Microsoft Office consists of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Depending upon the version of Microsoft Office you purchase, it also might include OneNote, Outlook, Microsoft Publisher, or Skype. First launched in 1988, Microsoft Office has become the de facto word processing and office management software standard of the computer industry. Softpedia reported (at http://goo.gl/bGu7Dl) that Office is used by more than a billion people worldwide. As popular as the Microsoft Office suite has become, it still is not "the best" office suite of programs for everyone. In fact, Microsoft Office has some very good competitors.

Perhaps the biggest threat to Microsoft's dominance isn't pricing, however. I find that Microsoft Office is rapidly becoming obsolete. 

Microsoft Office has added many new features over the years, but its primary use hasn't changed much over the years. The computing world is changing rapidly, and yet Microsoft hasn't kept up.

Since its introduction in 1988, Microsoft Office has become bloated as more and more features were added by various teams of programmers. It also has become slower, despite the fact that today's computers are much, much faster than those of 36 years ago. Perhaps the biggest drawback, however, is the price. Unlike most other computer software, Microsoft Office remains as a very expensive product. The lowest-priced version, Microsoft Office Home & Student, sells for $99.99 on Amazon while Office Professional sells for much more with the price varying from one retailer to the next. If you shop around, you can find discounts from those prices; but the bottom-line price will still be much higher than any of several excellent alternative programs.

I used Microsoft Office for years and even paid for upgrades every time a new version was released. I eventually discovered free and open source software that did most of the same functions as Microsoft Office. The free programs have matured over the years and are now easy to install, easier to use than the Microsoft product, and generally faster in operation. My current favorite is LibreOffice (http://www.libreoffice.org/) although Apache OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org/) is also an excellent choice. Both are available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. 

That being said, I am now using the Windows and Macintosh versions of Microsoft Office alternatives less and less.

A few million people, myself included, have found that tablet computers provide much of the functionality of desktop and laptop computers, but they are far more convenient to use. These are excellent devices for reading and writing email messages, surfing the web, and reading ebooks, wherever you are. 

While prices vary, many of today's tablet computers also cost much less than their desktop and laptop cousins. When tablet computers first appeared, they were low-powered devices with limited capabilities. However, that has changed over the years, and today's $300 to $500 tablet computers perform many of the functions of much more expensive computers. Even better, the mobile tablet is easily carried most anywhere and is available whenever its owner wishes.

Office suites for mobile devices—such as tablets—have been available for several years although the early versions had limited functionality. They could display most Microsoft Word documents or perhaps even Excel documents, but they weren't good at creating or editing such documents. They were useful primarily as file viewers.

The mobile office suites kept adding new features, however. Within a very few years, these programs became powerful—nearly as powerful as Microsoft Office, LibreOffice, or OpenOffice. For many people, a tablet computer with a mobile office suite can perform all the functions they need. The price of these mobile office suites? Always much cheaper than Microsoft Office. Some of the better ones are even available free of charge.

When someone now sends me an email message with an attached file, I can read the email message on a tablet computer or even on a "smartphone," then tap on the attached file link, and the document appears on my screen. The result is a bit difficult to read on a tiny cell phone screen but works well on a tablet's larger display. In fact, with today's full-sized tablet computer, reading a document or spreadsheet on the tablet is as easy as reading the same thing on a desktop computer's screen. It doesn't take long to realize you have little use for the bulky desktop computer. Even the three to six-pound laptop that requires a long time to boot up is becoming less and less attractive.

A few years ago, tablets and cell phones could only be used to read documents. However, today's office software allows the user to create new documents as well as to edit existing ones. With the addition of a keyboard, a one or two-pound tablet computer becomes a great tool for the (mobile) office. I take mine to libraries and archives to take notes and to transcribe documents as needed.

NOTE: The obvious big disadvantage to tablet computers are the on-screen "keyboards." Some of them are difficult to type on. Luckily, a number of vendors sell Bluetooth keyboards that are as useful as keyboards found on laptops. I use an external keyboard that is the same size as my favorite tablet computer, and it easily slides into a carrying case that I purchased. The combination of tablet computer, keyboard, and carrying case easily slips into a briefcase, purse, or even an overcoat pocket. This combination has become my preferred "traveling computer."

