News

San Antonio, Texas, 1 September, 2012

--Ancestral Systems LLC released Clooz version 3.1 as a free numbered upgrade. The upgrade was immediately available and delivered to registered users and Free Trial participants via electronic update. All future downloads will receive Clooz version 3.1.

San Antonio, Texas, 3 August, 2012

--The Clooz 3 program file that you download for the Free Trial is in fact the same file that will become your registered working program after purchase. When a purchase transaction is made, you will be issued a new permanent registration serial number. Once entered, your copy of Clooz 3 is valid for as long as you care to use it. Any work that you do in the Free Trial version will be preserved and you will simply continue working with whatever data file(s) exist after purchase. Another important new feature of Clooz 3.0 is the ability for you to ensure your program contains the latest fixes and minor enhancements through online updating. Those of you participating in the free trial have already seen how this gives us the ability to make changes to the program as they are required. If you are not yet a member of our Rootsweb Clooz mailing list, we suggest that you consider joining. The rootsweb mailing list is a place for peers to discuss Clooz and help each other. Links to subscribe are available at the support page of our Clooz web site. In order to insure that your problems are investigated and your questions addressed as soon as possible, all requests for direct help from Ancestral Systems should be addressed to support@clooz.com. Ancestral Sytems LLC remains committed to developing Clooz as the premier research tool for genealogists.

San Antonio, Texas, 30 July, 2012

--We are offering our valued subscribers the opportunity to 'test drive' Clooz 3.0. Clooz 3.0 is now available for a FREE 14 DAY TRIAL The free trial software version is in fact the full program, and will not need to be re-installed later after purchasing the software. The files you produce with the trial version will become your permanent files after you enter the serial number provided from your purchase. Be sure you prepare proper backup copies of your version 2.1 or earlier database files before you open them in Clooz 3.0. A Clooz 3.0 file is not backward compatible, and will not run in Version 2.1 or earlier. Please remember to safeguard your backup copies. Clooz 3.0 can be installed while Clooz 2.1 is still active on your system. It runs independently, but remember that if Clooz 3 opens a 2.1 database, that database is upgraded to version 3.0. You can uninstall Clooz 2.1 whenever you wish using the Windows Control Panel. Clooz 3.0 has been thoroughly tested; however, there is always a slight chance with any software that small problems may be encountered from time to time. Please report any problems with software errors to support so that we can take immediate action to repair the problem and release an updated file. We have gone to great length to prepare and proof read the Clooz 3.0 User Guide . Please download the free guide and be sure that the procedure you are using is proper, before reporting a usage problem as a software malfunction. The Help menu in Clooz provides access to the same user guide content within the program. We are also preparing free short Training Videos to help our users better understand some of the advanced features of Clooz 3.0. The first videos of the series are now available. Here is the direct link to request the Free Trial, or you can reach it from the download page of our web site. After submitting the basic registration information, you will receive an e-mail with your password, unique registration number, and further instructions.

San Antonio, Texas, 8 July, 2012

--Our Draft Clooz 3.0 User Manual is now available for public review and comment. You are welcome to participate.

San Antonio, Texas, 18 June, 2012

--Here are a few items of interest for your information. Our Clooz 3.0 Beta Test Team has been exercising the latest updates and improvements that Rich is implementing. I must say that the testing is going forward without any major problems, although the team has successfully found and allowed us to repair some issues that crept in. Personally, I am very pleased with how Clooz 3.0 has developed. The original program focus as a computerized method for filing research information, and linking each specific piece to all of its associated ancestors, has changed. While we retain all of those original capabilities, we are now positioning Clooz 3.0 as a primary genealogy research and analysis tool to develop information and sources PRIOR to transfer and inclusion in a formal family tree program. In my own Beta testing, this new focus has led me to new information concerning two direct line ancestors who had previously "hidden" from me. The very act of processing information into Clooz 3.0 high lighted "clues" that led me to answers. We are almost there! I call your attention to an important piece about Mexican records (link follows). The article leads me to a discussion item. I feel that the genealogy software community is neglecting the Spanish speaking community. For example, by accident I found church records for my mother-in-law's Colombian ancestors on line. So I have been toying with the idea of a Spanish Clooz version. This is not so simple as just translating the program's language. I have not done any significant South or Central America, Mexico or Spanish genealogy searching, so I don't even have a clue about such basic sources as census records. If nothing else, specific templates would need to be added, and perhaps some existing templates would have to be modified. Perhaps an entirely new motif would be needed, where the program would come with a specific set of "standard" templates, with the user then adding additional templates from our databank as his/her requirements dictated. Just thinking out loud here. I certainly welcome comments and discussion. Mexican Genealogy Records You can use our Rootsweb Clooz list where members can interact back and forth with each other and with us to discuss this idea, as well as potential new features or problems of any kind. This link will take you to the proper place to subscribe or unsubscribe: Our Rootsweb Discussion Forum

