Modern Software Experience

2011-05-11

geneasyncing

AncestorSync Logo

AncestorSync

AncestorSync is a new commercial service of Real-Time Collaboration.
Real-Time Collaboration is known for its web service SharingTime and its recent acquisition of Ohana Software, makers of FamilyInsight. John Vilburn, the founder of Ohana Software, is vice president of Real-Time Collaboration now.

subscription service

AncestorSync isn't a one-time purchase, but a subscription service, with a yearly fee of US$ 15,00 (about € 10,45). Real-Time Collaboration expects to release AncestorSync in June, and is now taking pre-orders for the introductory subscription price of US$ 10,00 (about € 6,96) for the first year.

AncestorSync Home Page

synchronisation

According to the press released posted on the SharingTime blog, AncestorSync allows you to seamlessly download, upload, or synchronize your family tree from your online pedigree to your personal computer, and back again.. That sounds good. The press releases continues AncestorSync™ is the first service on the market that allows you to easily move all of your family history work from a desktop genealogy program to an online pedigree without anyone or anything getting lost in the process.. Sounds perfect.

Real-Time Collaboration claims that the synchronisation is seamless and lossless. Sounds like just the thing we all need.

GenBridge

I was immediately reminded of GenBridge. GenBridge is a product of Wholly Genes, the makers of The Master Genealogists (TMG). The GenBridge is not an product aimed at end-users, GenBridge is a rather fancy name for TMG import module. Wholly Genes licenses this import module to developers, for incorporation into their applications instead. Like most well-known genealogy application, TMG can import not only its own data and GEDCOM files, but can also data directly from several major competitors. A third party that licenses GenBridge gets the same import code, and thus the same ability to import from the same sources as TMG does.

Wholly Genes like to claim that GenBridge is better than GEDCOM, even that it is much better, but that is ballyhoo. That GenBridge supports just a few current genealogy application formats seriously limits its usefulness already. On top of that, anyone who every tried to use TMG knows that it is a seriously dated application that still doesn't support Unicode, and that its import function is awkward to use, slow and less than reliable. When I reviewed TMG 7, I even found that its direct import is more than four times as slow as their own GEDCOM import.

Not one major vendor of desktop genealogy software trusted their import functionality to Wholly Genes' GenBridge, until Ancestry did so with Family Tree Maker 2008, and that product was not received well…

OhanaBridge

Over the years, Ohana Software has developed code to read several file formats themselves. Let's call their module OhanaBridge.

According to the press release, OhanaBridge already supports Ancestral Quest (AQ), Legacy Family Tree (LFT), Personal Ancestral File (PAF), and RootsMagic (RM). It supports GEDCOM and will soon support The Master Genealogist (TMG) and MacFamilyTree (MFT).

web sync

AncestorSync is a service for synchronising between desktop and web apps. The press release states that the initial release will support New FamilySearch (NFS), Geni.com, and ourFamily•ology.

The press release does not mention any future plans regarding support for more web services, but there is no lack of additional services they could add, and it is not hard to guess which services might be next.
AncestorSync accesses the aforementioned web services through their genealogy APIs; the NFS API, the Geni API and the ourFamily•ology API. The ourFamily•ology service isn't widely known and the existence of their API even less so. Like the NFS API, the ourFamily•ology API is private.

Other online genealogy sites with genealogy APIs include OneGreatFamily and AppleTree, so these are likely to be supported next.
Support for Ancestry.com is not impossible either; that Ancestry.com hasn't published a genealogy API does not mean there is none. On the contrary, both Family Tree Maker and their Ancestry app for iOS prove that there is some interface. There is some interface between Family Tree Builder and the MyHeritage site, and perhaps GDBI, the GEDCOM Database Interface could be used to add support for phpGedView, jLifelines and GenealogyJ.

synchronisation

AncestorSync will synchronise between several desktop applications and web apps, and both the number of supported desktop applications and the number of supported web apps is likely to increase over time.

Real-Time Collaboration says the two-way synchronisation will be seamless and lossless, and explains the advantage of AncestorSync as being able to combine the best of the desktop and the world-wde web. That sounds quite useful. The existing user complaints about one-way synchronisation, about losing images, notes or sources suggest that AncestorSync is something quite a few users will be glad to have.

mixed feelings

I have doubts about just how seamless AncestorSync will turn out to be, and I could help but notice that Real-Time Collaboration does not claim that AncestorSync is fast…
Still, even if the product is less than perfect, I probably want it. Then again, even if the product is perfect, I cannot really like it. I definitely have mixed feelings.

I have mixed feelings about AncestorSync and all products like it. I love products that solve real-world data transfer problems. I love solutions, period. What I do not like is that I need solutions to problems that should not exist.
It is great that some vendor is about to provide a service to facilitate better transfers between a bunch of products. It is not so great that it is limited to products of a small group of vendors, and it is deplorable that we need it.

GEDCOM

We already have a standard for exchange of genealogical data between different systems. GEDCOM supports data transfers in any direction, and between all applications that support it, without any need for a third party. GEDCOM includes support for images, notes and sources. GEDCOM is not perfect. It definitely is outdated because FamilySearch neglected its responsibilities as keeper of the standard, but there also are two current projects to replace it with something new; OpenGen and BetterGEDCOM.

Although a GEDCOM update is long overdue, many of the data transfers problems that users are having today are not caused by GEDCOM limitations, but by sloppy, incomplete and plain erroneous GEDCOM implementations.

vendors

Real-Time Collaboration isn't to blame for the problem, nor is it wrong of them to ask some remuneration for their solution. It is great that they are doing something about it. However, every vendor of a product supported by AncestorSync should wonder just what does that support says about the quality of their own product.

Is any of these vendors going to recommend AncestorSync over its own import or export? If not, then why does the AncestorSync press release carry enthusiastic quotes from them? Is any of these vendors going to admit that you need AncestorSync to get the job done? Surely not, as that would be admitting that their own GEDCOM support isn't good enough?

Exchanging genealogical data between two genealogy applications you use should not require handing any of your data, any of your details or any of your money to any third party.

conclusion

Exchanging genealogical data between two genealogy applications you use should not require handing any of your data, any of your details or any of your money to any third party. If you're already paying the vendors of these products, then you should already be able to transfer your data from one product to the other and back.

The two products should offer robust import and export of their data to and from the current standard. If GEDCOM is insufficient, vendors can extend it and document their extensions. Vendors can also participate in OpenGen and BetterGEDCOM to help define a GEDCOM replacement.
However, the truth is that most vendors should start by taking a hard and honest look at the quality of their GEDCOM export.

updates

2011-05-22 Family Tree Builder

MyHeritage has released Family Tree Builder version 5.1 and its main new feature is direct import from other genealogy databases through GenBridge.

2011-05-25 AncestorSync versus GenBridge

AncestorSync versus GenBridge compares AncestorSync and GenBridge.

2012-05-27 How AncestorSync works

How AncestorSync works explains the AncestorSync technology in some detail. The initial press release undersells AncestorSync by introducing it as a handy upload and download utility. AncestorSync is a true synchronisation technology that includes smart filters and conflict resolution.

2012-05-29 AncestorSync Beta

AncestorSync Beta is an exclusive technology preview of the AncestorSync Beta; how to sign up, what to expect.

2011-06-10 Beta available

The AncestorSync Beta is available. The Beta page now lists Embla Family Treasures and GRAMPS as applications that may be supported in future versions.

links

 

Copyright © Tamura Jones. All Rights reserved.