Based on the history of other Microsoft products, I suspect there are several things we can expect for the next version of Microsoft Office: the new software will be bloated, slow, and more difficult to use than competitive products. I will read the product announcement and early reviews closely to see if my guess is correct. I would love to try Office for iPad on someone else's tablet. However, I doubt if I will ever purchase my own copy.

I haven't tried all the available Office-compatible products for tablet computers and cell phones. However, of the several I did try, I prefer Liberoffice. It doesn't do everything that Microsoft Office can do; but, in the few months I have been using Libreoffice, it has done everything I have needed. I have not yet seen a need to go back to Microsoft Office or any of its laptop or desktop competitors. Libreoffice can work with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. It reads and writes .DOC, .DOCX, and several other file formats.Libreoffice also includes a rather good spell checker and most other expected features. 

I also have installed Libreoffice on my cell phone. I find the tiny screen and lack of a real keyboard make it difficult to create new documents. I certainly would not want to write "the great American novel" on the cell phone! However, it works well for reading documents and for making (brief) edits.

Best of all, Libreoffice for Android and Apple's iOS mobile computers is available free of charge. Google Docs will save files directly to Google Drive and can also save files via a two-step process to Dropbox and to most other cloud storage services. As a result, anything you create or edit in Google Docs is immediately available to your other computers as well as to anyone else you allow to share documents with you.

Google Docs was originally created by an independent company that was later acquired by Google. The new owners have improved the original product significantly, added new functionality, and integrated it with Google's other products. All this was done without adding significant bloat or slowing down the original product.

There is no "pro" version or any other enticement to spend money. The free version of Google Docs. Libreoffice, and most of the other “clones” contains everything. 

It will be interesting to watch the upcoming battle between Microsoft Office and Google Docs. The history of computers has shown that power and capabilities keep expanding as the hardware keeps shrinking in size. Prices also keep dropping. In battles like these, consumers are the ones who benefit.

This article was written in Libreoffice on an iPad, using an external keyboard.

Read all about it at: https://blog.myheritage.com/2024/11/black-friday-starts-now-get-myheritage-dna-kits-for-the-lowest-price-ever/. 

The RNLI is partnering with Ancestry to celebrate 200 years of saving lives at sea by making thousands of the charity’s historic records accessible to the public for free*.

Ancestry’s partnership with the RNLI will see two centuries of RNLI records digitised and hosted on Ancestry.co.uk for the first time, streamlining a process that previously required manually searching through two hundred years of physical documents. The public will now have access to browse the online archive of records and discover if the RNLI has changed the course of their own family history.

John May, 66 years of age, followed in the footsteps of his grandfather when he became RNLI crew at Fraserburgh. John idolised his grandfather, John Downie May, who was coxswain at Fraserburgh RNLI and helped with countless life-saving missions as part of the charity.

John May, commented:

‘Being able to explore the records of my grandfather is invaluable. It is amazing to see records of his time in the RNLI and see the footsteps he laid out before me. I am so proud to follow his journey with the RNLI, knowing that my grandfather, father and I shared the same passion for the sea.’

From crew cards of RNLI crew, records of rescues, to records of volunteer awards and gallantry medals given for brave acts of courage, these valuable records can help people to unlock unknown parts of their history, with the documents dating and locating family members of the past, and in some instances providing imagery too.

Simon Pearce, Family History Expert at Ancestry said:

'We are thrilled to celebrate the RNLI's 200th anniversary by digitising its invaluable records. This project not only honours the charity’s rich history but also makes these important resources freely accessible to everyone, allowing families and researchers to connect with their maritime heritage like never before.'

David Welton, Heritage Manager at RNLI, said:

'We are very excited to be making parts of our extensive archive collection available to the public for the very first time. Opening access will mean many will discover their family connection to the RNLI and explore records of their ancestors in our collection. We are grateful to Ancestry for allowing us to make this happen and for it to be in our 200th year of lifesaving makes it even more special.'

