discovered that my 6.12 version of TMG was not compatable with Vistas which was in my new laptop. While I could install the program I could not add my data. Fortunately Version 7 came out the day after I discovered it and now all is well.

[Jim R. Keener]

I upgraded to TMG yesterday. The upgrade price was reasonable at $29.95, but to tell you the truth, I'm not very impressed with the new version. I'm sure there are things I will find that I like as I continue to use it, but, I'm still waiting patiently for Legacy 7.

Happy New Year,

Jim
In East Tennessee

[Wayne Dailey]

I had been led to believe that version 7.00 of TMG was going to have an all new look. To me it pretty much looks the same as the previous version. I too am waiting for Legacy 7.

Wayne
Canada

[Jeff Piper]

TMG 6.12 was compatible with Vista but, like a lot of pre Vista programs, had to be installed in certain ways.
V 7 has improved on v6. The Associates window shows all the people connected at some stage with the person viewing
Well worth the upgrade price and still the best genealogy program.

Jeff
Co. Durham
UK

[Worth Anderson]

One of the most basic functions of a genealogy program ought to be the ability to correctly record names and places. Unfortunately, the list of upgrades to The Master Genealogist 7.0 makes no mention now being able to handle unicode, so that Slavic letters can be displayed. In fact, it appears that none of NONE of RootsMagic 3, The Master Genealogist or Legacy 6.0 can handle unicode. Their websites misleadingly state that they can handle foreign characters, but they support only diacriticals for western European languages like French or German. For someone with a database full of eastern European placenames, this is a critical failing. PAF doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the newer programs, but it has been able to handle unicode for years. I wish that genealogy software reviewers would clearly and prominently include whether a program handles unicode in their reviews.

[Pam Veelle]

I was excited when I got a newletter from Wholly Genes talking about the new v. 7 TMG. They talked about at 50% sale. Gift memberships. Being new to genealogy I have heard alot about this program. So I tried to get it. Seems the special is only for existing owners of TMG. I wrote the company they confirmed for existing members only. Was sorely disappointed. I was frustrated to get the email and to learn they take care of existing customers but to heck with new potential customers. I currently use legacy and FTM.

Do these companies think that their existing customers will keep the company rolling along. Why aren't these offers extended to new comers? It felt almost like a bait and switch operation. Why send me the darn email - to tease. Being on a limited income it finally made it affordable for me to take the risk, only to have it swept out from under my feet. That is where they can keep it, glad their business is so brisk that it can afford to ignore potential customers.

[Bob Velke, Wholly Genes Software]

Each year our company newsletter makes an offer to existing customers to buy additional copies of the program for family and friends at half price. I am sorry that you felt misled but the discount offer clearly says that it is for "TMG users to share the joy of Version 7 with other researchers and family members." If you received the notice directly from us, then it is because you subscribe to our company newsletter as we do not send out unsolicited emails with such offers. If you do not subscribe to our newsletter, then perhaps the person who forwarded it to you would be willing to sponsor a purchase for you.

[Thelma Doring]

Worth Anderson is right. This program cannot even handle a few accented characters. A waste of money if you ask me.

[Nicole]

I have been using TMG for a very long time (how long??) and have always been very satisfied with the program and customer service, until recently. I recently updated to TMG 7.0 only to find that I can't generate reports because I have 64-bit Vista. I have no idea when this problem will be fixed (and customer service can't or won't give me an approximate time). I can't share my genealogy with others since I can't generate reports.