“Earlier this month, we reported on what fans of The Office had originally believed to be a spin-off revival, noting that it actually looked like something involving Apple,” Chance Miller reports for 9to5Mac. “Today, that project has officially been released in the form of an ad for Apple subsidiary FileMaker.”
“The ad stars actors Kate Flannery, Leslie David Baker and Paul Lieberstein who all had key roles in The Office. It somewhat follows the format of the failed spin-off of The Office, called The Farm,” Miller reports. “Flannery, Baker, and Liberstein are all working on a beet farm, using FileMaker software to power it all.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The Office had a spin-off?
As if Apple cares about business software.
Their profits (and thus attention) comes from disposable electronic devices.
Macs, disappearing side show.
Enterprise yes, and the existing Mac line is excellent for small business…. apple cynics, conspirists and cheapskates can never be satisfied
A beet farm? Why not a server farm?
Few outside of those of us who love and depend on FileMaker will sit through that. I mean, that was bad. And in the end you have no idea how powerful a development environment it is. It’s great for rapid prototyping as well as full blown database application delivery. It’s a great platform and you can provide mobile solutions. Solutions can also be delivered via the web. It doesn’t sound sexy, but when a client wants applications built quickly to support business processes and workflow, that allows him to be in the field gathering info, and you have a working prototype in a couple of days, it speaks volumes. It is everything that COBOL used to be in the old days for in house development, while managing to offer modern solutions in a mobile and cloud based world. They also provide for keeping your server in the cloud, but you can collocate a MacMini running FileMaker Server for much cheaper.
Large user community, support services, and yearly developer convention.
Or just remember there’s a farm somewhere with beats and rutabagas and there’s some people from a tv show, and they shoot drones with shotguns because they hate birds.
Yes! Been using it since version 2. I am by no means a power user but what a great database program. Easy to use and so easy to make good looking databases.
My latest project is a Filemaker app on my iPhone. Was unhappy with the choices out there for tracking diet and health stats and the way they worked or limited customization. So I created my own database with how I wanted it to work and then saved out my personal FileMaker Go App. Love it.
As an Apple subsidiary, why is FileMaker not available for download in the App Store nor showcased on Apple’s website? It is only shown as an “iPhone Accessory/Point of Sale” item on Apple’s website.
I doubt it could be in the App Store. I don’t think it would fit into the sandboxed development restrictions required for App Store apps. It does way too much to stick to those rules.
That said, I sometimes wonder why Apple doesn’t push it more. I guess there’s some belief that would be more harm than help? Perhaps they are afraid some IT staff would say: “Oh, look, it’s the Apple database, so it must be a toy.” If so, I think that’s almost backwards now. Enterprise IT has become more respectful of Apple’s skills, right? Why not use that to help give FileMaker a nudge. Then again, the people for whom Apple’s endorsement would help might already _know_ FileMaker is a wholly-owned Apple subsidiary, so maybe the only people who don’t know are people for whom knowing wouldn’t help the product.
Either way, I hope FileMaker Inc. and Apple are looking at data that supports their actions/inactions.
Sorry. I failed to see that FileMaker is also a “Mac Accessory” on Apple’s website. Still, why is it not mentioned in the same breath as Apple’s other office software?