Key facts about the RNLI

The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.

Learn more about the RNLI

For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.

Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries

Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.

A man who passed a polygraph test over the 1979 murder of a 17-year-old girl in California has now been identified as her suspected killer.

On Wednesday, Nov. 20, the Riverside County District Attorney’s (DA) Office confirmed in a release that Lewis Randolph “Randy” Williamson had been identified as teenager Esther Gonzalez's rapist and killer more than 45 years after her body was found dumped in a snowpack off Highway 243 near Banning on Feb. 10, 1979. She was killed the previous day, per the release.

"Authorities determined she had been raped and bludgeoned to death," the DA's office said in the statement, adding that "forensic genealogy" had helped them confirm the identify of the suspect decades after the killing.

The release stated that the victim had been murdered while "walking from her parents’ house in Beaumont to her sister’s house in Banning."

RIVERSIDE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

"Esther’s body was found after an unidentified man, described by deputies as argumentative, called the Riverside County Sheriff’s Station in Banning to report finding a body, saying he didn’t know if it was a male or female," authorities said.

"Five days later, sheriff’s investigators were able to identify the caller as Lewis Randolph 'Randy' Williamson and asked him to take a polygraph. He agreed and passed which, at the time, cleared him of any wrongdoing," they added.

Through the years, investigators have continued to work on the case, and "eventually uploaded a semen sample from the crime scene into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS)," the DA's office said.

"In 2023, members of the cold case homicide team sent various items of evidence to Othram, Inc. in Texas, initiating a Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy investigation, in hopes of developing additional leads," authorities continued in the release. 

"Earlier this year, a crime analyst assigned to the cold case team determined that, although Williamson was seemingly cleared by the polygraph in 1979, he was never cleared through DNA because the technology had not yet been developed," the DA's office added.

Williamson died in 2014 and a blood sample was collected during his autopsy. 

"With the assistance of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, the sample was sent to the California Department of Justice (DOJ). DOJ recently confirmed that Williamson’s DNA matches the DNA recovered from Esther’s body," the release concluded.

The investigation continues, and the Riverside County Regional Cold Case Homicide Team is now seeking information from anyone who knew the suspect.

I often hear genealogists make states similar to this: “I don't trust digital media for long-term storage so I am going to use paper and ink to make sure my data lasts for a long, long time.” 

Indeed, there is a lot of truth to that sentiment. I can point out a few problems, such as storing audio or video recordings, but the idea of storing information on paper certainly has a lot of appeal to genealogists, historians, and others who are concerned with long-term preservation. Paper documents are simple, easy to produce, and last a long time. Or do they? 

With today's acid-based paper and water-based inkjet cartridges or plastic-and-carbon based laser toner cartridges, the life expectancy of most paper documents you produce on a home computer's printer may be twenty-five years or less. Luckily, there are ways to extend that longevity.

First, use archival quality paper. The archival paper is produced without acid and has a high "rag content." That is, archival paper is made mostly from recycled fabrics, not wood chips that were bonded together in an acid bath. 

Before the 1850s, linen and cotton rag were the primary material source for paper making. That paper lasted for many years. However, the process was expensive, and paper producers soon learned how to make paper by a cheaper method, using a readily available material: wood. 

Paper made from wood-based pulp that has not had its lignin removed turns yellow and deteriorates over time. When exposed to light and/or heat, the molecules in the acidic paper will break down even faster. Paper made from wood-based pulp first became popular in the very late 1800s and would last 30 to 50 years before deteriorating. The first person to report the problem in a scholarly journal was William Barrow, a librarian. He published a report in the 1930s about the deterioration of acidic paper in the books stored in libraries. It is interesting to note that the 1930s was about 50 years after acid-based paper went into widespread use. 

Today most all paper is made from wood pulp by use of acid baths. That paper won't last long enough for your grandchildren to read it when they become your age. A much better choice is to purchase archival quality paper that is still made the old-fashioned way: from linen and cotton. That paper is significantly more expensive than the standard "copier paper" that most of us use, but the expense is worth it for anything you wish to preserve. Perhaps the best plan is to purchase a single ream of archival quality paper and keep it on the shelf. You might want to use the cheaper paper for everyday printing tasks but replace the acid-based paper in your printer with archival paper only when printing something that you wish to preserve for a few generations.

