Desktop applications are far more powerful than either mobile apps and web apps.
You use a genealogy program for its genealogy features, and desktop genealogy programs have way more genealogy features than mobile apps or web apps, and that is not likely to change any time soon.
Many desktop genealogy applications offer significant features such as powerful search, consistency checks, citation templates, wall charts, custom reporting, multimedia support,
geo-mapping, a To-Do List, a Research Log, DropBox support and so on, all complemented by generally pretty good GEDCOM support,
while quite a few web apps still offer little beyond the most basic features and only limited GEDCOM support.
The only sure way to keep something private on the web is to keep it off the web.
You will want to keep parts of your research private, maybe because you are not ready to share it yet,
but also because you should not publish information about living people without their consent.
The only sure way to keep something private on the web is to keep it off the web.
This is an major reason why you really shouldn't use a web app as your main program;
entering the private information of living people on a third-party web site is big no-no, it violates the trust those people put in you when they provided their information.
Desktop applications offer privacy filters, so when you do want to publish some research to the web,
you keep can private notes and living people private, just as you intended.
Keep in mind that you have no idea how good or bad the security of a web server is. Take privacy seriously, and do not upload any private notes or data on living persons to any website.
A desktop application is always available, a web app is only available when your Internet connection is up.
You may not be able to do much research without an Internet connection, but with a desktop application you still have access to your application and your data,
and there are many other useful things you can do, such as duplicate search or report generation.
With a web app, the moment the Internet is down, you loose all access to your data and applications, and cannot do a thing.
If your desktop crashes, you can reinstall and restore from backup, and continue.
If a web site crashes, you have to wait for the owners to fix things, and that might take a long time.
Do not dismiss the possibility of a web site crash as theoretical. Do not assume that big vendors will keep your data safe.
Do not dismiss the possibility of a web site crash as theoretical.
Do not assume that big vendors will keep your data safe.
In February of this year (2016 GC), Ancestry.com's RootsWeb crashed.
It took Ancestry.com several months (!) to get RootsWeb back up and running again,
and when they finally did, many people had lost an entire year of work, because Ancestry.com had not bothered to make regular backups...
Those with large genealogy databases know that many genealogy programs can only handle small or medium size databases.
That's an issue that transcends platforms.
Only well-engineered applications can handle truly large databases with ease.
No platform is a magic panancea for poor software engineering.
Although typical web servers have considerably more processing power and memory than typical a desktop,
desktop genealogy applications tend to be more capable than web genealogy apps.
Some reasons for this can be found in the different way that desktop applications and web applications are written, they way they work.
One particular reason is that your desktop application can claim as much processing power and memory as your desktop can offer,
while a web app must balance processing power and memory usage between multiple concurrent users, and is therefore likely to limit individual usage - and thus limit the size of the database it can handle.
Even if a web site can handle a large database, you are still likely to run into a performance issue; a larger database implies longer selection lists, larger reports and so on, and thus more data that needs to be transferred over the network to make the user interface work.
A sluggish user interface can quickly suck the joy out of whatever you're doing.
Desktop apps have a responsive user interface, often showing dialogs, lists and edits boxes almost as soon as you make a choice.
A desktop can let you browse through thousands of profiles and hundreds of photos in mere seconds, a web site cannot.
However, even if you have an high-bandwidth Internet connection that can download entire high-resolution movies in seconds,
performance will still suffer because of the network latency - the time needed to get your command to the server, and its response back to you.
Many web apps tend to be slow, often make you wait multiple seconds every time you try to do any little thing,
and few things are as annoying as sluggish user interface that makes you wait all the time.
A sluggish user interface can quickly suck the joy out of whatever you're doing.
There are exceptions, but desktop applications generally have a much richer user interface than web apps. Many web apps look clean and simple, and can make desktop applications look cluttered in comparison, but that is often simply because the web app offers few features. Desktop applications usually default to your desktop-wide settings, and often let you change the fonts, colours, text styles and more, to customise the application to your liking, in support of the way you work. Many web apps offer no customisation options at all.
Desktop applications can be had for a one-time license fee, web apps require a subscription, and these tend to be relatively pricey.
There are free programs to be had, but when it comes to paid programs,
there's an important difference between desktop applications and web apps.
Desktop applications can be had for a one-time license fee, web apps require a subscription, and these tend to be relatively pricey.
Worst of all, if you stop paying the subscription, you not only loose access to the genealogy app, you may even loose access to your data...
Desktop genealogy applications are not only considerably cheaper than web genealogy apps,
they also keep working if you do not buy the latest upgrade.
You can keep using the version you are familiar by and save money by skipping a few upgrades if you like.
Only rarely does some major change (such as a new operating system) necessitate buying an upgrade.
Desktop software vendors entice you into buying upgrades buy offering desirable new features.
The only way to not get burned is to use genealogy web apps, but not depend on them.
Web site owners go out of business.
Web companies get bought by other companies, and programs get discontinued.
The availability and subscriptions costs of web apps can change overnight.
A vendor that stays in business can suddenly change how much access you still have to data you yourself entered.
All this has happened already.
Many a user who was enthusiastic about some web site got burned in one way or another.
The only way to not get burned is to use genealogy web apps, but not depend on them;
take advantage of what they offer, but do not use them as your main or (shudder) only genealogy program.
Desktop software does not suddenly stop functioning if the vendor disappears.
