I cannot really comment on FTM2012 as my experience stops with FTM2011 and FTMM1, but I do have a lot of experience with earlier versions, and now with other programs.
Like John I would say that the specs of your kit are important, but I wouldn't want to put too much stress on this beyond saying that the minimum specs are probably too low. FTM whether Windows or Mac is a 32 bit program and that in itself is a restriction.
The primary question is whether the average user is likely to be affected by performance issues, and the answer is probably no. I have a database of some 121,000 individuals and cannot use it. It needs ten to twenty times as much memory and has a file size five times greater than my current program Reunion 10, a Mac program, and crashes at least once an hour. It is lovely to have a program that opens instantly, allows you to type with more than one finger and a breath between each character and generally moves along quickly. Contrast this with FTMM1 wherea simple task like bring up the search box takes nearly four minutes, easily demonstrated to be size related by creating a small file.
I have been researching over fifteen years and if I had say 10,000 individuals I doubt I would have other than the rare problem. This is not only because the file would be a fraction of the size, but I think that I would be spending most of my time tracking down information rather than entering it as at present. For instance I estimate that having looked at and downloaded over 800 1940 census images I am 10% of way way through the task. I suspect that with 10,000 I would now be down to a hard core of missing individuals.
A thought for Rosemary. I don't know what will be the position with Windows 8 which is soon going to be "norm" with a new Windows machine, but the high end versions of Windows 7 allow you to run XP in a sort of emulation. In any event unless it has actually died, or you are so pushed for space that you have to get rid of it, there is no reason why you should not run your indices on the old machine as and when necessary. I have an old Windows laptop to run things such as the National Burial Index, as my tow main machines are now Macs.
Tony
Tony
Like John I would say that the specs of your kit are important, but I wouldn't want to put too much stress on this beyond saying that the minimum specs are probably too low. FTM whether Windows or Mac is a 32 bit program and that in itself is a restriction.
The primary question is whether the average user is likely to be affected by performance issues, and the answer is probably no. I have a database of some 121,000 individuals and cannot use it. It needs ten to twenty times as much memory and has a file size five times greater than my current program Reunion 10, a Mac program, and crashes at least once an hour. It is lovely to have a program that opens instantly, allows you to type with more than one finger and a breath between each character and generally moves along quickly. Contrast this with FTMM1 wherea simple task like bring up the search box takes nearly four minutes, easily demonstrated to be size related by creating a small file.
I have been researching over fifteen years and if I had say 10,000 individuals I doubt I would have other than the rare problem. This is not only because the file would be a fraction of the size, but I think that I would be spending most of my time tracking down information rather than entering it as at present. For instance I estimate that having looked at and downloaded over 800 1940 census images I am 10% of way way through the task. I suspect that with 10,000 I would now be down to a hard core of missing individuals.
A thought for Rosemary. I don't know what will be the position with Windows 8 which is soon going to be "norm" with a new Windows machine, but the high end versions of Windows 7 allow you to run XP in a sort of emulation. In any event unless it has actually died, or you are so pushed for space that you have to get rid of it, there is no reason why you should not run your indices on the old machine as and when necessary. I have an old Windows laptop to run things such as the National Burial Index, as my tow main machines are now Macs.
Tony
Tony