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.
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)!
I love Roots Magic and especially its connection with the New Family Search. The more people I find…the more there are to match and share data. I’ve definitely been bitten by the genealogy bug. And it’s almost scary!! But FUN!! I highly recommend this program to anyone!! Better and easier to use than any other programs I’ve tried, including FTM and PAF. Keep up the good work. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Thrilled about the webinars. Also interested that your survey touches on social media. It would be great if RM had some way having a collaborative website or something where we could work with cousins, etc. I’ve often wanted to do that, but have found no website that has the ease of use and functionality of RM and appropriate privacy controls.
This webinar idea is wonderful!
I am one of those users who is older and lving much farther from any large metropolitan area (by choice) than would allow a personal visit. I will be taking as much advantage of this as possible!
Thank You!
I have to echo Van Hoyt’s comment that he’s older and lives far from places that would allow personal visits. I am 68 years old and live on the main Hawaiian island of Oahu. Roots Magic, along with New Family Search, is perfect for research.
I’m excited about the upcoming features/changes. Looking forward to learning more!
Really pleased to see that you are planning to offer webinars and that you are using the survey. For 2011 please place more emphasis on developing the program. The updates have become pretty few and far between. I think everyone is hoping we will see V 4.1 soon. 🙂
PLEASE tell me one of the surprises is a Mac version…PLEASE!
I will totally bake you cookies if you do.
I just turned 75 & decided to get serious about my family tree.
I searched the web for best software and RootsMagic was prominent.
But when I tried to navigate your website offerings I couldn’t find anything like “HOW TO GET STARTED”.
Is there a “Roots Magic 101???
I hope 2011 will finally bring the multilingual version of RM. As much as I’d like to, It is pointless to endorse or promote an English only program in my corner of the world. It would certainly be appropriate for the world’s best genealogy software to be made available to the whole world!
RM is first genealogy program I’ve found that beats Generations from a decade ago–although still looking for some charting mods! Your webinars are very attractive but not in the middle of the night here in Scotland thanks, and we’ve no local user groups. BTW, I’m a professional IT trainer and would love to add RM to my portfolio: any possibility we could help each other?
I am very excited about the webinars. I will get to learn about some features that I never figured out how to use in the past. The only fun feature that I figured out in the past was how to input pictures. I loved putting in pictures because everytime I clicked on an ancestor, their picture was right next to their name. I felt more connected. Now I will be able to figure out how to work the rest of this wonderful program.
Also glad to see the webinars added. I’ve got several cousins using RM now and they need classes!! Posted a link to my fb page to spread the word! @Penny, I use fb largely for just what you mentioned. I have groups for the surnames that I have active DNA projects going on and created ‘friend lists’ for genealogy. I use fb to quickly and easily share new info/finds/docs with all my cousins at one time! Sure is a BIG time saver! We even used the event feature for our last reunion–dig around in fb, there are a LOT of things available most folks don’t realise are there and haven’t fully explored. RM has a fb page, although I’m not sure if Bruce is the owner/creator.
Also, TURN OFF THE PROXY BLOCKER–I HAVE A RIGHT TO ANONYMOUS SURFING!! 🙁
Lisa
I’m waiting with anticipation to hear of all the tech updates to the program. I just switched to RM last summer and made sure to leave shareable CDs with family when I visited them at Thanksgiving. They loved the CDs; thanks for making it easy to share my research. One tech upgrade that I would like to see is something like the CD or RMToGo for iPad since I just got an iPad for Christmas.
I just installed Roots Magic 4.0. After a few minutes, I was able to import a backup file from Parsons Technology’s Family Origins. It worked flawlessly. I look forward to updating my family tree data with Roots Magic.
I have taken 2 of your lesson and i wanted to thank you and your company for the help, i have had the program for a long the i started with Roots Magic 3 and i like it from the start but now with the lesson it is much nicer thank again DonnaR
I have been with Bruce since family Origins 1 and was devastated when it lost support and RootsMagic came out in its place. However, after Bruce created an upgrade addressing my major complaints about the differences, I have grown to love RootsMagic as well. Stuck in version 3, I look forward to the day when I can take advantage of all the RM4 new features I hear about.
RootsMagic is one of the best programs I’ve seen for the great help they provide to those of us who are pretty much home-bound. I turned 87 the first of February and still enjoy learning new things. Since I’m not able to be up and about as much as I’d like, I feel fortunate to have this opportunity to invest some of my “leisure” time and effort into areas of particular concern and interest to me in my own home. Thank you, RootsMagic.