What do we mean by features in genealogy programs?

Looking at almost any advertisement or Webpage for a genealogy program and somewhere it will mention the product's "features." Generally, these features are functions of the programs that
are highlighted by the promotional materials. For one example, if you
look at the Family Tree Maker Website,
you will see a link to product features. Often, the features of a
program are used to differentiate it from similar competing programs.
Like all advertised products, product differentiation is big issue.
There is always an attempt to correlate more features with a better
product.

Going back to my long use of the Personal Ancestral File (PAF) program, I realize that there were a lot of the "features" of the
program that I never used. A example would be the ability to input an
address for anyone in the file. I can imagine ways to use this feature,
but I can't remember ever using it. I think most genealogists would
consider PAF
to a be a fairly basic program but even as a basic program it has a few
features that probably almost never get used. A feature PAF had that
gave it an advantage; it was and is free. One way subsequent programs
have differentiated themselves in the marketplace from PAF is to add
features.
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