As explained earlier today, I'm considering moving from a free package made by http://www.myheritage.com/ and considering Family Historian as a replacement.
Naturally like many people, I've spent time reading reviews of each and came across http://genealogy-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
Now I know each package is down to personal choice, though a placing of #6 out of 10 seems low, especially as i'm lead to believe FH has won loads of reviews.
Is the review of #6 a correct assessment for the current v3?
ID:3550
* Family Historian Review
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Jane
- Site Admin
- Posts: 8442
- Joined: 01 Nov 2002 15:00
- Family Historian: V7
- Location: Somerset, England
- Contact:
Family Historian Review
Looking at the comments on the review, I suspect they actually reviewed V2. Also as the prices are in $ the price is well out of date. The strong £ when the price was set means FH was more expensive than the US products. There are a good chunk of the 'tick' boxes which FH shows as not having are covered in other ways by FH.
I have found most reviews done cross product involve spending a hour with the program. My own feeling is decide for yourself which program you prefer, most of the ones listed have free demos or trials.
The other problem with the 'tick' system is that you can build your own critera so there is not line for entering data direct from the tree or building your own queries etc and that's from a quick 30 sec glance at the list.
I have found most reviews done cross product involve spending a hour with the program. My own feeling is decide for yourself which program you prefer, most of the ones listed have free demos or trials.
The other problem with the 'tick' system is that you can build your own critera so there is not line for entering data direct from the tree or building your own queries etc and that's from a quick 30 sec glance at the list.
Jane
My Family History : My Photography "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
My Family History : My Photography "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
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goodwin2
- Famous
- Posts: 199
- Joined: 24 Aug 2007 21:06
- Family Historian: V6.2
- Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania, USA
Family Historian Review
I think the review that you mentioned had some valid points about FH being more technically sophisticated rather than being intuitive. [Jane, don't chastise me too severely.]
However, the BETTER news is that, from what I know of other programs, FH has THE BEST capability for queries - that is you can put together many combinations to search your records - invaluable when you have a large database and want to know, for instance, how many Jones married how many Smiths or how many people have Illinois in their record. There are many standard queries in FH as well as custom ones that can be downloaded from this site. Also, when you get a bit of experience, or get REALLY brave [I just put one together!!!], you can create your own - and delete it, if it doesn't produce what you are looking for.
The other area to remember is that FH is a UK based program. For those of us in the US that means dates are entered in a different format than we are accustomed to - not really a major problem.
Version 4 will be out SOON??? and I have pre-ordered the full version - I currently have the most recent 3.1.2. I believe somewhere on this site, you can find the areas of upgrade/changes that will be in the new version. One quote 'The program as a whole has been made easier to use than ever.'
My expectation is that folks like me who are NOT highly technical but familiar with some genealogy program [and deep into their research] will find the new version easier for a first time user.
For the query feature alone it is worth using FH. This site also is a useful tool - folks will answer your questions and usually solve your quirky problems.
However, the BETTER news is that, from what I know of other programs, FH has THE BEST capability for queries - that is you can put together many combinations to search your records - invaluable when you have a large database and want to know, for instance, how many Jones married how many Smiths or how many people have Illinois in their record. There are many standard queries in FH as well as custom ones that can be downloaded from this site. Also, when you get a bit of experience, or get REALLY brave [I just put one together!!!], you can create your own - and delete it, if it doesn't produce what you are looking for.
The other area to remember is that FH is a UK based program. For those of us in the US that means dates are entered in a different format than we are accustomed to - not really a major problem.
Version 4 will be out SOON??? and I have pre-ordered the full version - I currently have the most recent 3.1.2. I believe somewhere on this site, you can find the areas of upgrade/changes that will be in the new version. One quote 'The program as a whole has been made easier to use than ever.'
My expectation is that folks like me who are NOT highly technical but familiar with some genealogy program [and deep into their research] will find the new version easier for a first time user.
For the query feature alone it is worth using FH. This site also is a useful tool - folks will answer your questions and usually solve your quirky problems.
GSB
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jmurphy
- Megastar
- Posts: 712
- Joined: 05 Jun 2007 23:33
- Family Historian: V6.2
- Location: California, USA
- Contact:
Family Historian Review
I investigated at least half a dozen programs via trial versions before I chose Family Historian.
The impressive feature for me was Family Historian's Auto-Source Citation. To me it is far more sensible to enter a source, turn on Auto-Source Citation, enter all the information from it, and then turn Auto-Source Citation off, as you can do in Family Historian.
Other programs encourage the user to enter data and then attach the source, enter data and then attach a source, etc. for every bit of data in one source -- very tiresome.
Jan
The impressive feature for me was Family Historian's Auto-Source Citation. To me it is far more sensible to enter a source, turn on Auto-Source Citation, enter all the information from it, and then turn Auto-Source Citation off, as you can do in Family Historian.
Other programs encourage the user to enter data and then attach the source, enter data and then attach a source, etc. for every bit of data in one source -- very tiresome.
Jan
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ChrisBowyer
- Superstar
- Posts: 389
- Joined: 25 Jan 2006 15:10
- Family Historian: None
Family Historian Review
My favourite unique feature of FH is the ability to work directly on the diagram, so you can see the effect of your changes as you go along. It's amazing how often I look at other people's trees that have people attached to the wrong families or duplicated, presumably because they're editing in some kind of record view and loose sight of the context.