TMG-L Archives

Archiver > TMG > 2003-01 > 1041446166


From: Lee Hoffman <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] GEDCOM export missing county
Date: Wed, 01 Jan 2003 13:36:06 -0500
References: <5.2.0.9.2.20021231203914.03057c50@pop3.norton.antivirus><5.2.0.9.2.20021230133140.014e9e20@mail.richard.cleaveland.name><107.1d472e9f.2b41e678@aol.com>
In-Reply-To: <5.2.0.9.2.20030101092703.01369510@mail.richard.cleaveland.name>


Richard Cleaveland wrote:
>BUT more to the point, in the survey RUG takes each year, seventy percent
>(70%) of the reporting members reported having a secondary genealogy
>program - and most of these responded early last year before TMG5 came
>out. Admittedly, I don't recall if we asked if they *used* a secondary
>program, and the questionnaire is down at the moment being revised for
>this new year. You can see the results of the survey by going to the RUG
>web site http://www.rootsusers.org.

As one who has designed and conducted a number of surveys, and had a few of
those critiqued by professionals, I am often dubious about the results of
surveys. While I do not say that all or any are incorrect, I do question
them and would want to know much more. In this case, you are basing your
statement on a survey of RUG members and I am basing my statement on
perception (admittedly not accurate and very possibly wrong). Neither
statement can be made with any surety about the entire population of
genealogy program users. I suspect the true answer is somewhere between our
two statements. The RUG survey talks about primary and secondary programs,
but this still does not support your statement. You said:
>>I think you'll find that many people have more than one genealogy program.

And I responded:
>Possibly true. But the question is do they use more than the one? For
>example, I have about six (maybe more) from what I can see on my
>bookshelf and this includes TMG. I only use TMG and most of the rest are
>not installed.

By this I was trying to say that many people have more multiple programs on
their computers. The question is how many really use more than one and to
what extent. I contend that while many have a secondary program (or more)
that they do not use them greatly. For example, I have one program that I
use once or twice a year (at most) for a single report. Last year I
removed another program that had not been used for more than a year. Do
they qualify as a secondary programs for the RUG survey? I suspect they
do. But does that really mean much? What I am saying is that "Secondary"
does not mean a lot unless you include the amount of usage compared to the
primary program. Also the answer should include whether and how much of
each program's usage is for other than personal genealogy (to eliminate
those whose secondary programs (some) are not personally used -- like our
helping others).

So while there may be many users with multiple programs on their computers,
I wonder at the amount of use they make of them. Now many may be using two
programs for a period of time (such as TMG v4 and TMG v5). But most of
those will eventually remove one (probably v4) as all their work will be in
v5. But again this usage would probably qualify as having a secondary program.

So as I said above, I suspect the true answer is somewhere between our
statement although I contend that it may be a lot closer to mine than
yours. We'll never know.


Lee Hoffman/KY
TMG Tips: <http://www.tmgtips.com>;
My website: <http://www.tmgtips.com/lhoffman>;
A user of the best genealogy program, The Master Genealogist (TMG)

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