Family Historian User Group

One of the unique selling points of FH is its GEDCOM 5.5 compliance.

I recently discovered Ancestris that also claims 100% GEDCOM 5.5 and Draft 5.5.1 compliance!
My tests suggest that those claims are almost completely justified (a few minor issues are currently being fixed).

It uses the GEDCOM file as its database just like FH.

It has automatic Place mapping similar to FH.

The Editor, Chart, Report, etc, windows can float (works well on large monitors) and saved from session to session.

The product is entirely FREE and distributed under the GNU General Public Licence with all source code available online.

It runs on Windows and MacOS and Linux.

There are not yet as many styles of Diagram Charts and Textual Reports as in FH and it has less customisation.
However, as a free product that runs on so many platforms, it is very interesting, so FH watch out!

I see why I have not experimented with it, it needs Java. For me that makes it a non-starter.

The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) will not run in most current browsers as they they don't support the NPAPI protocol, and in the Java Control Panel the Enable Java content for browser and Web Start applications can be unticked, but Ancestris still runs. The Java Pros and Cons (17034) are discussed elsewhere.

Ancestris may be of more interest to MacOS users who are family & friends of Windows FH users, and want a free method of viewing GEDCOM files.

The theme of this thread is that Ancestris competes with FH on similar selling points as it is GEDCOM based and fully compliant, but also runs on several platforms.

I have been collaborating with the Ancestris developers.
The online Installation instructions have been significantly revised.
Some minor GEDCOM compliance issues with both 5.5 and 5.5.1 have been resolved, but a few are still outstanding.
Nonetheless, it is one of most GEDCOM compliant products I have ever encountered, and in some respects surpasses FH.

Its compatibility across MacOS and Windows and Linux platforms will be invaluable to some users.