Below are more answers to questions you have asked us over the past several days regarding the Legacy-MyHeritage acquisition.

More Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Will Legacy continue to be stand-alone, offline software?

A. Absolutely! Legacy will always remain as it is. Legacy users can count on using Legacy in the future exactly as they have been using it for the past 20 years, on their personal computer, disconnected from the Internet, with the tree data stored only on their computer. When Tree Sync becomes available in the future, it will be completely optional, and under no circumstance will anyone’s tree by synced online unless that is the express desire of the user.

Q. Will I have to have a MyHeritage membership to continue using my Legacy software?

A. Nope. The acquisition leaves Legacy independent. A subscription to MyHeritage is not and will never be required to use Legacy. You can use Legacy forever without any ties to MyHeritage. Legacy does have matching with MyHeritage and other sites, but your tree is not nor will it ever be transferred to these services through this matching feature. The matching exists to help find matching records.

Q. I’ve backed up my Legacy file to the Legacy Cloud. Will my backup remain mine or will it be shared with new ownership?

A. Backing up your tree to the Legacy Cloud stores a private backup copy of your Legacy family file on our secure servers. Nobody will ever have access to these family files. They are yours.

Q. What about Legacy for the Mac?

A. This is now our number one priority. Now that our team members at MyHeritage will be taking over our accounting, taxes, and other busy work, we can get back to completing the Mac project.

Q. I have a current annual webinar membership. Can I extend my membership with the current half-off offer?

A. Yes! Visit http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/legacy-family-tree-webinars-yearly-membership-p1.php and add the yearly membership to your cart. Make sure you are logged in at checkout. The purchase at the sale price will extend your membership by another year. Don’t wait though – the sale ends Sunday evening, August 13 (Geoff’s birthday!!).

Q. Will you please convince MyHeritage to use maiden names in their trees instead of the person’s married name?

A. This option is already available. In the Family Tree view at MyHeritage.com, click on the options button in the upper right (looks like a small gears icon). In the Name Preferences section, select Maiden name. Done!

Q. Where can I learn more about MyHeritage?

A. We’ve done a few webinars with MyHeritage. They are free to view at https://familytreewebinars.com/myheritage.  You could also visit their site at https://about.myheritage.com.

Many more frequently asked questions are listed in our original announcement. If you missed it, click here for all the details and scroll down to the FAQ section.

More thoughts from Geoff

Originally posted in our Legacy User Group on Facebook:

It’s certainly been an eventful day today. In a few minutes, I will go finally eat some lunch. I’ve learned much from your comments today and would like to conclude my day with a few additional of my own.

Naturally, change brings uncertainty. Past experiences, negative or positive, shape our feelings of the unexpected and the unknown. I have personally felt a roller coaster of feelings as, although I like innovation and new ideas, I’m also most comfortable with no change.

Some have stated that our decision to partner/be acquired by MyHeritage must be about the money. Yes, it is – your money in fact. I don’t want a single person putting any money or time into our software if we knew that it wouldn’t be able to be with you for a very long time. I’ve put my last 20 years into Legacy, not just developing it to have a job but because I use it and love it, and sincerely depend on it. I would never be on board with an acquisition like this unless I was sure of many things. True, we can’t ever be 100% sure of anything, but we’ve invested everything into ensuring that this move is in the best interest of you, our loyal customers. I’m a customer too.

This next paragraph is going to get very personal, so maybe skip over it. I personally believe that I can receive answers to my prayers, and this decision of ours has been one that each of us – Dave, Ken, and myself, have spent many hours on our knees seeking divine guidance. The answer to my personal prayer came as I sat in an empty ballroom at RootsTech earlier this year. The answer was one of complete peace about this decision and the future of both our Legacy software and our customers. If ever I question whether this was good, I can easily recall the feelings I had that day.

Geoff’s feelings aren’t going to persuade anyone to love something they already dislike. I will never like squash. I’ve tried to like it, but have concluded that it won’t be for me – ever. MyHeritage may never be for some of you, and that’s fine. You might consider giving it a second chance every now and then, yet nothing in our announcements or our future plans have or will infer that you will be forced to use it. Legacy will continue, and only because we have partnered with MyHeritage do I believe it will continue to flourish. We had to announce the acquisition to be transparent with everyone, but even if we hadn’t, I believe you would begin to notice significant developments and unexpected longevity with both our software and our webinar series – solely because now we can spend more of our time working on Legacy and none of our time doing all the small business tasks of accounting, taxes, and on and on. Now we’ll be able to do what we love the most.

We know that we would be nowhere without each and every one of you. We’ll sadly accept that some feel betrayed by this acquisition and will always continue to wish you the best. We are optimistic about the future and cannot wait to begin this new journey with I hope most of you.

Great, now I’m smelling dinner cooking. I’ll sign off now for the evening, but look forward to a future of finding lots and lots of ancestors with all of you!

Geoff Rasmussen