Move to FM 7 / 8 -- You will thank me!

[xochi]

I'm nearly complete with a rewrite of a major database. It was in FM6 (server 5.5), and I've now moved it to FM8 (server 7).

My experience has been very positive. There were some initial stability issues with the early versions of Client and Server 7, but these seem to be largely addressed in FM8.

Both the users I'm a happy camper -- my productivity (as a database developer) has improved, and the end user's productivity has as well. There are so many things that make FM8 a pleasure to work in, whereas in FM5/6 these same tasks were either impossible or required ugly workarounds that were difficult to design, document, and maintain.

One caveat -- since the relational model is so different (and better) in FM7/8, you should strongly consider re-creating your solution from scratch. This is a major job, but you will find that FM8 allows a much cleaner table design and scripting logic.

I'm finding FM8 to be much more reliable and stable. My anxiety level has gone down, and I no longer dread making modifications to the system for fear of breaking something.

If you move to FM8, by all means get FM 8 Advanced (which is similar to FM6 or FM7 Developer). The debugging tools, custom functions, etc. are all incredible time-savers.

[BrentHedden]

I'm of the same opinion. I've been spending the last two years converting (rewriting) a 6 solution over.

If for no other reason, I'm now able to add features that were previously impossible, or would take to long to program to be feasable. I've found that even "routine" tasks can be taken care of with much less time with FM 7/8.