I'm looking for a 5.5 server license. Anybody have one they want to sell?

Bob:

Have a look on eBay - there are two copies up for auction right now. As I write this, one is at $100, the other at $25; that's sure to change, but you'll be able to pick up a copy for a fair price. I may be wrong, but I believe that the disc is cross-platform, regardless of what it says on the box.

-Stanley

Stanley,

Thanks so much. I've been searching ebay but only have found ver. 5. I'll check again.

-Bob

Stanley,

Is it possible they went away already? I've searched everywhere I know on ebay and can't seem to find one. Although I'm looking specifically for Filemaker server 5.5. Am not looking correctly?

Bob

I, too, was looking at that route earlier in the week, and decided the questionable (at best) legality of buying previously-registered software was enough to make me cough up the big bucks for a new retail version. I contacted the seller of the only 5.5 version I saw on eBay, who "didn't know" if it was previously registered or not.

From the FMS EULA section 2c: YOU MAY NOT TRANSFER OR ASSIGN YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THIS LICENSE TO ANOTHER PARTY WITHOUT FMI'S PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT.

It's not like they're going to track you down or anything, but I'd hate to be in a position where I needed support on it. Now, if you could find a non-registered version ...

Thanks for the heads up, I naively thought one could sell their licence with proper documentation. Oh well....

Bob:

There are currently (Friday) 3 copies of FMS 5 on eBay. One of them is sealed, and has a buy-now price of $179 (which is cheap.) I found it by searching for "FileMaker Server 5". The item # is 7103663647. As it is sealed, there should be no legal problems.

-Stanley

Stanley,

You are awesome for staying with me on this! I'm told I need v5.5 however.

I'm now thinking about locating a FM consultant / programmer and upgrading to v7.0.

Bob

Bob:

I can't tell you if FMS 5 will serve FMP 5.5 or 6 files. I know FMS 5.5 will do that. You might want to post a query here to see if anyone knows off the top of their head.

If you're going to think about upgrading to 7, you should look at the price tag on Server 7 first. It's an awful lot more than what you'd pay on eBay for Server 5.5. Beyond that, if you do need a FMP consultant, you're talking to one now.

-Stanley

FM Server 5 will host FM 5, 5.5 or 6 files. FM Server 5.5 added the ability to run under OS X (which you really don't wan to do because of unresolved file corruption during server backup problem). "New features in FileMaker Server 5.5 also include the ability to automatically update and deploy FileMaker Pro plug-ins to FileMaker Pro 5.5 clients across a TCP/IP network. FileMaker Server 5.5 also supports lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP), to enable admins to coordinate user login for the FileMaker Server through an LDAP server."

If you don't need 1) OS X, 2) auto update of plug-in on FM clients and 3) LDAP, FileMaker Server should work fine for you. It will host for clients running FM 5, 5.5 or 6.

-bd