13 Dec 2003 Update: Legacy version 5 is now available. The following review is for the previous version. I have no plans to review version 5 in the near future.
  
Millennia Software's popular Legacy genealogy software comes in two versions: a free Internet download called Standard Edition and a Deluxe Edition with extra functionality that sells for $20(U.S.) The free version is on the Workshop CD.

The Standard Edition almost compares well with other programs such as Family Origins. Deluxe Edition offers more functionality and may come closest to Master Genealogist's feature set, which is high praise indeed.

I say "may" because the free Standard Edition download is so crippled that I couldn't test most of what appeals most about this program. For example, Legacy is the only program reviewed that specifically includes a GPS (global positioning system) feature. But its a calculator I couldn't test, and on the surface a GPS calculator has little appeal.

There are several things about Legacy that suggest it's developers and I are on different pages -- or that they rushed the product through development.

Legacy calls Facts "Events" -- which almost makes sense since births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials are Events. But Legacy carries it too far: an Occupation is a Fact, not an Event. All Events are Facts, but not all Facts are Events, to my way of thinking.

The Help files are nice, but inaccurate. Some features described as Deluxe Edition only, work fine in Standard Edition. That's a nice treat, if you happen to trip over it as I did. But Help files really ought to be more accurate. 

Legacy provides a lot of book publishing options. Thankfully, once you have all the selections toggled to your preferences, Legacy saves that set up for next time.

While Legacy produces very nice charts and nice books, its web site creation feature needs work. It placed all 10,000 of my ancestors and the 600 sources I have for them in a single 900KB HTML file, which takes five minutes to download into a browser at 56Kbps.

That's too slow for anyone, but that's not the biggest problem. There are no links between generations, ensuring that members of the eighth generation have a heck of a job finding their entry. Use this feature at your own risk: cousins will blame you for Legacy's shortcoming. 

How important is Repository/Archive sourcing to you? Legacy assumes it is a bigger deal to you than it has ever been to me, or to any academic I've ever known. I call it overkill. "Too much" is always better than "too little" when it comes to features but several of Legacy's features get in my way, frustrating me, and slowing me down.

Legacy lets users customize the program's primary data entry screens, which is a nice touch. (Help files say this is a Deluxe Edition-only feature, but it worked as advertised in my Standard Edition download.)

Net, there is a lot to Legacy. Something for everyone if you will. But it feels like they added what they could, rather than what they should. My recommendation: Test drive the free download and decide for yourself.