SN>> Out of sheer frustration with the currently available
 SN>> offerings, I'm contemplating writing my own genealogy
 SN>> program.

 DN> Ok, although I believe there are some around for OS/2.

there are but i've not looked at them... my father is very heavy into
geneology, too... he's using PAF (from the mormons or latter-day saints, i
don't know which) mainly but has a few others for special circumstances and
exporting to PAF... i/we started with an old (today) copy of brother's
keeper which i liked due to its simplicity and straightforwardness...

 SN>> The various genealogy programs exchange genealogical
 SN>> information by importing/exporting data in GEDCOM format.
 SN>> I propose to begin with the GEDCOM standard, and use its
 SN>> data structure as the basis for my program.  The program
 SN>> would act on the data to enable the user to add, edit,
 SN>> delete, link family members, etc., as well as print
 SN>> various reports and import/export GEDCOMs from/to others.

 DN> Is this standard available to read anywhere?

searching google with "gedcom format standard" (sans quotes)
turns up the following as the first hit...

http://www.gendex.com/gedcom55/55gctoc.htm

it was released Jan 2, 1996 and appears to be the current standard...

)\/(ark