MacFamilyTree 6 Released.

I said two days ago that things had to be getting close to either Release Candidate versions of MacFamilyTree 6.0, or we would be exiting the beta, and that day has arrived. The Mac OS X genealogy application has been officially released and is no longer in public beta.

If you haven’t been following along, you can read the major changes between MacFamilyTree 5.7.x and MacFamilyTree 6.0 in the original Public beta release.

You can download the free demo version here (SyniumSoftware.com).

Apple Magic Trackpad Announced

It’s been speculated about for a while, due to FCC filings and the like, but it’s finally here. Today, Apple introduced the Apple Magic Trackpad. It’s based on the same multi-touch technology behind current MacBook Pros and can either replace or simply compliment your existing mouse. It has a glass surface similar to the MBPs and is 80% larger than the touchpads on MBPs. It connects through a Bluetooth wireless connection.

From Apple’s PR:

The new Magic Trackpad is the first Multi-Touch trackpad designed to work with your Mac desktop computer. It uses the same Multi-Touch technology you love on the MacBook Pro. And it supports a full set of gestures, giving you a whole new way to control and interact with what’s on your screen. Swiping through pages online feels just like flipping through pages in a book or magazine. And inertial scrolling makes moving up and down a page more natural than ever.

Why would I bring that up here, you might ask.

Simple, anybody who has played around or used any of the current iOS genealogy apps for iPhones and iPads (iOS / iPhone / iPad Genealogy Software at MobileGenealogy.com), knows how easy it can be to navigate around some of them using a touch interface. Obviously those apps are built for such an interface, and I’m not sure how/if genealogy applications running on regular Mac OS X based systems can really take advantage of this in the same way that iOS-based apps do – there maybe a way for developers to build it into their software to allow you to navigate visual family trees.

Even if that’s not the case, we all do a lot of scrolling and zooming in and out and might benefit from this. Using the Virtual Tree in MacFamilyTree as an example, it would be easy to zoom in and out and move around it.

I may pick one up in the next few weeks, and if so I’ll post a review here. I am going to have to try one out in a store, but having used a MacBook Pro extensively, I think I might just be able to use it.

MacFamilyTree 6.0 Public Beta 8

Synium Software has released the Public Beta 8 of MacFamilyTree 6.0. This definitely feels like we are nearing a Release Candidate (RC), assuming that Synium won’t skip the RC cycle, even more than the other public betas released so far. It appears they even put in some time over the weekend working on it, since Beta 7 was released this past Friday.

This time around, there have been some small tweaks (user interface, PowerPC Macs, localization) and most importantly, a full user guide is now accessible from the Help menu or in the Startup Window.

Changes/Updates:
* Full featured User Guide now available from the help menu or the startup window
* Several localization updates
* Fixed issues on PowerPC based Macs
* Smaller user interface fixes

You can download Public Beta 8 at SyniumSoftware.com (direct link).

MacFamilyTree 6.0 Public Beta 7

Another day, another public beta for Synium Software’s MacFamilyTree 6.0.

This time it’s MacFamilyTree 6.0 Public Beta 7 and some of the updates make me think that we are getting close to a Release Candidate (RC), since this is focused mainly around improving several areas and not adding anything new or making substantial changes. Among the improvements: user interface, GEDCOM importing, event displays, the startup window, and launch time. The last two especially make me think we are getting closer.

Changes/Updates:
* Several User Interface improvements
* GEDCOM Importer now handles census and age tags correctly
* After a GEDCOM import, the document was incorrectly marked as having changes
* Date Parser improved for date ranges
* Description of events are now shown in all charts
* News and Tutorials improved in the startup window
* Improved launch time

Public Beta 7 is available for download from SyniumSoftware.com

MacFamilyTree 6.0 Public Beta 6

MacFamilyTree 6.0 has been updated by Synium Software to Public Beta 6. Still no official sign of a Release Candidate.

Public Beta 6 consists of some fixes with chart generation (and improvements in the Descendant Chart layout) as well as localization.

Changes/Updates:
* Chart generation fixes
* Descendant Chart top to bottom or bottom to top layout improved
* Fixed a bug in the Media Pane that could lead to a crash
* Count Badge added for referenced objects assigned to a ToDo
* Localization fixes

If you would like to download and try the demo, you can do so from SyniumSoftware.com