FTM2014 all as a set #2After Ancestry’s bombshell announcement back in December about dropping Family Tree Maker, we weren’t expecting any more big surprises from them …  but I was wrong.

It seems that Ancestry didn’t “discontinue” Family Tree Maker afterall, but rather sold it to another company (the actual software writers of the program) who are going to continue with it. But apart from that Ancestry have come to an agreement with the makers of RootsMagic to allow them to add in the Ancestry sync functionality into their program. So users of Family Tree Maker and Ancestry will now have two options to explore with future versions.

The full press release is below …

Since our Family Tree Maker announcement last December, we have continued to actively explore ways to develop and support Family Tree Maker and ensure you have choices to preserve your work in ways that matter to you.

Today, we are pleased to announce two options for desktop software that will work with Ancestry.

Software MacKiev
Software MacKiev, with whom we have a long-standing relationship, is acquiring the Family Tree Maker software line as publisher for both Mac and Windows versions. Software MacKiev has been the developer of Family Tree Maker for Mac for more than six years and is thrilled at the opportunity to publish future versions of Family Tree Maker for Mac and Windows.

This new agreement means you will receive software updates and new versions from Software MacKiev, and have the ability to purchase new versions of Family Tree Maker from Software MacKiev as they are released. You will have continued access to Ancestry Hints, Ancestry searches, and be able to save your tree on Ancestry with Family Tree Maker moving forward.

RootsMagic
We have made an agreement with RootsMagic, a leading genealogy desktop software program publisher, to connect Ancestry with the RootsMagic software by the end of 2016. With this new relationship, RootsMagic can serve as your desktop family tree software, while having access to Ancestry hints, Ancestry searches, and the ability to save your tree on Ancestry.

These new agreements will make it possible to preserve your work on Ancestry and Family Tree Maker, and enable future features and benefits to help you discover your family history. Be assured that Ancestry, in cooperation with Software MacKiev and RootsMagic, will continue to support you as you discover your family history.

We ask for your patience as we work diligently through all the details to make these solutions available.

Roots Magic explained what the news means to their users in their blog post.

For more information on Software MacKiev, visit their website:
Software MacKiev: http://www.mackiev.com/

And for more Family Tree Maker products click here, and RootsMagic products click here.