OK - probably the wrong place to post this message - but its worth a go.

What is the main diferance with Filemaker Developer and normal filemaker - is it just that you can create stand alone versions of your database or is there more to it?

If for instance you have a database thats used by five people is it better to buy developer once and create the database application which each user could use or buy seperate filemaker copies and publish the database via filemaker server?

OK. Thats question 1.

Question 2.- Has anybody played around with developer tools in OS X - I would love to use the layout features this gives you - ie Aqua buttons etc and build a proper looking application - but as I have very little experience in programming I would love to use filemaker as the scripting/database programming. Is this possible or do I just have to create my own aqua buttons in filemakers?

Developer also has a cool tool that allows you to rename a set of files and reconnect all scripts and relationships.

Runtime does not support networking. If by "used by five people", you mean a file SHARED by five people, you can't share a file with runtime. If five people are each to use an independent copy of your files, runtime will work.

-bd