Upgrade and Cross Platform

[GypsyLinda]

Currently the company I work for uses FileMaker 4.1 (egads!) on 3 PC computers with the data stored on a networked server.

The company was just sold and the new owner uses a Macintosh. He will need access to the database as well.

I have a couple questions. First, my suggestion to him would be to upgrade all the software, but is it even possible to upgrade from 4.1 to current and have all the data work well?

Also, with his Mac, will he need to run a PC version off of the his Mac, or will a Macintosh version of Filemaker play nice with the PC's in the shop?

Thanks so much for any suggestions!

Linda

[Reed]

I don't know if this is true with v4.1, but every version I've used (since v5) have had installers for both windows and macintosh on one disk.

So you could install v4.1 on the mac, and use it like that. The bigger problem might be that you'll have to use classic to run it, as 4.1 wasn't made for OS X. (5.5 was the first version to work with that OS)

Upgrading to a newer version for everything is possible, but the further you upgrade it, the more likely something is going to need to be modified to make it work right.

If you go to v5.5 or v6, everthing will probably work with no modifications, but you may have a hard time trying to by copies of that version.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that FMI will give you a license for v6 if you buy a copy of v8, but I can't be sure of that.

Dana