Genealogy Software Gets to the Root of Your Family Tree

Broderbund's Family Tree Maker has dominated the genealogy market for ten years--download a family tree report from the Internet and you're almost guaranteed to find a Family Tree Maker file. But a new upgrade to Generations--a snazzy, intuitive package from Sierra--challenges the veteran head on.

Family Tree Maker's latest version, 7.0, and the Generations Grande Suite 6.0--both $80--offer many comparable features, including impressive collections of family trees and birth, marriage, and death records, as well as searchable access to additional information through companion Web sites. Though Generations excels with a more colorful and easily navigable interface, better charting flexibility, and artful management features for family photos, it's unlikely to tear professional genealogists away from Family Tree Maker--a rock-solid program that covers almost every conceivable circumstance of family history.

Function Over Form

Family Tree Maker's robust features ease the pain of its lackluster interface. The database manager ships with 20 CDs packed with genealogy data, including an index of Broderbund's 200-CD Family Archive collection; five volumes of the World Family Tree (a Broderbund-sponsored compilation of thousands of genealogical records); Social Security death indexes; regional family history narratives; and birth, marriage, and military records.

A wealth of supporting information, available free on the FamilyTreeMaker.com site, complements this impressive collection, and users get four months of free access to Broderbund's comprehensive genealogy research site, GenealogyLibrary.com--a $40 value. Every day, Broderbund adds three genealogy compilations to the site, containing everything from the minutes of various historical societies to self-published family histories.

Family Tree Maker lets you enter new names into the database easily and calculate obscure relationships. The program facilitates data sharing, too--while testing the program, I tracked down a second cousin twice removed, and we swapped files.

That said, Family Tree Maker exhibits some usability flaws that appear even more glaring next to Generations' easy-to-manipulate interface. Family Tree Maker suffers from prosaic family tree charts, and the program doesn't make it easy to manage images. You can scan relevant images--such as certificates or historical photos--into the program, but it doesn't tell you where it has stored them. I was unable to access images from outside Family Tree Maker, and encountered problems editing them within the program. Fixing the inevitable duplications and disconnected relations that resulted from merging family trees also proved difficult--the program crashed several times while I wrestled with this obstacle.

Family Tree Maker's Web sites can be a little confusing as well: Searches often display multiple hits for the same source, and most hits link to the Family Archive CD sales site without providing specific information. Theoretically, you could end up spending $60 on a CD to view one record that may have no connection to your family--you'll have to trust the search engine.