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Latest News

Check back here occasionally if you want to keep up with the latest news on our products, updates, fixes, and beta test programs. Better yet, join one of our Mailing Lists and the news will come right to you in your email inbox.

News updated December 23, 2009

  • GedStar Pro V3.3 has been released. This will be the final release of the product (see below). It contains a few bug fixed related to GEDCOM conversion for some recent genealogy products (e.g., Family Tree Maker 2008 and later).
  • GedStar Pro V3.2 and V3.3 will work with The Master Genealogist V8 without further updates.

Considering that it's been two years since the last news update, it's obvious that things are winding down around here. The platform for which GedStar was developed -- PalmOS -- is no longer installed on any currently-available product. So now is as good a time as any to officially end development of this product line.

In case you're not aware of it, GHCS Software actually consists just of myself working from my home PC. I had over 40 years of software development experience before retiring in 2008, but have enjoyed developing and supporting these products as much as anything that I did professionally. Since retiring, I hardly use my own PDA anymore and have never been much of a phone user, so even though I've fielded many requests for a similar app for iPhones, Blackberries, Android phones, etc., it just isn't worth the learning time and expense of the development tools to press forward from here. After all, I mainly started developing GedStar for my own genealogical research use on my own Palm Pilot, so that's the only type of device that I have interest or experience with.

I'd like to thank my loyal customers for the kind comments about my products that I've received over the years. I really do like knowing that my work has been useful to others, as it has been to myself. I will continue to offer support for the products indefinitely, but will not be able to do any further development on them. I have been stuck with running Windows XP on my PC mainly because my development tools will not work on Vista or Windows 7 and it would be too expensive in time and money to replace them once I upgrade my PC in the next few months.

Again, good luck in your genealogical research. If you still have a PalmOS PDA or phone and find GedStar Pro to still be useful to you, I'd enjoy hearing your stories. Thanks again for your support of my products!

- Doug Gordon

News updated November 25, 2007

  • GedStar Pro V3.2 has been released, with improved Vista compatibility and a number of minor improvements and new features. If you are a current or potential customer, download and install the latest version from the download page (free update to all registered users).

News updated March 3, 2007

  • Some problems have been reported in installing and using our products under the newly-released Microsoft Vista™ operating system. The upcoming V3.2 release should address some of these issues. However, Palm Inc. themselves have indicated a problem with the Palm Desktop software that is used to install third-party applications and databases. This may prevent your GedStar Pro data from being synced to your handheld under Vista. See the Palm website for further news on when they will fix this issue.

News updated May 8, 2006

  • Have you ever thought about having your family history set to music? Well, singer-songwriter Tom Russell did just that with his CD, The Man From God Knows Where. Read more about it on our new Media Page.

News updated March 5, 2006

  • The first item of news is this website itself. We have totally redesigned the site to be consistent across all of our product offerings, and to be easier to navigate. Although we have tried to check everything, there is always the possibility of broken links or pages that do not work right. We would appreciate it if you let us know through the contact form or direct email if you find any problems.
  • There is a V3.1c update for GedStar Pro available from the Product Updates page. It fixes some specific problems, but also has some enhancements for Treo smartphones and some of the latest Palm PDAs. These changes will eventually be rolled into V3.2, but you can get a jump on them by updating now.
  • Our mailing lists continue to grow in membership. They can be a channel for users to communicate with each other, and for us to distribute the latest news, updates, and tips.