Vendors of desktop genealogy applications have gone out of business and abandoned their software.
That is darn inconvenient, but not half as inconvenient as a web site disappearing overnight.
Desktop software does not suddenly stop functioning if the vendor disappears.
Desktop applications continues to function even if there is no vendor to provide update or fixes anymore.
You are not held ransom for a higher subscription fee,
you do not suddenly lose access to some or all of your data.
You can continue to use to it forever
,
When you do decide to switch to something else, you do not need hurry that decision, but can evaluate alternatives in your good time.
This is a very real issue within the genealogy community.
Several discontinued desktop genealogy applications remain popular with users, despite the vendors having abandoned the software,
sometimes even despite newer and more capable versions being available...
You can question the wisdom of using a trusty old program instead of a shiny new one with flashy new features,
but have to admit the wisdom of using a desktop application; that choice is what enables those users to keep using the program they like.
With a desktop program, you are in control of updates.
You decided when to check for updates, and rarely is an update mandatory.
If you don't like the latest version of your latest program for some reason,
you can reinstall or switch back to the old version, and keep using that.
With a web app, you don't have to worry about applying updates, the web site owner will apply many fixes without you even noticing, and that is great, but there is a dark side to that convenience. Your entire user experience is subject to the whims of the web site owner; they can decide to completely change the web app whenever they feel like it.
With a desktop program, you are in control of your data. You have full access to all of your data, and you know where your backups are.
With a desktop program, you are in control of your data.
You have full access to all of your data, and you know where your backups are.
If you mess up, accidentally delete or overwrite something, or even corrupt your database, you can restore a recent version and continue.
You know that you are keeping you data safe.
With a web app, you give away control of your data.
The web site owner may limit access to your data at any time,
and - despite whatever they claim - you don't know whether they make any backups at all.
If you mess up and want to restore some data, you have to ask them to do to.
They may be unwilling or unable to do so, and if they are able and willing, you will have to wait for them to do it in their good time.
If they accidentally mess up your database, you've probably lost that database for ever, and have to start over from scratch...
You have no idea how safe or unsafe your data is.
If you use a web app as your main app, you are literally gambling with your research, risking all the work you put into it.
As you progress in your research, you will want to share your work and cooperate with distant family members and other researches.
You typically do so by creating some report or chart, and sometimes by providing a GEDCOM file.
Desktop genealogy applications offer excellent reporting, charting and GEDCOM support to do so,
while many web score poorly on those features.
A major reason to put your data on web site, is to share it with others, to put it out there as cousin bait -
and that is, somewhat paradoxically, another reason to use a desktop genealogy application...
See, when you use a web app as your main program, it is easy to think that you are already sharing.
Whether you are really sharing your tree is likely to depend on some share setting, and its default.
Anyway, even if your tree is publicly published, you are still sharing your data on just one web site,
and the web site owner isn't likely to provide tools to copy your tree to some competitor's site.
When you keep your database on a desktop application program,
you can easily upload your (privatised) database to multiple competing sites, to increase the chances of distant family members finding it.
The owners of a web site can kick you from their server at any time for any reason.
The main reason to not depend on any web app is the real kicker;
one that has to make your reconsider however great some web app may seem to you.
The owners of a web site can kick you from their server at any time for any reason.
Rest assured that the Terms of Service you agreed to make sure of that, and even state that they do not even need to provide a reason...
When they kick you from their server, you loose access to the web app and your data...
All this doesn't mean that you shouldn't use MyHeritage, just that it shouldn't be your main genealogy program,
and that you should consider using MyHeritage Family Tree Builder as your main program instead.
It doesn't mean that you cannot use Ancestry Member Trees, just that it shouldn't be your main genealogy program,
and that you should consider using Software MacKiev Family Tree Maker as your main program instead.
Your choice is not limited to the those deskto applications, either web app can be used with any desktop genealogy application that produces GEDCOM files,
but these are obvious combinations, because of the synchronisation functionality between the desktop application and the web app.
You should also delete living relatives from these web sites, unless you have their explicit permission to publish their details.
There is one category of genealogy web apps that you can safely consider as your main genealogy program.
All this does not mean that all genealogy web apps are unsuitable as your main genealogy program.
There is one category of genealogy web apps that you can safely consider as your main genealogy program; full-featured genealogy web apps that you can install on your own web server.
When you install such a program on your own web server, you already gain control over your data, program upgrades and user interface changes.
Install the same app on your PC as well, so you can work without an Internet connection, include your genealogy data in your regular backup routine, and keep private data private.
A disadvantage of this approach is that even the best genealogy web apps aren't as feature-rich as the best desktop genealogy applications,
but an advantage is that you can use exactly the same program on both the web and your desktop.
Despite their name, desktop applications are not tied to the desktop; you can install them on a laptop, and several vendors explicitly support running their application from an USB stick.
Choosing a desktop application as your main genealogy program does not mean you forego the possibilities of mobile or web apps, quite the contrary.
With a desktop application as your main genealogy program, you'll find it easy to transfer data to mobile and web apps.
Despite their name, desktop applications are not tied to the desktop;
you can install them on a laptop, and several vendors explicitly support running their application from an USB stick,
so you can use the application on any desktop computer without having to install it on that computer.
In December of 2017, RootsWeb went offline again. The latest information from Ancestry.com is that RootsWeb may remain offline for months...
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