San Antonio, Texas, 15 May, 2012

--Here are a few items of interest for your information. A small group of 25 users are being selected to participate in testing Clooz version 3 during its final stages of development. The group represents a cross section of novices to experts (in regard to Clooz and computer technology in general), and are users of a variety of genealogical software packages. We have included some users who have stopped using the earlier version of Clooz for one reason or another to see if our improvements in version 3 overcome their previous issues, as we expect they will. The testing will begin on May 21, 2012, and instructions will be going out to these users this week. We wish to thank all who have expressed interest in testing Clooz. No additional volunteers are needed. Many of you are not subscribed to our Rootsweb Clooz list. This is the forum where members can interact back and forth with each other and with us to discuss both new requested features or problems of any kind. This link will take you to the proper place to subscribe or unsubscribe: Our Clooz Rootsweb forum: We now have a presence on Facebook (Clooz by Ancestral Systems), Twitter (@CloozJoe) and Linked In (Ancestral Systems). If you use any of these social networks, you might want to connect with us. I love to dream, so what if we could ....?? Suppose you were working in Clooz entering data from census records. As often happens, you find a new census image and there are one or more new (to you) people enumerated. You open the census year template, but in order to see the information to fill the template, you need to see the image. What if you could just drag that URL and drop it into the proper display area in the template, and then view the image directly from Clooz? But what if the image is very hard to read? Maybe you decide to "cheat: a bit by using a copy of the text census transcription which you previously saved to your genealogy file folder. So you locate the file in the normal Explorer manner, and drag and drop it right there in the template along with the image URL. What if you could have both images displayed simultaneously, along with your open Clooz input screen? You could then see all of the data and link the family members using the check boxes in the People matrix, as you did in version 2.1. But remember, there are new people that are not yet in your Clooz people matrix. What if you could just click a button and add those folks to the people matrix directly from the template page? All that then remains is to add the individual details for each person, using the existing version 2.1 feature that allows you to repeat common information for each successive individual. And what if by default the people were displayed in order according to the census form line number? And of course if you wanted to re-sort them in surname order you could do so, and it would "stick" until changed. Wow! If I could just do something like that, wouldn't data entry be so much easier? Just dreaming, right?

San Antonio, Texas, 15 April, 2012

--Our update to Version 3.0 is progressing on schedule. Within a few weeks we will begin our actual Beta testing by a small team of Clooz users who are experienced Beta testers. Our survey reported most users to us as "Anonymous", so we must ask experienced Beta testers who would like to join our Beta test team to let us know your interest once again via direct e-mail. Please send your interest to our support function using the subject line Beta. We hope to release Version 3.0 by early summer, depending upon how the Beta testing goes. As we anticipated, preliminary internal testing for the US 1940 census, the UK 1911 census, the Canadian 1916 census, the generic head of household and every member census processing did not reveal any significant problems. A great new improvement is that Version 3 of Clooz will support multiple digital attachments for documents and sources, where version 2 only allows one. Version 2.1 has a special interface with Legacy Family Tree software, allowing individuals and sources to be shared between the two programs. The interface was developed using Legacy version 6, and was not updated after Legacy 7 was released. Restoring this connection in Clooz version 3 has been a top priority for us. Our longer term goal is to establish the ability to exchange data between Clooz and many of the current popular family tree software applications which permit their data to be read by other programs. Some programs such as Family Tree Maker have restricted access to their database and cannot be read by Clooz. We have redesigned the implementation of the original Clooz Legacy interface to accommodate connection to other programs. Our preliminary finding is that it may be possible to at least import people and source information from some other programs directly into Clooz! This would be a first step in establishing a fuller interface between other programs and Clooz. Data transfer will still also be possible using Gedcom files as an intermediate step. Establishing the ability to export information of any type from Clooz INTO any of the other family tree software will require cooperation from the other vendors (as has occurred for Legacy). This should give you, our users, a sense of our future direction. We are Clooz users ourselves, and we are excited! We trust that you are, as well.

