Brother's Keeper 5.2 for Windows Review
Overview
AUTHOR - Cam4gen
BK in DOS has been around for several years, the windows version was released in March of 1996. The most current version (12/23/96) has many features not included in the March release. Author/programmer John Steed of Michigan is constantly "tweaking" the program, so fixes and new features are added on a regular basis. BK is shareware - try it free, and if you like it, register by paying the author ($49), and receive a manual and support. Upgrades that are downloaded are free to registered users. For those who need to care, BK is a tight little program - my 1600+ person database uses 8mb of harddisk in BK, as compared to 20+ each in FTM and FG. Although various versions may be found in AOL or CIS and elsewhere, the most current version can be downloaded from John's website - http://www.bkwin.net/
Pluses
General - menu driven, intuitive. BK has been called not user friendly, but this new computer user had no problem understanding and using. Gedcom import and export, ability to change locations or sources globally, shortcuts to re-using sources and locations, option to use baptism date in reports if birthdate unknown, easy "drag and drop" sorts of spouses or children (not date dependant), confidential information can be tagged to never print, text can be added in the default BK text editor or in Notepad or several word processors. Default screen is in family group sheet format - click links to parents or children.
Pedigree Charts - five generations on screen can be "walked", clicking on any person makes him/her the starting person, clicking on starting person opens the edit screen. Up to six generations can be printed per page (no boxes) and there is an option for cascading (but no index).
Box Charts - handsome standard descendant box charts and a four family box chart that will show starting person through great-grandparents and all of latters' descendants.
Group Sheets - standard with options to include pictures, sources, message text, and preparer info. Can be run in batches - ancestors or descendants of a person and can generate an index.
Lists/Reports - list of sources or locations, custom ahnentafel report, unconnected persons report, reasonableness check set to you own specifications, relationship report showing relationship between any two people in database, birthday/anniversary report with optional calendar, timeline report with editable option to include "famous people" or events, collapsed ancestor chart, descendant tree chart.
Book Type Reports - register, modified register, ahnentafel and indented descendant all with many options of what to include, can add sources as footnotes or endnotes and generate an index, can be saved in RTF file so you can enhance in your word processor.
Minuses
Limited field sizes - 40 characters for name and location fields, 15 for dates, unsure of exact length of source field but have found it insufficient for lengthy sources.
No apparent LDS format - unimportant for me but critical for some.
Does not print empty charts for research.
No match/merge individuals feature - Gedcom imports must be handled with extreme care, deleting all duplicate individuals before adding to database.
Very limited graphics capability - a photo can be attached to a person and viewed on screen, but will only print on family group sheet.
Limited number of customizable fields.
No direct descendant drop-line chart.
Conclusion
BK lacks whistles and bells and has a few serious flaws, but overall is a very powerful and versatile program for a reasonable price.
NOTE: The opinions expressed in this Software Review are the author/user's own and in no way reflect on the opinions of the Genealogy Forum.
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