OneGreatFamily Blog RSS

Come Stop By Our Booth at FGS booth 420

OneGreatFamily — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:24:23 GMT

September 2nd - 5th:

FGS (Federation of Genealogical Societies) Conference (We are in booth 420)
Little Rock Statehouse Convention Center
Little Rock, Arkansas.�
http://www.fgs.org/2009conference/index.php

Look for more information in our next newsletter about a special gift we will be giving our valued customers attending the FGS conference.

We would like you to come visit us and tell us about your experiences using OneGreatFamily -what do you like and what do you find confusing. At our booth we plan on answering questions as well as demonstrating our unique genealogy software. If you have a question or wonder how to do something in OneGreatFamily, Genealogy Browser or our website, please stop by and ask. Or just stop by to say hi! We always enjoy meeting and talking with our members.

Come stop by and see us!

Interested In Testing A New Version Of Genealogy Browser?

OneGreatFamily — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:52:08 GMT

We have been working for sometime on a significant update to Genealogy Browser.� This new version will incorporate many enhancements to the User Interface of Genealogy Browser.� Many of the changes came out of the survey we ran earlier this year soliciting your input.� Now we are nearing the point of beginning testing on these enhancements.

To read more about being a beta tester, and then complete the application, click here.�

Applications will be accepted through July 17, 2009.

Thanks,
The OneGreatFamily Team

Complete our DNA Survey and Register for DNA Test Drawing

OneGreatFamily — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:41:19 GMT

Are you interested in using DNA research and information in your family history?

Would you like to explore how your lineage migrated across the world from the dawn of humankind through pre-historical times?

Is this a service that you would like OneGreatFamily to offer in the future?

Let us know by completing our DNA Survey. Participants will be registered for a drawing for one of two free DNA tests from GeneTree. Please see descriptions below.

We appreciate your feedback and participation. Thanks.

Your choice of:

Enhanced Paternal Lineage Test (Y-DNA 46 marker) Find genetic cousins and learn about ancient paternal ancestry. With thirteen more markers than the Y-33 test, you will receive more precise results and match with closer related genetic cousins.

Or:

Enhanced Maternal Lineage Test (mtDNA HVR-1,2,3 Test) Discover the early human migrations of your maternal line and connect with those sharing your maternal ancestry.

Valued at $179.

New "GenealogyCloud" Brings Cloud Computing to the Family Tree

OneGreatFamily — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:26:11 GMT

We are pleased to announce our launch of "GenealogyCloud" -- a full-featured API providing access to�our web-based genealogy system.

Check out our�Press Page for more details about the release or visit www.GenealogyCloud.com for the API documentation and sample code.

OneGreatFamily Blog Update

OneGreatFamily — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:31:10 GMT

It's been almost a year since we have updated the OneGreatFamily blog and we apologize for not keeping it up to date. However, we have been in the process of making some great improvements to our site and have many updates to come. We will keep you updated on new product features, new site enhancements, new Family Dashboard features, informative articles and much more.

You can follow us on Twitter�@OneGreatFamily ,�join our�Facebook group, install�Relatively Me on Facebook or subscribe to our blog RSS feed.

I am back

OneGreatFamily — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:22:00 GMT

I have been pretty distracted of late because so many things are going on at OneGreatFamily.� We got our Facebook application out, titled Relative Me.� If you use Facebook, you should be using Relatively Me.� We also have been adding to OneGreatFamily.� Many of you haven't noticed the new Your Family Tree tab on Family Dashboard.� That tab lets you see and move around in your family tree right on the web without launching Genealogy Browser.

More good stuff to write about, and I'll�be updating the blog regularly now, so stay tuned.

Report on the Family History Expo 2008 in St. George

OneGreatFamily — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:20:00 GMT

I'm back.� It was a good conference.� Very well attended, with over 1,500 people from what I've heard.� I've been to many genealogy conferences and that one was as well run as any I've been too.� Congratulations to the My Ancestors Found team for running a class event.

The unstated theme of the conference was that New Family Search (NFS)�is real.� Given that I have been talking to the Church about NFS for five years back�when it was called Common Pedigree, it is a little freaky that it is finally really real.� But it is.� It is being rolled out by Temple district.� The Church did not give any indication when that process would be completed, nor when the system would be usable by non-members.� But there were people at the conference who were using the live system and so it now is a matter of time.

I said it was the unstated theme of the conference for two reasons:

First, every software vendor I talked to is working on supporting NFS.� Some see it as simply something they have to offer.� Others view it as a key feature to grow their business.� But everyone was working on supporting it.

