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Software
Review - Family Origins©
From the
Genealogy Software Springboard
FAMILY ORIGINS© v.5.0 by Parsons Technology
Developers Listed Features on Family Origins:
Family Origins for Windows provides both tree and family card navigation screens, switchable with a single click of the mouse. Individual data can be edited by simply double clicking on the person's name.
Family Origins includes a complete multimedia scrapbook, capable of holding scanned photos, sound files, and video clips. The photos can be printed in your trees, books, reports, scrapbooks, etc, and you can select the border styles and colors as well!
You can put your family on the World Wide Web with Family Origins for Windows. A web wizard will create the web site in either ancestry or descendancy format, including notes, photos, source bibliography, alphabetical index, surname list, and email address. You can even include a GEDCOM file of your data for people to download from your web site.
Family Origins for Windows allows you to add an unlimited number of facts to every person (i.e. Birth, Death, Marriage, Occupation, Religion, Description, etc). If you want to add a fact type that isn't in Family Origins' predefined list, you can simply create your own fact types. Family Origins provides up to 30,000 characters of notes for each and every fact you add to a person. In addition, you can add an unlimited number of source citations to every fact.
Family Origins for Windows prints heirloom quality trees, charts, forms, and books. A print preview allows you to view your printouts in WYSIWYG mode before printing your reports.
Family Origins for Windows also includes a full Source Manager which allows you to enter your documentation (certificates, books, etc) once and then simply reuse them.
Family Origins for Windows also provides the following features: presentation quality printouts, full GEDCOM support, full LDS ordinance support (optional), smart data entry for place names, relationship and date calculators, built-in backup, and much, much more!
Family Origins for Windows (FOW). A great Windows genealogy program, for beginners and more experienced family researchers, with new features yet to come.
Items of Special Interest:
GEDCOM Info: Supports GEDCOM 5.5 Also reads earlier versions (4.x and later) as long as they don't contain tags which are not legal under 5.5 Length of notes contained IN the program (not attached): 30,000 characters per fact - unlimited facts per person.
System Requirements: Minimum 386, 4MB Ram, 3MB disk space, Windows or Win95,
Family Origins© - Pros & Cons
PRO'S on Family Origins (FOW) -
Program speed has improved considerably from v4, but not as fast as v3.
A low cost program with many features.
Data entry improved significantly (from previous version) -- could be further enhanced by allowing up & down cursor to select from places & sources within the edit field.
Good selection of report outputs plus virtually unlimited ability for customized reports. Book reports may be printed to screen/printer or file (ASCII or RTF), but most others are limited to screen/printer in graphics format.
Includes date & relationship calculators.
Supports multiple names, births, marriages, etc.
Robust GEDCOM import, and choice of detail in GEDCOM output.
Easy to split databases, easy to maintain databases.
- Extensive list of built-in fact types; any fact type that is not already listed, can be added by the user.
Fast search facility for names, places and sources. Quick navigation through the database, allowing you to find any individual rapidly.
- Complete citation facility that allows you to comment in as much detail as you want on any source document.
CON'S on Family Origins (FOW)
AOL forum reports quite a number of installation/operability bugs.
- Event reversal -- Data (marriages & other events) in a correct order in one FOWIN database & imported into another, via GEDCOM, will contain many events that are reversed in order. All events with dates will be listed prior to those with dates, with no way of reordering, other than entry of fictitious dates. You may need to be prepared to spend many hours in checking & reordering data after transfer to V5.
Transfer via GEDCOM of family data will not include marriage events which do not have a date. Divorces without dates do transfer resulting in couples with divorces who were not married.
Some notes, in absence of events, do not print in the reports output.
- Reports may be printed to screen (preview) but doing so locks one out of the main program, even when minimized. This is a reversion from an outstanding feature available in v3, whereby one could print a report to the screen and use same in a window for comparison with and editing the database.
No documentation is available, on-line HELP is woefully lacking.
- Program speed for searches, even simple ones, is very slow.
- Ability to output all reports in ASCII would be a great improvement as well as more ability to customize standard reports.
- Inability to make certain data sensitive when creating web pages from FOW. (same with Book Printout Option).
- Web based creation doesn't allow all members of your database to be put on the web, just ancestors or descendants.
- Book feature is nice, BUT notes are printed in the book. Notes are generally deemed as just that, not specifically meant to print in a family book. Need some separation of what is put out in book format.
- While using the LDS features, certain work done by proxy and entered by date shows the relative age of the person having their work done for them. It is of no use to know if someone was 150 years old when they were baptized by proxy.
When editing an individual's record, you cannot delete more than 1 field at a time. (was trying to delete those christenings, death, etc attached to a record).
- Need more graphics formats for those pictures that can be stored in FOW.
Need ability to see more of the first names of people in pedigree chart.
No indented ancestor/descendant reporting (book).
No distinction of notes (those to print & private - not to print); in some reports you do not have the option between notes & sources -either both or none.For More Information: Visit Parsons Technology Web Site
Contact via Email:75300.631@compuserve.com
Mailing Address: Parsons Technology, One Parsons Drive, PO Box 100, Hiawatha, Iowa USA
52233-0100
Phone: (Main Office): 1-319-395-9626 (Orders): 1-800-223-6925
Mailing List: No mailing list.