Ok, so my Fiance has been really getting into researching our family tree. She asked me yesterday, that perhaps a christmas present could be some good geneology software. The problem is I have no idea what software is good and what software sucks. Being that I've never in my life even been remotely interested in the whole family tree thing, I'm asking you guys for help. So basically does anyone have any suggestions?

I'm not sure what kind of fxnality you're looking for, but Ancestry.com is the authoritative online source for genealogy. It's run by the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As is Familysearch.org. The nice thing about Ancestry, though, is that it integrates with MyFamily.com for creating family trees, sharing data with other family members, etc. They are also the company that drove my old company out of business.

EDIT: Upon researching FamilySearch.org, I found that their search is free, which I didn't realize, and their help section mentions the following:

The information will be downloaded in GEDCOM format, which can be used with Personal Ancestral File and other family history record-keeping software.

I'm downloading Personal Ancestral File right now to check it out.

- trs

I've always used Family Tree Maker. The software is decent and it has some good features for uploading your family tree to their internet database. Don't buy their database CDs though. They're a rehash of public records or the family trees from their online database.

Cool, thanks guys, I'll check into all this.

Ditto on Family Tree Maker, although I used that for my 7th grade geneology project over 10 years ago, so the program may have changed by now

That was a fun project. I learned that a great-great-great(etc) grandfather of mine changed his name to escape the law (the name I have now)