What the Future Holds
Yesterday, I stumbled onto the planned end date for the “old” Source Linker.
“👉️New update: For the past five months, we've offered Source Linker users the ability to switch back and forth between the old and new Source Linker. As of May 31, 2024, the option to toggle back to the old will be removed.👈️
Owner: Stephanie V.Leaders: Stephanie V., mikedavis2, Erik Packard,
Gary J King, ScottSeegmiller, Ashlee C.Created on October 25, 2023102 members”
I immediately tried to find another publication of the announcement. Couldn’t find one. That left me incredulous. My mind started spin out of control. I could not imagine FamilySearch would expose such a humongous, earth-shattering transition, in such an obscure location, only. Please tell me where else this was published!
This style, forcing, is a common choice for moving “old” users to a new interface quickly and completely. The goal is to minimize the cost of supporting multiple versions. Bottom line: replace existing (not “old”, because it is and was the current version 1 day ago) code with “new” (incompletely tested in general, and specifically backward compatibly) code on the cheap. Apart from everything else, existing (“old”?) users (patrons) see this as a demunition of their value to the supplier of the software.
The forcing style of replacing existing functionality with new functionality creates huge problems. The cost of these problems usually exceeds the cost of supporting both versions of the software. This is particularly true when the scope of the functionality is broad and complex. If anything, the scope of Source Linker is broad and complex.
Naïve, but successful, software suppliers frequently charge into forcing transitions. Please don’t be offended by my use of the word naïve. This group includes Microsoft. They are a “frequent flier” in this approach. A couple of examples are: Microsoft Office 2007 introduction of the “ribbon” interface and Windows 10 forced (never optional) automatic updates.
When Microsoft does this, the fiasco is widely attributed to hubris. When asked how they can get away with that behavior, Microsoft has stated "Because We are Microsoft". This is one reason why Microsoft is disliked by so many. They get away with it because of their commanding market share. And, because they are Microsoft.
The ramifications for a hard “cutover” to a newer version of Source Linker are manefold. The institutional knowledge of the older version will disappear overnight. You will have to update all training material because the business processes addressed will almost always use Source Linker. Your Missionaries doing support for FamilySearch.com will not know much about the newer version of Source Linker. You will have to identify all Source Linker documentation on the WWW, (World Wide Web), from all sources, and decide what to do with them. I’m sure your users and staff could add a multitude of additional examples.
I’m not extending this list here until I know it is of interest to someone at FamilySearch. Other people should add to the list by posting here.
Honestly you, FamilySearch, have already insulted me. You seem to think “For the past five months, we've offered Source Linker users the ability to switch back and forth between the old and new Source Linker.” justifies what you are doing. It does not! Any change of this magnitude should be announced widely at least 6 months prior to a target drop dead date. Let users know up front the target date may slip to deal with important issues.
Questions: Why wasn’t this highlighted at RootsTech? Was the most expert user of Source Linker in the world involved in the transition? Will you take serious actions to address user issues rapidly? Why will you force a transition when support of the toggle already exists? Is some other change dependent on the Newer Version of Source Linker? Is that change launching a for profit entity to take FamilySearch into the competive market?
I doubt this post, even if it receives substantial support, will change the trajectory the FamilySearch plan to replace the Legacy Source Linker with the Next Gen Source Linker with a hard cutover on 31 May 2024. If that happens buckle your seatbelts, we’re in for a bumpy ride.
Comments
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@Douglas McPhaden This announcement is at the top of every page when you are using the Source Linker.
- After May 31, 2024, the link to old Source Linker will no longer be available. For support, visit the Source Linker Community page.
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Hello Douglas, I am sorry to hear you are unhappy with the new source linker and the no-further-choice implementation date.
Speaking as a missionary I would like to address your statement:
"Your Missionaries doing support for FamilySearch.com will not know much about the newer version of Source Linker".
On the contrary, ROC and VROC Missionaries helped "iron out" the inevitable glitches that are inherent in newly introduced software by using the Feed Back button when we encountered problems. I am happy to say that the software currently works beautifully and SAVES TIME by being able to make informational changes to the details/person page (you can see visually left to right if typos have been made or info not added) while adding the source citation, therefore not having do a separate step/operation to add/change information to the details/person page, where errors can easily occur, i.e. faulty memory, incorrectly notating the new information to paper and typos
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Multiple posts in various places have mentioned that the impetus for the new source linker, much of which is just cosmetic, was the fact that the source platform underlying the old one was so old that it cannot be updated and will soon be totally non-functional. Shifting to an up to date platform had to be done.
I've been using the new source linker exclusively for the past five months. It works great. I really like the addition of the side panel where either the full indexed source information can be seen while still in the source linker or the full profile information for a person can be seen.
If you ignore the change in typeface and colors, the actual functioning of the two versions is so similar that the instructions for the old (because it is over ten years old) existing one can be read and used with the new (because it is five months old) existing one with hardly any trouble at all.
Regarding testing, you might notice here in the group that there are eleven pages of posts regarding the new source linker stretching back to October 2023.
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response to:
@Douglas McPhaden This announcement is at the top of every page when you are using the Source Linker.
- After May 31, 2024, the link to old Source Linker will no longer be available. For support, visit the Source Linker Community page.
Indeed! Sorry about that. I did not see it. It should have been shouted from the roof tops. A color would have helped me. I too am disabled and have a few diminished skills, typing among them. Thank you for responding.
P.S. I don't know how to post in response to another post. Would someone send me a link, or the instructions. TIA
I apologize for my naiveté about leaving feedback to feedback. I will work on my responses soon.0 -
A color would have helped me.
It has a big blue Information button (white i in blue button). I know blue is difficult for some to see.
To respond to any comment in this thread, just type in the "Leave a Comment" box.0