Archival quality paper is available at most larger office supply stores as well as from many online merchants. Make sure you read the label on the product closely to see if it is true "archival quality paper."

The question of paper is easy to solve: read the label closely and be prepared to pay a higher price. However, the question of appropriate inks is much more difficult to solve. After all, what good is the paper if the ink on it fades within a few years?

The easiest printer question to solve concerns laser printers, all of which use some sort of laser toner. The answer is simple: Don't do it! There is no such thing as archival quality toner. 

Comment: If you ever spilled laser toner on your fingers or on your clothing, you might think that it remains there forever! However, scientists assure us that this is not the case. 

Early laser printers used toner that was simply carbon powder. The user poured the toner from a bottle into a reservoir in the machine. Unfortunately, inhaling airborne carbon particles creates health problems, and the printer industry soon switched to polymer (plastic) toner. The specific polymer used varies by manufacturer, but it can be a styrene acrylate copolymer, a polyester resin, a styrene butadiene copolymer, or a few other special polymers. Toner formulations vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and even from machine to machine.

The problem with laser toner is that it sticks to the outside of the paper. That is, toner does not get absorbed into the paper's fibers in the manner of traditional ink. Over a period of time, the toner will "flake off" and no longer be attached to the paper.

To test this for yourself, take a document printed with a laser printer on typical (cheap) paper. Get a roll#230 drafting tape, preferably one inch wide or wider, available at most any office supply store or from Amazon (ASIN B000HF03NW). Turn back a half-inch of the end of the tape, adhesive side to adhesive side, to form a tab or handle. Tear off the piece of tape about 4 inches long, and smooth it onto the laser-printed document with four fingers of one hand. Pull the tab back along the top of the remainder of the tape, making a 180-degree peel test. If any toner is visible on the adhesive side of the tape, you will understand that the toner was not absorbed into the paper. If you perform the same test on a document produced on an inkjet printer or written by hand, you will see little or no ink on the tape. Make sure the ink is thoroughly dry before testing, however. I'd suggest drying the ink-based document for twenty-four hours before testing. 

The laser toner sticks to paper better if the printer's fuser works at a higher temperature. However, high-temperature fusers are typically found only in office printers costing several thousands of dollars. The lower-cost, lower-temperature fusers are found in consumer-grade laser printers that you find at your local computer store.

Ink is better than laser because the ink will be absorbed into the paper, producing a longer lasting image. In fact, ink is absorbed better in rag-based, archival quality paper than in the acid-base “copier paper” typically used in laser printers. The problem with most of today's (inexpensive) ink cartridges is that the inks used are water-based. Such inks will fade. The ink may still be absorbed into the paper, but who can see faded ink?

So, you have two problems: laser toner "flakes off," and water-based inkjet inks will fade. What can the genealogist do?

The answer is simple: use archival quality inkjet cartridges and print on archival quality paper. Archival ink-jet ink bonds better to paper than does water-based ink or laser printer toner. While this sounds simple, you may encounter some complexities in doing so.

The biggest problem is that archival quality inkjet cartridges are difficult to find. In fact, you may never find them for cheaper inkjet printers. The majority of consumers who purchase cheap printers don't seem to be concerned with archival quality documents; so, the manufacturers find very few markets for archival quality ink cartridges for the cheaper printers. I guess the "majority" doesn't include genealogists! You can, however, find archival quality cartridges for the more expensive inkjet printers, the printers that cost several hundred dollars or more.

A more reasonable approach for most of us is to first purchase a (cheap) water-based inkjet cartridge and then to use it daily. Once the original ink is exhausted, you can refill the cartridge with archival quality refill ink, which is available from many sources. You can find many archival quality inkjet cartridges and refill kits by starting at http://www.google.com/products?q=archival+inkjet+refill+-paper.

