<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18975"></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" id=role_body bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 rightMargin=7 topMargin=7><FONT id=role_document color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Whatever comes from John's proposal or the February RootsTech conference, I hope those involved don't find it necessary to reinvent the wheel.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The underlying genealogical process modelling necessary was completed over ten years ago by the GenTech Data Model Group, a collection of dedicated and talented professionals, both genealogists and programmers. Its final report, a 106-page pdf file, really helped me understand how I do genealogy, even with no interest in developing a genealogical software program. The report can be found at</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><A href="http://xml.coverpages.org/GENTECH-DataModelV11.pdf">http://xml.coverpages.org/GENTECH-DataModelV11.pdf</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>It hasn't gotten much attention recently, but I suspect it has had some positive influence on recent software development--but without the continued collective effort necessary to produce the agreement on specifications for minimally acceptable software, which John has called for.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Donn</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT lang=0 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Donn Devine, CG, CGL<BR>Wilmington DE <BR><BR>CG, Certified Genealogist, CGL, and Certified Genealogical Lecturer are service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board certificants after periodic evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.</FONT></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>