Legacy 3.0 is a very popular and powerful genealogy program. One reason for its popularity is its price: free. Well, actually there are two versions: a free version and a "Deluxe Edition" that sells for $19.95 if you download it online, or $24.95 if you want it shipped to you with a CD-ROM disk and a printed user’s manual. However, the free version certainly is not a demo or "barebones" version; it is a very powerful and complete program all by itself. The Deluxe Edition simply adds some nice touches, including more printed reports, the ability to generate PDF files, advanced sourcing, and the ability to compare two files for duplicates.

For this week’s test, I downloaded the latest free version of Legacy 3.0 onto a Windows XP system. If the free edition works properly under Windows XP, I suspect that the Deluxe Edition will perform in a similar manner.

I can give a step-by-step description of the tests that I ran. However, I can quickly tell you that everything worked perfectly. Legacy 3.0’s operation under Windows XP appeared to be the same as what I have seen previously under Windows 98 and Windows 2000. However, I will give a bit more detail here for those interested:

Create a new database: No problems encountered.

Data entry: No problems encountered. Data entry has always been easy in Legacy, and there were no visible differences when using it with Windows XP.

Enter source documentation: No problems encountered. The free version of Legacy allows for three types of notes: General, Research and Medical. All three are simple text notepads where you can type in anything you want. These are not true source databases. The Deluxe Edition, however, has much more power with its Advanced Sourcing capabilities.

Import of a GEDCOM file: No problems encountered. I imported a file of about three thousand individuals, which only required a couple of minutes to complete on my 550-MHz Celeron system with 128 megabytes of memory. I browsed through the newly imported data and everything appeared to work well. Again, this was the same on Windows XP as I had seen earlier on Windows 98 and Windows 2000.

Export of a GEDCOM file: No problems encountered.

Search for a specific person in the database: No problems encountered. Legacy 3.0 has a very easy search capability, and it worked well under Windows XP.

Search for a source citation: I was not able to test this. There is no such feature in the free edition of Legacy 3.0 although it may exist in the Advanced Sourcing that comes in the Deluxe Edition.

Attach a picture to a person’s record: No problems encountered. Legacy 3.0 has the capability to add pictures, sound files and full motion video. They worked well under Windows XP.

Print a pedigree chart, using graphics: Legacy does not normally print graphics in its pedigree charts. However, I was able to print graphics in the Scrapbook report.

Print a Register-format report: No problems encountered.

Create a multimedia scrapbook: No problems encountered.

Generate a Web page in HTML format, suitable for uploading to a personal home page: No problems encountered. The Web pages have a pleasing appearance.

In short, anyone who uses Legacy 3.0 as his or her genealogy program should not be concerned about upgrading to Windows XP. Everything that I tried when using the program under Windows XP operated exactly the same as when using it with Windows 98 and Windows 2000.

This is not an official "endorsement," however. This testing under Windows XP was done without the knowledge of Millennia Corporation, the producers of Legacy 3.0. The company’s Web site still lists system requirements of Window 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT. I can only offer my own experiences when using Legacy 3.0 on Windows XP.

For a full review of Legacy 3.0, written before its release as a free program, look at my 10 May 2000 newsletter.

For more information about Legacy 3.0, or to download the program, go to: www.legacyfamilytree.com

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