Thoughts about Legacy/Millennia sale to MyHeritage.
This past week all of us learned that Legacy/Millennia was sold to MyHeritage. It is and will be uncharted territory for most of us as we have enjoyed Legacy's independent small shop nature. Many of us of most familiar with Ancestry and FindMyPast as far as subscription sites and, of course, FamilySearch as a free site for our genealogy records research.
Personally I have only had interactions with MyHeritage at conferences and seminars and everyone has been professional. I have placed my dad's Ancestry DNA on their website and have had no issues with unwanted contacts. I follow the posts by in the know genealogists such as Pat Richley-Erickson Judy G. Russell and Randy Seaver - they always provide unbiased and insightful thoughts on changes in the #genealogy and #familyhistory landscape. If they haven't yet, I am sure there will be some discussion in the coming days.
The most important thing for all of us to keep in mind is that Legacy Family Tree Software is standalone (on our computers) and the program is there to work for us - that is why I encourage everyone to customize it, use the features that work for you and in the way that works best for you. The previous owners (Dave and Ken) must have thought that the continued viability of Legacy would be best served by selling their company - I hope it provides for more programmers working additional hours to provide even more improvements to what is a great program.
There has been lots of discussion on various social media (I tend to lurk but stay away from the gnashing of teeth over change). Let's all continue working with our family history - give Legacy and MyHeritage a chance to shake things out and see what the future brings - in the meantime, we should not be affected by any corporate changes and Legacy and MyHeritage are not forcing any changes on us.
How are any of you feeling about this change and what do you think is in store for Legacy with this sale?
I had a few issues with MyHeritage. I was most interested in the newspapers they gave me access to. When that was reversed I decided that I no longer was using my subscription. So I canceled it. There was a bit of an issue. But to their credit the issue was settled effectively, efficiently and with respect.
ReplyDeleteI will continue to use Legacy as I watch.
I recently had another issue with Families. It has been addressed as well. This really had nothing to do with Legacy. Except that I have Legacy boy support my Families habit 😜😜
As I have been wavering on going to apple 🍎 computers this may be the convincer. I'm unsure about running Windows on a apple 🍎.
So I watch. And wait.
Good luck to all. Research on. Relax and watch.
I've had experience with the Family Tree Builder and I only hope the MyHeritage developers keep their hands off Legacy. Support on the FTB side is very poor.
ReplyDeleteMy plan is to continue to use Legacy as long as it continues to meet my needs. I'm not thrilled about MyHeritage. Most of the results I've gotten from them were from my own family trees at other sites. I've rarely gotten any "real" information from them. I'm just waiting to see how this all pans out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the above. I don't receive much useful information from MyHeritage. I'm also afraid that if they start changing things it will become less useful and more harmful. But, I am concerned that I will have to have an account with MyHeritage and post my information online to use the hints feature just as RootsMagic and Family Tree Maker has done. I am currently using an iMac and would love to have a version built upon the Mac platform. I have been using every version of genealogical software since Ancestry sold FTM and Legacy has been one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteBut this is where I have a problem with MyHeritage. I signed up with MyHeritage 2 years ago with a discounted price of 1/2 off. When renewal time came, I was not informed of the renewal until AFTER I had been billed at the full subscription price. When I called about the rate, I was informed that the only notification for renewal is within the EULA, i.e. you can cancel your subscription anytime up until the week before your renewal but will NEVER be informed of the renewal by MyHeritage.You are on your own to remember the date. Also, I was informed that they could NOT refund the amount or change my subscription after renewal. (They did eventually refund a portion of my payment) I have cancelled for next year but because they also use a 3rd party for payment processing, you MUST know your initial payment processing order number to access your c/c information.
Sorry for the venting. But too many older adults may not have the support of anyone that can help them get out of a payment cycle nightmare. Use c/c that expire within the year so that it cannot be reused.
This will be a wait and see situation.
I believe I saw somewhere that MyHeritage is aware they have some bad PR to overcome. This renewal/credit card/refund issue is possibly the largest problem they have, in my opinion (which is worth - - you got it - - 2 cents.). Like I said, watching.
ReplyDeleteand they are not the only ones who do it (done both inside and outside of genealogy). I think +MyHeritage is making an effort to overcome some of their PR issues and we can give them the opportunity to impress us while we continue to use the program we know and love. Always surprising to get this kind of news but let's wait, watch and see what happens.
ReplyDelete