A large portion of genealogy world has been wondering what is going to happen with Family Tree Maker ever since the recent annoucement that Ancestry had sold the program to the developers (Software MacKiev).
To address this, genealogy blogger Tamura Jones has interviewed Jack Minsky, the president of Software MacKiev posed lots of those questions that everyone has been wanting to know like:
– Why did you buy New Family Tree Maker?
– Did you buy all the rights to all Family Tree Maker versions?
– Family Tree Maker Classic is still popular. Do you have any plans for it?
You can read the full inverview on Tamura’s blog.
Apart from that, Software MacKiev has a FAQ Family Tree Maker page which will address lots of your queries as well.
– When will Family Tree Maker start shipping again?
– I already have the latest version, what will it cost to upgrade?
– Where will Family Tree Maker be sold?
– What about TreeSync?
and many more.
Software MacKiev’s short-term plan is to have Family Tree Maker back on the market by March 1, and to get it into retail stores. However there is no word yet as to if Family Tree Maker will even be available in Australia. We will watch this, and keep you posted.
Ancestry.com betrayed its Family Tree Maker customers by announcing the end of support for and syncing of Family Tree Maker. They should have waited until the deal with Software MacKiev was complete. Some of us FTM users have already researched and chosen other software. I am so disgusted with ancestry, that I will probably not renew my subscription when it expires in June.
I agree. I knew Ancestry didn’t care about their users as they pushed out software upgrades which were not ready for market. Several years ago they released an upgrade which I purchased. I lost a book because they took out their “book” feature. They eventually put it back, but I had already bought a new computer and didn’t have the old software anymore. That did it for me. I’ve been wary ever since.
Greetings!
“However there is no word yet as to if Family Tree Maker will even be available in Australia. ”
Well we most certainly didn’t forget about you. Last Tuesday, March 1st as promised we started shipping updated versions of FTM 2014 and FTM Mac 3. And that includes an Australian Edition. If you go to the Family Tree Maker home pages on our Web site (www.mackiev.com/ftm ) and get on our mailing list, you will be notified by email when a discounted upgrade is ready.
We have started with Ancestry’s FTM 2014 and FTM Mac 3 and, as a company of engineers, we set our focus on stability and performance improvements. So we swatted down some bugs. And we made the application more responsive – you will find some actions that previously took minutes now take seconds. It’s a modest start, but we hope you will be happy with our new updates.
A new chapter in Family Tree Maker’s long and proud history is beginning. We’re going to do our best.
JACK
Jack Minsky
President
Software MacKiev
When do you expect to start shipping Family Tree Maker for Windows 10?
Hi Larry, if you go to th Mackiev website, and sign up to their FTM Mailing List you will be kept informed of what’s happening when with the program: http://www.mackiev.com/ftm/index.html.
I think the whole thing is disgusting. I paid $100 for FTM only six months ago, now it won’t even log into Ancestry. Both companies should have worked out a solution long before it got to this. I will not be paying anyone, and that includes MacKiev, for “new” software that I have already paid a lot of money for, nor will I be renewing my ancestry.com subscription. This is a prime example of big Companies happy to put software on the shelves at inflated prices knowing full well that they had short-term plans to sell-off and/or discontinue support. I purchased the software in good faith expecting to actually get what was printed on the box, and six months later what I purchased is now a worthless icon on my desktop. MacKiev & Ancestry should be fully investigated by Fair Trading here in Australia for collaboration & selling software under false pretences, and anyone who purchased FTM in the last twelve months should be fully refunded!!
Replied privately.
What is the latest information with the syncing link between Ancestry and Family Tree Maker?
Is it going to continue after Dec 2016. Ancestry have announced they will only honour this until Dec 2016.
I am not best pleased as have just purchased an update to MacKiev FTM. 2014.1. I already have unused FTM 2014.CD etc. I heard were problems with updating, when last looked was still happening soon. I decided to take advantage of the special price upgrade.
My Ancestry subscription is due for renewal in October and I am not sure I want to fork out nigh on $500 AU if can’t sync between my Ancestry Trees and FTM.
Also at the moment I can contact FTM from Australia on the1800…. Ancestry number. Can or will we be able to contact MacKiev by phone on a similar number low cost number? As the time difference here makes a long wait for email/online replies to questions and I also prefer personal contact. Thanks, looking forward to your response.
Thanks for your inquiry. We’ll know more at the Australian Expo in October, as MacKiev are coming from the US to exhibit.
I am interested in what is going to happen with my FTM program after 2016
Hi Martha, the best way to know what’s happening with FTM is to sign up to MacKiev’s email newsletter, as they’ll keep you informed: http://www.mackiev.com/familytreemaker/ftm3/ftm_signup.html?ext=yes