Second, most of the room would raise their hand every time a presenter would ask about people's experience with or interest in NFS.� It was clear that the crowd at this conference was excited about the product and anxious to use it.

I am going to write a separate blog entry on New Family Search, and how it compares to OneGreatFamily.� I was encouraged to see clear distinctions between the two.

It was nice seeing old acquiantences, many who I haven't seen in years.

Tom Kemp, who is now director of Genealogy Product for NewsBank was there.
I got caught up with Leland Meitzler, Managing editor of Everton's Genealogical Helper, who has been through quite a wild ride in the last few years.
It is always a pleasure to catch up with Dick Eastman.� He had his eee PC there and I had my Nokia N800.� We shared gadget experiences.
Ken and Dave from Legacy Family Tree seem to be doing well.
Bruce Buzbee and I go way back-it is nice to see Rootsmagic doing well.
I had a nice chat with Craig Scott, who I haven't seen in years, from Heritage Books.� He still has a ton of Automated Archive CDs that he can't move, but his business is doing well.

And two special mentions.I finally shook hands with David Lifferth from World Vital Records.� We did a joint promotion together, but it was over the phone so we hadn't met.�� And after all these years I got to meet Pat Ritchie (aka Myrtle), which was fun.

All in all, it was a good conference.� I learned some things and caught up with old friends, plus I found a great Thai restaurant in St. George (Benja Thai and Sushi).

Going to the Family History Expo in St. George

OneGreatFamily — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:19:00 GMT

I will be heading down to the Family History Expo in St. George this Friday and Saturday.� If you are there, feel free to come up and introduce yourself.�We will not be manning a booth this time, as I want the freedom to connect with a lot of other players in the industry.� But I think next year we will have a booth.

I haven't been to a genealogy conference in over a year, so it will be interesting to see how the industry continues to evolve. Having attended genealogy conferences for over 12 years, I am always fascinated to see the continuing evolution of the industry. Many of the people stay the same-stalwarts like Beau Sharbrough, Leland Meitzler, Megan Smolenyak, Tom Kemp, Kip Sperry and so many others. But the companies change pretty regularly. Twleve years ago Ancestry was just another little company. I was the first employee from Banner Blue Software, publishers of Family Tree Maker, to regularly attend genealogy conferences. Many companies have come and gone, including Corel, Palladium, Commsoft, and tons of others. And many of today's companies, like Geni, World Vital Records, Footnote and FamilyLink.com were far from their first thought of existence.

I'll write up some observations next week.� In the meantime, I hope to see you there.

Joint Promotion with World Vital Records

OneGreatFamily — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:17:00 GMT

Today we are launching a joint promotion with World Vital Records.� We will both email our respective customers a special offer for the other's service.� WVR has come a long way since their launch and we are excited about working with them on this promo.� Who knows, it might open up additional opportunities in the future.

Happy New Year to All

OneGreatFamily — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:14:00 GMT

All of us at OneGreatFamily hope that all of you have your best year yet.� This year is going to be a big one for us, with many new features and services coming on the line.� A few predictions for the year:

OneGreatFamily will more than double our number of subscribers.� Given the new capabilities we will be rolling out I expect to see a big jump in subscriptions.
Several other companies will close up shop.� There are too many family tree sites as it is, with more coming.� Most offer no competitive advantage-they just let you build a family tree on line.� Many of these sites will run out of money this year and shut down. Choose wisely where you invest your time and energy in building a family tree.
No other competitor will actually get automated tree matching to work again this year.� OneGreatFamily has been doing it for 8 years now, and no one else has figured out how to make it work.� Remember, half the battle is identifying the overlap in trees, but the other half of the battle is in maintaining the differences in trees even after they are merged.
The significance of the Internet to daily life will continue to grow, as amazing as that might seem.� We are still at the leading edge of the Internet era, and more powerful and creative uses of this tool will continue to stream forth, making it more and more central to our lives.� As such, Internet-enabled devices are going to become ubiquitous.� More and more people will have internet access with them all the time.
Social networks are going to continue to grow and evolve.� They are not a fad.� The newsfeed in Facebook is just way too useful, especially as someone figures out better filtering.� Imagine if stuff going on in the lives of all your friends could be on your newsfeed.� What a marvelous way to be aware of the things going on in others' lives.
The battle between Facebook, MySpace, Open Social and a host of others is going to really heat up.� I think it takes too much energy to keep up several social networks, so people are going to pick one and stick with it.� That means a fight to get and keep users is coming.� And given the stakes involved, it will be quite a fight.

