2016-02-09 New Family Tree Maker Future

Interview with Software MacKiev president Jack Minsky

Family Tree Maker

Late last year, Ancestry.com announced they were discontinuing Family Tree Maker. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. The original Ancestry.com blog post and their follow-up blog post a day later received an unprecedented number of comments.
A week ago, Ancestry and Software MacKiev announced the disdiscontinuation of New Family Tree Maker; Software MacKiev has bought New Family Tree Maker from Ancestry.com and will continue to develop and support it.

Ancestry.com's New Family Tree Maker blog post and Software MacKiev's Family Tree Maker page answered the most immediate questions, and within days, Software MacKiev added a FAQ that answers a few more.
I reached out Software MacKiev president Jack Minsky to discuss the long-term New Family Tree Maker future. We conducted the interview through email and Skype.

interview

TJ: Why did you buy New Family Tree Maker?

Family Tree Maker, for as long as its been around, is actually in a tie for the youngest of our brands.

JM: Great question. Four main reasons: A fabulous fit with our other brands. A fantastically great relationship with the folks at Ancestry. Six years of experience with developing the product (and a bit of experience selling FTM for Mac as well). And most important to us, a large and passionately loyal user base.

Year	Brand	Category Rank
1984	The Print Shop	№ 1 Print Productivity
1987	Mavis Beacon	№. 1 Typing Tutor
1989	Kid Pix	№. 1 Kids Creativity
1989	Family Tree Maker	№. 1 Family History Software
1989	HyperStudio	№. 1 Multimedia Authoring

FTM is a match made in heaven on the product side. It shares three things in common with our other leading brands: They are all wholesome family titles. They are all № 1 in their categories. And they are all eons old, having stood the test of time. Family Tree Maker, for as long as its been around, is actually in a tie for the youngest of our brands.

We don’t disagree with Ancestry’s assessment that the overall PC market in general is declining — because it is. But in pockets that matter to us, that’s not the case. The Mac community, one of our core markets, continues to grow. And in another core market, K-12 schools, desktop computers still dominate the installed base and will continue to do so for at least another half a decade — because schools keep their equipment a very, very long time.

TJ: New Family Tree Maker does not have a good reputation. It is slow, buggy, and crash prone. Users even complain of TreeSync completely messing up and destroying their databases. Yet you bought it.

We are developers. We can rewrite the code. We can fix the bugs. What we can’t do is create the kind of loyalty and passion that FTM users have had for more than two decades for this venerable old brand.

JM: Well, this might surprise you, but code quality is dead last on the list of things we think about in deciding whether to take on a new brand. We are make-over specialists. All our brands were in disrepair to some degree when we acquired them.
We are developers. We can rewrite the code. We can fix the bugs. What we can’t do is create the kind of loyalty and passion that FTM users have had for more than two decades for this venerable old brand.

And if we had any doubts about that before, we don’t now. Since Ancestry announced that we’d be rescuing FTM, we’ve received more than fifteen hundred notes of praise from FTM users that just made us smile from ear to ear. They range from Yay for MacKiev! to Don’t screw it up! and everything in between.
Code is replaceable. Bugs can be fixed. But passion for a brand — that’s priceless.

TJ: You are hoping to significantly improve the product?

JM: Sure. We’re already on it. Trying to get an understanding of what FTM users want. And we haven’t exactly had to drag it out of them. For three days at RootsTech our FTM product manager, our CTO and our VP of Publishing wrote furiously in notebooks, capturing everyone’s wish lists. And while that was going on, we got more than three hundred and fifty suggestions electronically -- some of them several pages long -- with very detailed roadmaps.

TJ: New Family Tree Maker is quite expensive compared to competing products, yet you are not changing the price. Why not?

You get what you pay for … We like to hear that our products are "expensive but worth it".

JM: You get what you pay for. We are a developer and publisher of premium-quality software, and our main titles are all in the US$ 40 - 80 range. The Print Shop is US$ 79,95, for example. We like to hear that our products are expensive but worth it. That’s when we know that people get what we do. Anyway, I’m not sure what competing products charge for their upgrades, but people seem to think our US$ 29.95 upgrade price (more than 65% off list price) is a pretty good deal for current users.
The relatively high price point is also helpful in supporting the kind of investment that the FTM community is looking to us to make.

TJ: You were already making Family Tree Maker for Mac. You will be expanding your Family Tree Maker development team now?

Yes, we’ll be greatly expanding the FTM team, more than doubling the largest team we’ve had while working for Ancestry.

