Advantages, Disadvantages, and Features
Advantages
- GEDKeeper is a freeware, open-source product with no advertisements.
- GEDKeeper supports both Linux and Windows. It is a cross-platform projectone can build a release on Linux or the Windows operating systems.
- GEDKeeper doesn't limit data size.
- Main functions are always being improvedsuch as the kernel which is continuously developed and tested. We always seek new ways to improve program reliability and performance.
- Wholesome conservatism for the user interface. The author does not change the GUI from version-to-version each time, following all new trends blindly.
- GEDKeeper can be easily extended: it supports scripts and plugins. Any user comfortable with programming in VB.NET or C# can create a plugin.
- GEDKeeper supports several localizations. Anyone can create a localization for the program for their native language.
- The author emphasizes maximum improvement of navigation and search over information in very big data arrays of genealogical information (filtering, search, and navigation).
- GEDKeeper does not integrate with genealogical social networks, databases, or cloud services, and never forces
users to save their data to such storages.
- GEDKeeper guarantees data safety and integrity in case of possible system errors.
- You have the freedom in choosing how to process tree and pedigree
images.You can export tree and pedigree pictures into a file and
then perform some optional processing of the file in a third-party toolbefore
printing the file with the help of that tool-chain. Also,
GEDKeeper provides built-in services for printing documents (which may be
less flexible than specialized third-party tools).
Some may consider some advantages from above as big disadvantages. Everyone has their own preferences and there are many other genealogical software programs that can meet those preferences with beautiful and stylish implementations.
Disadvantages Compared with Other Software
- GEDKeeper has poor help content (this document). The primary reason for this is that the author never promoted the
program. Thus, GEDKeeper has few users which give insufficient material for updated help content.
- There is no good Internet site for GEDKeeper presentation.
- We are slowly elaborating import of GEDCOM files generated by third-party software. There is good news: GEDKeeper handles foreign GEDCOM data
(data made by other software products) very carefully and never loses unknown data structures. Therefore, while some data may not be shown, they are always
saved as-is (see the "Features" section below).
- There were many claims that GEDKeeper is not flexible, is not
beautiful enough, and has too few types of tree diagrams. But those
claims vanish away once you understand the ideology of GEDKeeper: be a
laconic tool for gathering, processing, and searching information while
performing long and broad genealogical research (the author, for example,
has more than 70 research branches in its own database used to
investigate all possible relatives). Most third-party
solutions for tree visualization give nothing for effective
processing, although there are very nice and beautiful diagrams among
such solutions. On the other hand, the author and other users work with all
the diagrams, implemented in GEDKeeper, permanently and they completely
satisfy their requirements in an efficient and clear way of work.
Moreover, the author always welcomes anyone who wants to create an add-on
that implements other types of diagrams.
Features
- GEDKeeper almost completely meets the full requirements of the GEDCOM
specification version 5.5.1. Unfortunately, this specification does not have a complete definition of what constitutes an extension data structure. Nevertheless, GEDKeeper includes a compliant European extension for
storing notes and references to geographical locations with
coordinates.
- GEDKeeper itself adds compliant extensions to the GEDCOM
specification to store and process social groups, researches, tasks and
correspondence. Most genealogical software have such extensions but
unfortunately, they are all custom (non-compliant). There were repeated attempts
undertaken in the past to develop a new GEDCOM specification to include
these extensions, but all attempts have failed. Without a new specification each developer may make extensions in unique ways, whereas GEDKeeper provides a framework to create extensions.
- GEDKeeper cannot save its database to meet the pure GEDCOM
specification without using extensions. No one has required this
feature during the lifetime of GEDKeeper.
- GEDKeeper primarily targets Russian users, therefore some
functions, for example, one that handles names, are not flexible enough
and could not meet requirements of non-Russian users.
- Currently GEDKeeper does not store data in a relational database.
Experiments made by the author revealed that with databases having less
than 500,000 person records, relational database do not give any
benefits in performance or usability when compared to the
currently implemented data storing. Having many related questions, it is necessary
to emphasize that this software will never support storing data in a
commercial relational databaselike desktop MS Access or
client-server Oracle, Sybase, or MS SQL Server. If a relational
database becomes a necessity only freeware products may be chosenlike
SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Firebird and, maybe, Berkeley
DB.
- The GEDCOM specification defines two equivalent ways to store internal
references to multimedia content, notes, and sources: local storage in the
form of an event object and as full-fledged records, paired to other types
of records like persons and families. GEDKeeper uses only the latter,
and converts, on-the-fly, any GEDCOM file when opening from an
external source. This instantly makes all notes, multimedia content, and
sources available for viewing and navigation, and you can see what
records reference those objects.