Month: January 2011

Do RootsMagic, Personal Historian, Family Atlas, or your other products run on a Mac?

Yes – but with help.  In fact, we have many happy Mac users of our software.  However, all of our software is currently designed to run on Windows operating systems.  That’s where “the help” comes in.

What do you mean by “Help”?

All Macs built since 2006 use the same microprocessors as Windows PCs.  This means that you can install the Windows operating system on your Mac and run any Windows software.  There area also other non-Windows options available.

How do I install Windows on my Mac?

There are three products available that allow you to install Windows on your Mac: Apple Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop, and VMWare Fusion.

All three install the full Windows operating system and allow you to run any Windows application on your Mac.  You get the best of both worlds!  All three also require that you have a fully-licensed copy of Windows to install.

What if I don’t want to install Windows on my Mac?

No problem.  There are two products available which allow some Windows software (including all of ours) to run on a Mac without actually having Windows: Wine, and CrossOver Mac.

Will you ever have actual Mac versions of your software?

It is certainly our intention.  We have many Mac users who would love this and we love to make our users happy.  We’re just waiting for the necessary tools and technology to become available (which will hopefully be in the near-future).

Links

Apple Boot Camp – www.apple.com – Free

• Tech Support by Manufacturer

Parallels Desktop – www.parallels.com – $79.95

• Run Mac & Windows at Same Time
• Tech Support by Manufacturer

VMWare Fusion – www.vmware.com – $79.95

• Run Mac & Windows at Same Time
• Tech Support by Manufacturer

Wine – www.winehq.org – Free

• Run Mac & Windows at Same Time
• No Windows CD Required

CrossOver Mac – www.codeweavers.com – $39.95

• Run Mac & Windows at Same Time
• No Windows CD Required
• Tech Support by Manufacturer

RootsMagic products will also run on the Linux operating system under Wine.

Note: All of our software has been tested and confirmed to work on all of these products. However, we can only offer technical assistance with our own software and not with other products or operating systems.

To say that we’re thrilled with the response to our free online classes would be an understatement.   But that doesn’t mean that we’re giving up all in-person interactions (we still have to leave our wintry ice-caves sometimes).  Our first outing of 2011 will be to sunny Arizona!

Thursday Afternoon – Sun City West, Arizona

Our first stop is at the Palm Ridge Rec Center in Sun City West.  The Sun City West Genealogical Club is hosting Bruce Buzbee, author of RootsMagic, for an entertaining demonstration of RootsMagic.

• Time: Thursday, January 20, 2011, 3:30-5:30 pm
• Place: Palo Verde Room of the Palm Ridge Rec Center, 13800 Deer Valley Drive, Sun City West, AZ

Thursday Evening – Phoenix, Arizona

Our next stop is at the Phoenix Family History Center.  Bruce Buzbee will demonstrate RootsMagic 4 and how it interfaces with new FamilySearch.  The demonstration is free to the public.

• Time: Thursday, January 20, 2011, 7-9 pm
• Place: Phoenix Family History Center, 3102 N 18th Ave, Phoenix, AZ

Friday and Saturday – Mesa, Arizona

The grand jewel of our trip will be the Arizona Family History Expo on January 21-22, 2011 at the Mesa Convention Center, 263 N. Center Street, Mesa, Arizona.  Visit our booth, attend our free classes, and take advantage of our conference specials!

Free Exhibit Hall!

Visit us at the RootsMagic booth in the Expo’s exhibit hall and experts will be on hand to an swer questions about the RootsMagic software.  Don’t miss special conference discounts on various RootsMagic products.  The Exhibit Hall also features family history vendors from across the world.  The Exhibit Hall is free to the public and is open:

• Friday, January 21: 9 am – 6 pm
• Saturday, January 22: 9 am – 4:00 pm

Free RootsMagic Classes!

Come learn more about RootsMagic and Personal Historian in four free classes. That’s right, these classes are FREE to anyone (but you do have to come pick up a ticket from our booth to attend).

• Personal Historian: Bringing Life to Your Life Stories – Friday 10:00 am, Palo Verde Room 3
• FamilySearch Made Easy with RootsMagic – Friday 11:30 am, Palo Verde Room 3
• RootsMagic: Sharing and Publishing Your Family Tree – Friday 3:00 pm, Superstition South Room
• RootsMagic: Pruning, Cleaning and Extending Your Family Tree – Saturday 8:00 am, Superstition South Room

We are also teaching two other classes which are part of the paid registration:

• Genealogy on the Go! – Saturday 11:00 am, Palo Verde Room 3
• Where in the World?  GPS and the Genealogist – Saturday 1:o0 pm, Palo Verde Room 3

Free Exhibit Hall Mini-Classes!

We’re continuing our tradition of teaching free RootsMagic mini-classes in the exhibit hall. These mini-classes will be about 15 minutes long and will be held at our booth during the break between the regular classes.