JM: Yes, we’ll be greatly expanding the FTM team, more than doubling the largest team we’ve had while working for Ancestry.

TJ: Will some of the Ancestry.com Family Tree Maker developers be joining you?

JM: We’re not expecting any Ancestry developers to be joining our company. There really isn’t a need for that.

TJ: Currently, Family Tree Maker for Mac is not a true, native OS X product. Do you plan to make it a truly native product?

FTM Mac is nearly pure Cocoa - it just doesn’t look like it because of the custom interface that matches the Windows one.

JM: Actually, it is. FTM Mac is nearly pure Cocoa - it just doesn’t look like it because of the custom interface that matches the Windows one. FTM Mac even uses a lot less third party components then FTM Windows, about half.
As a contractor you get used to the fact that the user interface isn’t always your call. But now that it is, you’ll see Mac native elements appearing sooner rather than later, to some degree even in our March 1st updates.

TJ: New Family Tree Maker for Mac releases always trailed the New Family Tree Maker for Windows releases by at least several months. Will you work towards simultaneous releases for Windows and Mac OS?

JM: For sure. It might not happen right away, but yeah, we’re going to fix that.

TJ: Single code base?

JM: Exactly. As soon as we can swing it, we’ll move to a common core, but with native user interface layers so we’ll get the best user experience on each platform.

TJ: Ancestry.com had a distribution deal with Nova Development. It does not seem you are not continuing that?

JM: We are interested in working with Avanquest [Nova's parent company] and have reached out to them already. Potentially not only for FTM but for some of our other products as well.

TJ: You plan to sell via your own site, the Apple app store and online retailers. Ancestry.com used to sell Family Tree Maker in brick & mortar stores. You have no plans to do so?

JM: We are interested in having FTM boxes in retail stores. We're talking to Avanquest about it. And by the time we release the updates on March 1st, I think we may be able to say more about that.

TJ: Did you buy all the rights to all Family Tree Maker versions?

JM: Yes, we have all versions of FTM, including the older legacy ones.

TJ: Including the original Brøderbund Family Tree Maker for Mac, from 1997?

JM: Yes, all versions.

TJ: Family Tree Maker Classic is still popular. Do you have any plans for it?

...we are not likely to bring version 16 back...

JM: The code itself from a decade ago is not really usable, but among the FTM Classic products is the famous version 16 that we heard a lot about from users. Fans of version 16 love its simplicity. They like to say it comes from a time before FTM had all those bells and whistles. And while we are not likely to bring version 16 back, we might well have a look at creating a kind of simplified view as an option for all users in the next generation of FTM products.

TJ: Family Tree Maker includes third-party components, including components that are no longer being sold. Isn't that a problem?

JM: Not sure what components you have in mind, but we’ve reviewed the ones currently in FTM carefully with Ancestry and there are maybe 2 or 3 out of dozens that potentially need some attention. As I understand it, we’ll either be making workarounds or using other technology to replace them. So it doesn’t look like a problem.

TJ: New Family Tree Maker 2014 relies on GenBridge for direct import from third party products. It is a problematic product, and no longer being maintained or supported. What are you going to do moving forward?

JM: Not sure. We agree that a better solution is needed for importing trees from other desktop products, but we don’t have an answer for you yet on what that solution will be.

TJ: Ancestry.com will continue to support TreeSync this year, but they plan to replace TreeSync with a new API, let's call it TreeSync II for now?

JM: Well, yes. TreeSync goes unsupported at the end of 2016, and a different technology will replace it.

TJ: Why?

JM: Why make a new TreeSync? Well, that’s a good question to ask Ancestry. I really don’t know. I’ve just assumed it was to make a better one.

Really, it’s too early in the process to say exactly what the final result will be like, but our goal, and we believe it’s realistic, is for the new technology to do everything that TreeSync does now to keep users online and desktop trees consistent, but with the stability and reliability that FTM users are looking for.
And we promise it won’t eat anyone’s tree for lunch.

TJ: Ancestry.com tried to treat New Family Tree Maker as a subscription; aiming to release a new major version every year, so users pay an upgrade fee every year. Will you aim for a subscription-like model of yearly releases as well?

We’ll be working between now and then to deliver three things - stability, performance and as many user-requested features as we can fit in.

JM: So our short term plan is just to get FTM back on the market again, without a lot of changes and still called FTM 2014 and FTM Mac 3. After that the next big milestone will be replacing TreeSync near the end of the year assuming the new API is ready.
We’ll be working between now and then to deliver three things - stability, performance and as many user-requested features as we can fit in. After that its not clear what kind of model we’ll use.

