The `Demise’ of TMG by Mike More

1. The `Demise’ of TMGby Mike More Ottawa TMG-UG 20 Sep 2014

2. Official Announcement 29 July 2014 • Decision has been made to discontinue The Master Genealogist ("TMG"). • Official support will end at the end of 2014. • May release some more bug fixes (but no new features) before that. • Continue to sell the full product and updates through September with the understanding that product development has been discontinued. • Maintain the support forum for user-to-user support. Other online support forums, including the TMG-L mailing list, are.

3. Other Details Wholly Genes: • released a document that details TMG's internal file structure. • will make GenBridge available for free to developers who wish to produce a direct import from TMG.

4. What Does This Mean? • TMG will continue to work after 31 Dec • Support will not be available from Wholly Genes • No improvements to TMG 9.xx (last release)

5. Lee Hoffman • Lee Hoffman: I and other experienced TMG users will continue to use TMG for the foreseeable future (and likely well beyond that). Thus, most problems can be dealt with here, on the Wholly Genes Forum, and in other user help areas. • The main reason for our continued use of TMG is that TMG v9 works on the current version of Windows and that can be expected to last for many years yet -- probably even to newer versions of Windows. Also, there is not a replacement for TMG. A few other programs come close, but close is all. •  So, before anyone panics, consider that your data is safe and can still be accessed and maintained in a program that is still the best. • Of course, many of the other programs will be clamoring for our business. With that in mind and recalling Bob's suggestion that we TMG users push the other programs to catch up to TMG. As a group, we have a collective interest in doing this.

6. Terry Reigel • The Future for TMG Users (http://tmg.reigelridge.com/future.htm) • Continuing Use of TMG • Have the Means to Re-Install TMG • Upgrade to the Latest Version • Protect Your Data • I urge TMG users to not make any rash choices.

7. Rick Van Dusen: We need not worry any time soon. TMG v9.0x will keep working until processors no longer will run 32-bit software, and that looks to be a long way off.

8. Concerns • Richard Damon: hope that I can find a decent replacement by the time TMG starts to have problems when Microsoft finally does something that breaks Visual FoxPro. • Dennis Lee Bieber: Guess it's time to upgrade to v9.

9. Upgrade? • Lee Hoffman: Anyone having an earlier version of TMG and wishing to continue using it would be well advised to upgrade to TMG v9x. You get a number of bug fixes and new features including the new Sentence Variables and the change to many other Variables that make them more consistent than they had been. Another new feature is the ability of adding a new Source without leaving the Citation window. Check out the v9 (and v8) change log in the Wholly Genes TMG v9 Forum at http://www.whollygenes.com/forums201/index.php?/forum/120-the-master-genealogist-v9/

10. What happens when tech support is gone? • Make backups, make them frequently, and be prepared to use them if something bad happens to the project. • Google for and also search the List archives and the WG forum for key words in the first error message in the series? Note that only the _first_ message in a series of error messages is important in identifying the problem. Many of the problems with TMG can be fixed by - or avoided by - the user. •  It is also more important for users to know where their files are. They should be very familiar with the Help topic 'Data File Storage' and the top menu 'Help / Access Folders' button and the 'Preferences / Current Project Options / Advanced' settings (read that context Help).

11. Future? • John Cardinal:  1 - I will NOT be producing a genealogy project manager with professional-level features. 2 - I am working on a program that will make web sites from GEDCOM data. It will have many of the features of Second Site, but it will be a separate program.  3 - I am planning to write a GEDCOM export facility for TMG. It will be available within Second Site so that I can leverage all the work I have done in SS to interpret sentences, format sources, etc. I plan to include some extensions (following the GEDCOM rules for extensions, for example, NAME records include "_DATE" fields. It remains to be seen if any program will ever use those extensions. The SS GEDCOM export should help people who migrate their data to other products via GEDCOM.

12. Options • Some have recommended other programs and Dick Eastman is compiling a survey of other genealogical software (http://blog.eogn.com/)

13. Transferring to Another Program • Terry Reigel: (http://tmg.reigelridge.com/future.htm) • No Direct Transfer Tools Currently Available • No Comparable Program Exists • Rick Van Dusen: There is nothing on the market which even comes close to doing the job TMG does. No other product has the flexibility, the power, the robustness to record ALL the strange things our ancestors did.

14. Terry Reigel • The extent to which limitations would impact you depends on exactly how you use TMG, and how many of TMG's features you have used and regard as essential. • If you are considering moving to another program, give it a try first and see if features you think are important are offered. • But even if another program offers the features you find essential, without a direct import capability making use of them would require extensive data re-entry. • Waiting to see what accommodations other developers make, or whether any of the several efforts which have been alluded to produce a successor program to TMG materialize, seems like a wise choice. The more TMG users delay transferring to another program the more incentive developers have to create more attractive alternatives.

15. Ottawa TMGUG • Will continue to meet each month (Sep to May) • Will continue to `webcast’ meetings http://ottawa-tmg-ug.ca/index.htm