NOTE: This method of refilling cartridges will not work for some of the newer inkjet printers that are designed to make it difficult to refill the cartridges. Printer manufacturers typically make more profit on the sale of inkjet cartridges than on the sale of printers. Therefore, in order to maximize profits, some inkjet printer manufacturers now include circuitry inside the cartridges to track the usage of ink. These cartridges will stop working after a while, even if you refill them. The electronics inside the cartridge will “shut the cartridge down” so that it no longer functions, even if it is refilled. It is a shoddy method of business but is becoming widespread amongst many of the printer manufacturers.

The reality is that all of today's high-tech solutions for producing printed documents with the hope of lasting for a long time include some significant drawbacks. You can improve the life expectancy of your computer-printed documents by a careful selection of paper, printers, and ink. However, none of today's computer printers are capable of producing documents that will last for centuries. 

The only way to preserve documents that long is to use the old fashioned method: a fountain pen, archival quality ink, and archival quality paper. Don't even think of using a ballpoint pen!

A high stool, sleeve garters, and a green eyeshade are optional.

Since 1989, 3,615 individuals convicted of crimes have been exonerated in the U.S., freed after their conviction was reversed. Post-conviction DNA testing played a part in 606 of these exonerations.

Milwaukee brothers Robert and David Bintz became the latest additions to this disturbing list on September 25, after investigative genetic genealogy (IGG)—which relies on genealogical and genetic data to reverse engineer family trees—helped reveal the true perpetrator of the crime. In many ways, their cases are typical of other wrongful convictions: false confessions and jailhouse informants provided the primary evidence against them at trial. Yet their stories are unusual because of the underlying investigative method essential to their exonerations.

The Bintz brothers are only the third and fourth individuals exonerated with the help of IGG. While the revolutionary investigative technique has, since its inception in 2018, primarily helped identify human remains and perpetrators of violent crimes, the dual exonerations of the Bintz brothers demonstrate its power as a tool of justice generally. It’s one that more wrongful conviction organizations should pursue. The case is also a testament to the need for legislative reform to address injustices in Wisconsin’s criminal legal system, particularly for those who are found innocent after serving time in prison.

On August 3, 1987, Sandra Lison—a mother of two—disappeared from the Good Times Tavern in Green Bay, Wis., where she worked as a bartender. The following morning, hikers discovered Lison’s body in a nearby forest. She had been strangled, and police noted the presence of semen, which was later found to match a blood spot found on Lison’s dress. For 11 years, law enforcement was unable to identify a viable suspect in the case.

Then, in 1998, while serving time for an unrelated crime, David Bintz’s cellmate claimed that David had made incriminating statements about Lison in his sleep. The cellmate (and others) claimed that David also implicated his brother, Robert, in the crime. Under interrogation, David confirmed the statements, even as he also denied involvement in the crime. Reviewing their notes from the initial investigation, law enforcement discovered that David and Robert had bought beer from Lison on the night of her disappearance and had been upset about the price difference between a case of beer and four six-packs. With this confession and motive evidence, the two brothers were each tried for Lison’s murder.

At trial, the prosecution knew that the only DNA evidence in the case, which came from semen and blood on the victim, excluded the Bintz brothers. Thus they argued that both substances were unrelated to Lison’s death. Despite no physical evidence tying them to the scene, the brothers were each convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

In 2019 the Great North Innocence Project (GNIP) took on the case of Robert Bintz, convinced that the DNA evidence from the crime scene was the key to his exoneration—and to the identification of the true perpetrator.

Just a year before, IGG had made headlines for helping to identify Joseph James DeAngelo as the Golden State Killer and Marcia King as the Jane Doe previously known as Buckskin Girl. GNIP had followed the development of IGG as it played a role in the 2019 exoneration of Christopher Tapp, and the group recognized its potential to help exonerate the Bintz brothers.

You can read more at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/genetic-genealogy-can-stop-violent-criminals-and-free-the-wrongly-convicted/ .

The Allen County Public Library is the first library in the world to roll out Vintage Aerial, Library Edition, a genealogical tool that patrons can use for free, officials said.

The library and the Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana on Wednesday launched Vintage Aerial, Library Edition, with a celebratory event with live demonstrations and time to ask the resource’s leaders questions. The digital resource offers access to thousands of historical aerial images.