San Antonio, Texas, 24 March, 2012

--As we promised, we are hard at work on our first Clooz update. We are currently conducting our own INTERNAL testing for previously reported issues and desired improvements. It will not be too long until we begin our actual Beta testing. For your information, I am personally entering test data for the US 1940 census, the UK 1911 census, the Canadian 1916 census, the generic head of household and every member census reports. I have also done test printouts. We are not yet ready for Prime Time with these issues, but we are very close. For this update, we can not do anything with the printout issues for reports running more than two pages in length, that also extend horizontally onto a second page (extended landscape layout). I know this is disappointing, but it is a function of the printing and display software that was originally selected way back when. We intend to implement different software in a future release of our new and improved Clooz, but we will have to live with this issue for the time being. To change at this point would add an unacceptable estimated six months to the release date of our "quick fix" update, because every aspect of printing will need to be thoroughly checked. Please understand that in order to quickly produce a full functioning product for both new and existing users, we have made significant progress. One aspect that Rich has implemented which should cheer everyone is the Automatic Update process. What this means is that once we have released our first product, we will never be restricted again to having to produce a full release in order to correct minor problems and suggestions. The next time that you open Clooz it will automatically receive the update, which you can choose to accept. I can assure you that this change is working flawlessly. BETA testing of the software being developed should be starting within a few weeks, initially with a small test group. Rich has some specific requirements that he requires in order to insure that we cover all of the bases. In order for us to best understand your needs, I have prepared a short survey relating to your computer system and software you use. Everyone is invited to fill it out. At the end of the survey you can state your interest in helping with the beta testing. To take the survey, please click this link:

href="http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e5qm4n65h03wtxzk/start

San Antonio, Texas, 27 February, 2012

--We are pleased to announce the lead software engineer for our future Clooz updates. He is Richard "Rich" Thomas of Maryland. When Rich first contacted me, I was immediately impressed with both his credentials and his genealogy passion. I'm sharing here some of Rich's original comments. "I always found the Clooz concept of data gathering/organization quite interesting. The genealogist in me is attracted to the idea of recording source details in a way that can be further analyzed, and the software programmer in me is always looking for a better/easier way to accomplish that." -- and -- "My two greatest passions are genealogy and software development. I've recently retired from my software development position in the federal government, where I led the software support for several nationally deployed field systems used by the National Weather Service. Now I'm working to combine my passions and develop my own genealogical software tools." Rich can be reached directly using rich@clooz.com, while technical support issues should be forwarded to both of us using support@clooz.com. I can assure everyone that Rich is deep into the planning and development of our first update, and we are both very excited about the future of Clooz.

San Antonio, Texas, 28 January, 2012

--We are happy to provide two past audio interviews featuring Liz providing in-depth review of Clooz. Even after all these years of owning and using Clooz, I was pleasantly surprised to learn several new things about this remarkable program. I highly recommend that every user download the files from our Downloads page.

Plymouth, Michigan, 30 December 2011

--After 14 years of producing the genealogical utility software Clooz, Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens, CG, of Ancestor Detective, LLC, has transferred ownership of the software to Joe Bissett of Somerset, Texas. Bissett has plans to re-release Clooz at some point in the future, with updates to templates, reports and other customer requests. Hopefully the first release will be in the first half of 2012. He is also investigating recent technological Internet options, such as a version that will operate in "the Cloud" if a user should so desire. Kerstens will provide input to the update as needed. During the transition, the Clooz software program will no longer be sold, but the Clooz 2 Manual and Clooz 2 Tutorial will still be available from the Ancestor Detective Store at http://www.ancestordetective.com/zstore/ for 50 percent off, as long as supplies last, using the coupon code fe3b0f63dc. Joe will make an announcement about the software as soon as he has evaluated the impact of various requested updates. As of 1 January 2012, Bissett will provide customer support for Clooz users. He can be contacted at jbissett@hot-peppers.com during the transition.

Joe is an accomplished member of the genealogy community who currently administers three different Rootsweb Surname lists: Piggott, Cummiskey, and Kerslake. In 2009 he was the first Bissett male to submit a Y-DNA test to Family Tree DNA, and now runs the highly successful Bissett DNA project for FTDNA.

Kerstens, the executive director of the Plymouth (Michigan) Historical Museum, remains the managing editor of the National Genealogical Society Magazine and a speaker at the upcoming NGS Family History Conference in Cincinnati, 9-12 May 2012

This page was last modified Saturday, 15-Sep-2012 08:48:38 CDT