We use the traditional model now for all our other products so that's the default. But we’ve been actively looking at also offering a second option for a subscription model. For some users that like to have the latest innovations, that might make sense — to pay an annual or monthly subscription and get a new release every couple of months with compatibility updates and some new features. Worth US$ 2-3 per month? Not sure.
So we’ll see.

TJ: Other genealogy software vendors offer a lite or trial edition of their software, letting users try before they buy. Ancestry.com expected you buy New Family Tree Maker sight unseen.
Well, Ancestry.com actually did release a lite edition, called Family Tree World Express in 2013, but Family Tree World Express is only available in German and Swedish, and Ancestry.com did not exactly go out of their way to call attention to it.
Will you provide a lite or trial edition?

Well, a light version or free version has as its goal to bring in new users, right? Well, that’s not our main goal right now.

JM: Well, a light version or free version has as its goal to bring in new users, right? Well, that’s not our main goal right now. Our main focus is on getting a greatly improved product for existing users. Once we’ve got that right, then we can look at bringing in new users. And for that, yes, we like the idea of free trials (we have some in other products of ours), so we can explore that for FTM.

TJ: A lite edition would be very popular. A trial edition would at least fill the try-before-you-buy need.

JM: Personally, I like the idea of a 14-day FTM trial that exactly matches the 14-day Ancestry trial that new users get along with most editions of FTM. So you try those two together and if you like them both, you purchase them both. Anyway, we’re not there yet.

TJ: New Family Tree Maker is available in Amglish. Several major competing products are multi-language, and Ancestry.com already did Family Tree Maker World Express in German and Swedish. Will you be offering additional languages?

JM:We're focussed on the core product for now. But if a marketing partner in Germany wanted to do it, we'd provide them with a localisation kit.

TJ: Ancestry.com always invited Beta testers a few months before a major new releases of New Family Tree Maker. Will you invite Beta testers too? Where can interested users sign up?

And anyone who thinks they’d make a great beta tester should tell us why they think so on our FTM feedback form at www.mackiev.com/ftm

JM: Sure. And actually we already have a bunch of beta test volunteers -- in five countries — in just the week since the announcement. And anyone who thinks they’d make a great beta tester should tell us why they think so on our FTM feedback form at www.mackiev.com/ftm. There's a place to select Beta Tester (want to be one) from the Feedback Type popup list.

TJ: Ancestry.com was not known for listening to its FTM Beta testers, not even when they reported serious issues. Can you reassure users that you will listen to their feedback?

Our thought is to put those on an online voting site, and let users vote for the ones they’d most like to see in the next edition.

JM: We’re trying to do exactly that and I hope it's coming across. So far, we’ve added Feature Requests and Bug Reports to our FTM page. And we’re tabulating the hundreds of requests we’ve received already. Our thought is to put those on an online voting site, and let users vote for the ones they’d most like to see in the next edition.

TJ: New Family Tree Maker has a Plug-in API. This API is not public right now. Ancestry.com did share it, under NDA with Stefan Harms, who used it to create Family Book Creator.
Are you planning to open up the plug-in API to encourage more third-party add-ons?

JM: Yes. Actually Stefan stopped by our booth at RootsTech and showed Family Book Creator to our guys and they liked it. They told him we’d do our best to keep it working with FTM.

In concept plugins are great. You can have a whole community of smart developers making plugins that make your own software much richer and more capable. But there are potential downsides to plug-ins too — issues with stability and security, and limits to future flexibility. So its not a no-brainer to say, yeah lets do a lot more plugins.

TJ: Will the Plug-in API change now that you have it, and may significantly refactor the FTM code? Will you make it public anytime soon?

And right now we already have a ton of deep level work to do, so we really need to focus and set priorities.

JM: A public API/SDK for plug-ins is a huge piece of work if its going to be done right — to be developed, thoroughly tested on reference plugins, documented and well-supported. And right now we already have a ton of deep level work to do, so we really need to focus and set priorities. And that means while we'll do our best to help Stefan, discussion of a public API is going to have to wait a bit.

TJ: Final question about the immediate future: is the release date for Software MacKiev Family Tree Maker set in stone?

JM: We are set to release on March 1.

2016-02-09 New Family Tree Maker Future

Interview with Software MacKiev president Jack Minsky

Family Tree Maker

interview

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