“There are plenty of ‘low code’ tools aimed at people who aren’t professional developers but who need to create apps that are essentially databases with mobile interfaces for collecting and viewing data, filling out forms and connecting to plug-and-play services to add more features,” Mary Branscombe writes for ZDNet. “FileMaker has become a particularly accessible way of doing this (primarily for iOS, but with a slightly lagging set of options for Android and web), and the latest release, FileMaker 17, is aimed very much at this audience.”
MacDailyNews Take: When isn’t Android lagging? From dog-slow off-the-shelf processors to an insecure off-the-rack OS to second- and third-rate ports of iPhone apps, Android is the very definition of lagginess.
“The previous FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Advanced are now combined in a single version, FileMaker Pro Advanced,” Branscombe writes. “FileMaker Server is the on-premises version for multi-user databases and FileMaker Cloud is an AWS-hosted SaaS version for hosting custom apps in the cloud (now getting new features as they’re added to the platform rather than lagging behind), with FileMaker Pro Advanced the vehicle for building the shared databases. Together with FileMaker Go for iOS and FileMaker WebDirect for running web apps, these components make up the FileMaker Platform.”
“FileMaker has always come with starter apps, but as the platform became more powerful, these apps got a little too complicated to provide a good learning experience,” Branscombe writes. “In this release they’re back to being both useful and easy to understand…”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: FileMaker 17 sounds like a winning release from Apple subsidiary FileMaker, Inc.
FileMaker is a nightmare. Get Ninox and get relaxed.
What is the basis for your assertion, Acdb? I am not disputing that Apple can do better, nor am I disputing that Apple has released some less-than-stellar software. But “nightmare” is quite harsh and a judgment of that type deserves some rationale to back it up.
I have not had personal experience with FileMaker for many years. But it generally seems to receive high marks and praise by many. I am truly interested to know why you hate it so much. Similarly, I am interested to know what Ninox (sounds like a new medication – Get Ninox and stop that itch! – is so compelling and relaxing.
FileMaker is by far the best custom enterprise app development for Mac out there. It has evolved into the go to platform for rapid development of both prototype and production apps especially when you want to deliver across MacOS, Windows, and iOS. No ox is good, but nowhere near as flexible and powerful. Ninox can become unwieldy if datasets get to be too large. I have no doubt it will improve. FileMaker on the other hand is a mature platform. It’s so damn useful and important to the Mac, I, honest surprised Tim Cook hasn’t found a way to kill it.
Filemaker Inc is a subsidiary of Apple Inc so I don’t know how much direct involvement Tim Cook has in it but it’s one of the areas where the software has endured, sustained and matured nicely.
Oh I’m sure the CEO can jettison or otherwise interfere with the success or failure of a wholly owned subsidiary. Filemaker is often such a critical part of bringing Macs into a businesses and keeping them there that I’m still surprised he’s left it alone.
I have FMP17 and love it but also considering moving over to a simpler database that is airtable.com.
Wow. I mean, I use Airtable for a very simple, generic interface database for something at home. But, it doesn’t have nearly the customizations that FileMaker allows. The organization I work for has a massive FileMaker system, and the flexibility and fast-development features let us put together powerful custom-built components on a very short timeline.
Use cases for everything, I guess.
Just go ahead and Ignore the fact that they nearly doubled the price to over $500! Filemaker is just as bad as Adobe at screwing their customers.