Well, those are just a few of the things that I believe will come to pass this year.� What thoughts do you have?

Rob Armstrong
Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales

Oh yeah, Vista works now.

OneGreatFamily — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:10:00 GMT

I almost forgot to mention one of the main reasons for this recent release was to get Genealogy Browser to work correctly under Vista.� It now does.

One of the big changes we made to Genealogy Browser for Family Dashboard was the ability for Family Dashboard in a web page to invoke Genealogy Browser, load your family tree and invoke a specific ancestor as the selected individual.� This interaction is what makes Family Dashboard so much fun to play around with.� You see someone in Family Dashboard, click on this button , and boom, you are now looking at that person in Genealogy Browser within your family tree.

Well, when we first implemented the capability it worked great under Windows XP but it didn't work well at all under Windows Vista.� Vista does a lot of things very differently, so we had to pretty much change the way the whole mechanism works to get it to work under Vista.� Although Vista hasn't exactly caught fire as an operating system, its use is rising steadily and we knew we needed to fix this.� It is now fixed in this release.

So all you Vista users, rejoice and enjoy!

Here is the Link to Share your Family Dashboard

OneGreatFamily — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:06:00 GMT

Here is where you can find the link�to share your family dashboard.� Now all your relatives can view, explore and enjoy your family history work, but you don't have to worry about them messing it up.

�

And here is the tab to get to the Advanced My Home page:

Great News - We launched an update

OneGreatFamily — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:04:00 GMT

Actually, we launched it last week, and I've been so busy between work and the holidays that I haven't gotten around to blogging about it till today.� Sorry about that.

It is actually a pretty major release.� I'll write about a couple of big new things, then I'll blog later about some of the other cool things.

The best new feature is the ability for you to share your Family Dashboard with others.� This is so cool because most of us would like to share the genealogy information we have with our family members, but there has never been a very good way to do it.� Well, now there is.� The first thing you need to know is that they can't mess up your data!� Your genealogy information is being shared "read only", which means that your relatives can look, tinker, explore, but they can't change anything.

Equally important, though, is the ease and fun of Family Dashboard.� It makes all your genealogy so accessible, and fun to dig-around in.� Even your most uninterested relatives -�you know, the ones whose eyes glaze over at the slightest mention of genealogy -�will have fun digging in.� So share often.� You might even get some family members more interested in helping when they see all the work you have done.

The other feature I want to spotlight up front is the new "Advanced My Home" tab.� This new tab allows you to choose the number of columns on your Family Dashboard, from 1 to 5.� Further, the columns are now variable size so you can take full advantage of your monitor's full resolution.� We also removed the graphics at the top of the Family Dashboard, so you can see more widgets.� Everyone I've encountered so far has quickly switched from Default My Home to Advanced My Home because it gives you so much flexibility.

There is more in this release, and I'll blog about it later.� In the meantime, enjoy!

Home Page Change is coming...

OneGreatFamily — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:02:00 GMT

We are working on a new home page design.� The current home page was launched way back in�January 2006.� It has been tremendously successful for us.� Still, it is getting a little long in the tooth so it is time to change it up.

So now we are working on a new page design.� This will mostly affect new site visitors, as anyone who has signed up for an account, come to the site and logged in should be going to the Family Dashboard now.� By the way, did you know you can always go from Family Dashboard back to the main site Homepage?� You do it by clicking on the "Classic Home" link in the black toolbar.

The hardest thing is to explain to people who aren't familiar with OneGreatFamily is�what it is that we do.� Most people think we are just a collection of trees.� Explaining automated merging, matching, Family Dashboard, Genealogy Browser and all the other goodies you get at OneGreatFamily can be daunting.� If you have ideas, please feel free to comment.

Thanks, Rob

Trying Something New

OneGreatFamily — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:59:00 GMT

I have made a screen capture video that shows how OneGreatFamily works. While under 5 minutes in length, I think it captures much of the essence of the site, especially for people who don't want to do genealogy. I also intend to make a similar video that addresses how OneGreatFamily benefits the genealogy hobbyist.

This is an experiment for us, as I put the video up on YouTube. The resolution there is quite constrained, so I'm not sure how it will turn out. I may have to post the video elsewhere to get sufficient resolution to make it useful.

Here is a link to the YouTube page:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRLWzLKqA1M

Feedback is appreciated.

(Blog entry originally posted October 16, 2007)