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Genealogy software for the Macintosh
Genealogy
Programs for the Macintosh I publish an update to this article about once a year. In fact,
several new Macintosh genealogy programs have appeared in the past twelve
months.
However,
one major disadvantage of the Mac is that it doesn't have as many genealogy
programs to choose from as does the Windows operating system. Or does it? I
would contend that Macintosh has MORE
genealogy programs available than does Windows. There
are several genealogy programs written for the Macintosh: ·
Reunion
- by Leister Productions appears to be the most popular Macintosh genealogy
program in North America ·
Personal
Ancestry Writer II
- is a very popular, free genealogy program that does the basics ·
iFamily
for Leopard
- is an excellent genealogy program developed by Keith Wilson in Australia ·
MacFamilyTree
- is perhaps the most popular Macintosh genealogy program in Europe and has a
growing customer base in North America as well. ·
Heredis
- is a Macintosh
genealogy program produced in France that is very popular in Europe and has
numerous fans elsewhere as well. ·
MyBlood
- is a brand new genealogy program from Belgium. ·
GEDitCOM
II
- is a new genealogy application for Macintosh OS X allows ease-of-use
editing of genealogy files, for customization of the user experience, and for
power features allowing access to your genealogical data. ·
Osk - is a genealogy program produced in Iceland. ·
GRAMPS
- is available for Macintosh OS X. GRAMPS has an excellent reputation as a Linux
genealogy porgram, although it has also been ported to the Macintosh. Actually,
modern Macintosh systems do have more genealogy programs to choose from: several
modern and powerful genealogy programs available for their exclusive use as well
as all the Windows genealogy programs of today and all the Linux genealogy
programs of today. In other words, the Mac user can select from ALL the
genealogy programs available today! Now
you know why Macintosh users are such diehard enthusiasts: they have simplicity,
reliability, and a wider variety of programs to choose from! http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/06/genealogy-programs-for-the-macintosh.html
How
to install Windows on your Macintosh You
actually install a copy of Windows and run it as a slave operating system under
OS X. This capability allows you to run Macintosh and Windows programs
simultaneously! To
install Windows on your Macintosh, you will need any one of the following:
note:
A fourth option is to use the free BootCamp program that is included with
Macintosh OS X. However, it does not run as a slave operating system under OS X.
At boot time, you can select to run Macintosh OS X or to run Windows; you cannot
run both simultaneously. I tried BootCamp for a while but was not very happy
with it. All
of the above four "Windows solutions" do require a licensed copy of
Microsoft Windows. They should be able to run most any version of Windows or
even Linux or BSD Unix or other operating systems designed for PC hardware. I'd
suggest Windows XP although that is no longer sold or supported by Microsoft for
normal PCs. You may have a copy available from an older computer or perhaps you
can find it on eBay or from other retailers who are selling off old inventory.
Generally speaking, Windows XP works much better than Windows Vista in all
systems but that is especially true when using it as a "virtual
computer."
MacGenealogist.com A detailed comparison of Macintosh
Genealogy software programs can be found at MacGenealogist.com. You can
review their findings at: MacGenealogist.com
Genealogy Software Reviews An interesting new website called "Genealogy Software Reviews" , by Louis Kessler, contains reviews by users of different Macintosh genealogy software programs. You can look at these reviews of Macintosh genealogy software at GenSoftReviews.
Mac Genealogy Software Information Another source of Mac Genealogy Software information is by MacGenealogy.org. They provide information on over 15 Mac Genealogy Software programs.
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Macintosh
users can feel smug about using the best operating system available today. The
OS X operating system is easy to use, very reliable, and doesn't "get in
the way" with all sorts of pop-up messages. In short, "it just
works."