Essential Upgrades to Family Tree Maker 2008

The following message was sent to Family Tree Maker 2008 customers on September 7.

Dear Family Tree Maker Customer:

Thank you for your recent purchase of Family Tree Maker 2008. We are continually working to improve the product and wanted to let you know about some upcoming enhancements.

Free Patches

Service Pack 1: We just released a program update that resolves some performance issues that have been brought to our attention. If you have registered your Family Tree Maker software, the next time you open the program you will automatically receive a message prompting you to install the program update (you must be connected to the Internet to receive the automatic notification). The installation process is quick and secure. We urge you to take advantage of this program update, which will improve your experience using the software.

Service Pack 2: In mid-October we will enhance the program’s Publish capabilities. In particular, this release reintroduces several popular reports from previous versions of Family Tree Maker. Again, if you have registered your software, you will be automatically notified when the patch becomes available.

You can also access up-to-date information about program enhancements by visiting the Program Updates page on the Family Tree Maker website.

http://www.familytreemaker.com/Support/Patch_SP1.aspx

Book Publishing

Many of you have asked about our plans for expanding the program’s book publishing capabilities. Some Family Tree Maker customers have already explored Ancestry Press, our new online self-publishing application, and are excited by the possibilities it offers for creating customized family history books. Other customers have contacted us to say they would feel more comfortable using a desktop book building tool. Our goal is to offer an integrated solution that combines the advantages of both an online application and a desktop application.

· Ancestry Press: In the coming months we will be adding many new features and templates to the Ancestry Press book building tool. We are also working to improve the integration between Family Tree Maker and Ancestry Press. Next month you will receive a coupon for 50% off your first professionally printed Ancestry Press book.

· Desktop Tool: We are developing a desktop book building tool that we will make available free of charge to all Family Tree Maker 2008 customers next summer. This tool will allow you to print your book from home or, if you prefer, create a PDF that you can have professionally printed and bound through the Ancestry Press book printing service or another vendor of your choice.

Customer Feedback

Family Tree Maker 2008 represents a new strategic direction for the software and provides a robust platform for future development. While we are excited about the program’s many new features and the opportunities to extend its functionality, we recognize that the new approach is a departure from previous versions of the software and that some of our loyal customers have concerns about switching to the new version.

For information about specific features that have changed, please visit the Knowledge Base on the Family Tree Maker website.

http://ftm.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ftm.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_sid=ZzQ1YYKi

If you don’t find an answer to your question, please let us know. You can use the enhancement request form to submit questions and comments as well as suggestions for new features.

http://ftm.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ftm.cfg/php/enduser/ask_feedback.php

While we cannot respond personally to each message, we do consider all suggestions and will post answers to frequently asked questions on the Knowledge Base for the benefit of the whole community.

Thank you for your patience and support as we work to offer an even better family tree building experience to our valued customers. We appreciate the feedback you have already provided and look forward to an ongoing dialogue about how we can improve the product.

Best wishes,

The Family Tree Maker team

A NOTE ABOUT PRIVACY: When you upload your family tree to Ancestry.com, you can control the privacy settings on your tree and on projects you create in Ancestry Press.

o If you choose the Personal Tree setting, other Ancestry members will not be able to view your tree, but the names of deceased individuals in your tree—as well as their birthdates and birthplaces—may appear in the search index. Ancestry members searching for those individuals can contact you anonymously through Ancestry’s Connection Service to request more information.

o If you choose the Public Tree setting, other Ancestry members will be able to view your tree and, if they find common ancestors, merge specific lines into their own family trees. Ancestry members who are doing research on your family lines can contact you anonymously through Ancestry’s Connection Service to request and share information.

o Regardless of your privacy setting, information about people who appear to be living is automatically hidden and will not be displayed in the search index.

o By default, any project you create in Ancestry Press is completely private unless you choose to share it with specific individuals or with the community. Beginning in October, you’ll have the ability to invite your family members to view and contribute to your project—even if they are not Ancestry subscribers.

Welcome to the new Family Tree Maker blog!

We hope this blog will be a vibrant forum for our customers to share information and advice with each other—and with our Family Tree Maker software developers and product managers. Your input is critical in helping us determine the future direction of Family Tree Maker and other Ancestry products.

Since we released Family Tree Maker 2008 last month, many of our loyal customers have asked why the new product is so different from the previous versions they have known and loved for years. Some customers like the new look and feel, while others miss the familiarity of the old interface.

The first version of Family Tree Maker was released in 1989. Since that time we have continually improved the product by adding new features to the original code base. The technology environment has changed significantly in the past 18 years, and after more than a dozen versions, we reached a point where the old code base simply could not support the new features and technologies that we wanted to integrate into the program.

In order to take advantage of new technologies, we made the decision to rewrite the program from the ground up. The new code base has allowed us to add many new features that would not have been possible in older versions of the software. It also provides a robust platform for future development.

We’re excited about the opportunities for extending the program’s functionality and hope you’ll help us by offering suggestions for improvement. You can use the enhancement request form to submit questions, comments and success stories as well as suggestions for new features.

http://ftm.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ftm.cfg/php/enduser/ask_feedback.php

Please tell us what you like about the new version and what we might do to provide an even better family tree building experience.

The Family Tree Maker Team