• Data Clean-Up in RootsMagic 4 – Friday 12:35 pm, RootsMagic Exhibitor Booth
• Entering Sources into RootsMagic 4 – Friday 1:05 pm, RootsMagic Exhibitor Booth
• Writing Life Stories with Personal Historian – Friday 2:35 pm, RootsMagic Exhibitor Booth
• Mapping Your Ancestors with Family Atlas – Friday 4:05 pm, RootsMagic Exhibitor Booth
• Running RootsMagic from a Flash Drive – Friday 5:35 pm, RootsMagic Exhibitor Booth
• Mapping Your Ancestors with Family Atlas – Saturday 9:05 am, RootsMagic Exhibitor Booth
• Publishing a Book with RootsMagic 4 – Saturday 10:35 am, RootsMagic Exhibitor Booth
• RootsMagic and FamilySearch – Saturday 12:05 pm, RootsMagic Exhibitor Booth
• Using RootsMagic’s Research Tools – Saturday 12:35 pm, RootsMagic Exhibitor Booth
• Creating a Shareable CD with RootsMagic 4 – Saturday 2:05 pm, RootsMagic Exhibitor Booth
• Writing Life Stories with Personal Historian – Saturday 3:35 pm, RootsMagic Exhibitor Booth

Other Classes!

Over 100 classes will be presented by industry leaders and experts from the local and national genealogical community. Products and services from genealogy companies will also be showcased in an exhibit hall where you can meet with specialists for free personal consultations on research questions or problems.

If you wish to attend the other classes, registration is just $65.00 for both days ($75 at the door) or $40.00 for a single day. Individuals who want to attend only one or two classes and visit the Exhibit Hall can register for single classes at $12.00 each.

Expo details and the class schedule are available online at: www.FHExpos.com.

Throughout the year we travel to various cities teaching RootsMagic classes.  We are always asked when we will be visiting different areas of the country (or world).  The simple answer is that we just haven’t gotten the cloning process down well enough to do that yet.

So we’re doing the next best thing.  We are now offering free online classes.  You will be able to sit at your computer and watch as we present classes on everything from getting started with RootsMagic to advanced features like creating custom reports, and everything in between.  We’ll also be able to answer questions from attendees.  And classes won’t be limited to just RootsMagic.  We will be offering classes on our other products as well: Personal Historian, Family Atlas, and Family Reunion Organizer.

Each class will be limited to the first 1000 people to sign up, but if you miss out or can’t make it, don’t worry because we will record the class for you to download and watch later.

To sign up for the free classes, or to view past recorded classes, visit us at:

http://www.rootsmagic.com/webinars

Here are the first 5 classes we will be offering:

• Getting Started with RootsMagic
  Saturday, January 8, 2011
  90 minutes
• Publishing a Family History with RootsMagic
  Tuesday, January 11, 2011
  90 minutes
• FamilySearch Made Easy with RootsMagic
  Tuesday, January 18, 2011
  6pm MST See In Your Time Zone
  2 hours
• RootsMagic To-Go: Running RootsMagic on a Flash Drive
  Monday, January 24, 2011
  2pm MST See In Your Time Zone
  90 minutes
• Sources, Citations, and Documentation with RootsMagic
  Friday, February 4, 2011
  10am MST See In Your Time Zone
  90 minutes

What Do you Want Us to Teach?

We have put together the first month of classes, but we want to know what you want us to teach, and what days and times work the best.  We’ve set up a short survey so you can let us know your needs: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RMWebinar

Welcome to 2011!  With 2010 in the rear-view mirror, let’s look ahead to 2011 and some of our goals and resolutions for the coming year.

More Growth

We’re determined to build upon the tremendous growth we’ve experienced over the past few years. In 2011, we’ll provide more free updates, product upgrades, and even a few new surprises. It’s too early to spill the beans on all that we have cooking in our kitchen but watch this blog or our e-mail newsletter for announcements.

More Contact

We’ve always tried to be accessible and in touch with our users as much as possible. We offer free phone support with live people, e-mail support, and a message board.

We travel to conferences and events to meet with people face-to-face. We teach classes and coordinate user groups to help our users better use the software.

But with the tremendous growth that we’ve experienced in the past few years, maintaining this level of support and contact has been- at times- challenging. One of our goals for 2011 is to make our lines of contact with our users even better- especially with those that, due to their location or circumstances, aren’t able to meet with us at a conference, class, or user group.

In a perfect world, we would personally sit down with every RootsMagic user in their homes. Since we just haven’t gotten the cloning process down well enough to do that yet, we’re doing the next best thing. We are going to start offering free online RootsMagic classes, also known as “webinars”. You will be able to sit at your computer and watch as we present classes on everything from getting started with RootsMagic to advanced features like creating custom reports, and everything in between. We’ll also be able to answer questions from attendees.

Each class will be limited to the first 1000 people to sign up, but if you miss out or can’t make it, don’t worry because we will record the class for you to download and watch later. So keep an eye out for the January newsletter where we will provide all the details on how to sign up for these free classes.  We’d also like to know more about what you would like to learn and when are the best times to hold the webinars. We’ve set up a short survey so that you can let us know your needs.

• Please click here to take the survey

Thank You!

Of course, these resolutions are not a comprehensive list of our plans and goals for 2011. There are many other projects which are in development in our secret underground laboratories which we’ll talk about when the time is right. In the meantime, thank you again for your support. We try very hard to listen to your problems, questions, and suggestions. If there is something that you’d like to see us do, please contact us and let us know.

Happy New Year and may you have a prosperous 2011 (both genealogically and otherwise)!