“Users can explore these images to discover personal, family and community stories, making it an invaluable tool for genealogists, historians and anyone interested in local history,” the library said in a news release.

Vintage Aerial has 54,000 historical aerial images from Allen County and more than 19 million from across the country, the release said. The images are from the 1960s through the early 2000s.

Vintage Aerial, based in Maumee, Ohio, says on its website that it is designed to capture “a time in American history when life revolved around rural communities and small farms.”

“Our common American heritage happened in that time, in those rural communities,” the website says. “We want to share the period preserved in these photos, and the memories they represent, with the generations who came too late to experience it firsthand.”

The resource can be accessed by patrons at the library’s 14 locations. It is included in the Genealogy Center’s on-site databases.

The Library Edition is free and has more robust searching features than the Vintage Aerial website, Curt Witcher, director of special collections, said in an email.

“We are excited to be working with Vintage Aerial to bring an amazing historical resource to the genealogists we serve,” Witcher said in a statement. “As the first library to offer this extensive database, we are pleased to assist patrons in discovering the historical context of their families’ lives and help them find more of their stories.”

Book Review: DNA for Native American Genealogy

by Roberta Estes. Genealogical Publishing Co., 2021. 176 pages.

The following book review was written by Bobbi King:

Roberta Estes is a popular lecturer and master educator on Native American research. She writes her blog https://dna-explained.com where a wealth of information offers researchers the latest methodologies and resources for genealogists exploring their Native American heritage. 

Ms. Estes, a prodigious author on genetic genealogy, is featured prominently at the Native Heritage Project at www.nativeheritageproject.com. Her authority on Native genealogy is grounded in meticulous research and historical context.

DNA for Native American Genealogy fills a critical gap in genealogy research, addressing the unique challenges and opportunities in researching Native ancestry. The book is divided into major sections: 

“Seeking Native Ancestors” is a discussion of tribal membership and the First Nations of Canada, cultural appropriation, and the Genealogical Proof Standard;

“Ethnicity and Population Genetics” is a discussion of the DNA complexities of tracing and discovering Native ancestry;

“DNA Testing Vendors and Autosomal Tools” is a discussion of the advantages and unique information available from the four major DNA vendors;

“Mitochondrial DNA - Ancient and Modern” and “Y DNA - Ancient and Modern” analyzes and interprets the different DNA tests utilized in researching Native American heritage; and 

“Your Roadmap and Checklist” is a short, helpful, chapter guide for charting the tasks, tools, and status of your project.

A glossary defines the scientific terms and clarifies the DNA terminology.

The generous use of charts, graphs, illustrations and maps offer visual aids that complement the technical instruction. Plenty of white space rests the eye and eases the comprehension for the brain, and provides plenty of space for personal note-taking.

The author has balanced science, history, and cultural perspective to offer a research guide that is informative as well as enlightening.

DNA for Native American Genealogy is available from the  publisher, Genealogical Publishing Co., at: https://genealogical.com/store/dna-for-native-american-genealogy/.

Learning of early Rowan County immigrants and tips for success in researching one’s ancestors were part of the second annual genealogy conference.  The conference, entitled, “Overcoming Obstacles: Insights to Genealogical Success,” was held in the auditorium at the Rowan Public Library West Branch in Cleveland, Ohio with more than 20 people in attendance.

Dr. Gary Freeze and Rhonda Roederer served as the presenters for the Nov. 16 event.  RPL History Room Supervisor Gretchen Witt said that in addition to the library, the genealogical society was co-hosting this second annual conference and it is anticipated they will have another next year.  She and Paul Birkhead, reference librarian, were there providing assistance and answering questions to those in attendance.  

As noted on the program, Freeze is a retired history professor from Catawba College. A widely recognized historian of the North Carolina Piedmont and early North Carolina history, he is the author of a North Carolina history textbook, Freeze is currently part of a project to write a new history of Rowan County.

Read more at: https://www.salisburypost.com/2024/11/20/conference-provides-history-tips-for-genealogical-success/.