New Golf Club or FM 9?

[Totes]

I have been quietly waiting and reading the posts.

So now it is time for my question:

what do you recommend to a FM Newbie, should I keep poking along with 8.5A or should I upgrade to 9A.

I’m getting mixed signals about 9…its good…its bad…its good…she loves me.

Thanks,

James

[mr_vodka]

IMHO, if its for someone who can not benefit from the SQL integration or if its a smaller user group, I probably wouldnt spend the extra money right now. Just my 2 cents.

[Stuart Taylor]

I would have a poke around with the trial version

• Resizing will have any major impact on my solutions, great for users with larger screens

• Cross platform Data URL in webviewer is great too.

I must say i expected more. But thats not to say that the things they have done are not major. They just do not effect me an the moment.

Still i am not going to buy it right away, but i will develop my solutions with this in mind for when i do.

Oh and with the new ways of connecting to external data sources i will now only use the seperation model (if i understand things correctly).

Happy golfing. :(

[mr_vodka]

I agree with Stuart. I should have mentioned downloading the trial version first James. If live external database connection is not mission critical, my opinion is that you can wait. With server 9, now you can do CWP without using Advanced it seems but then you would have to upgrade that as well.

I have had about a month to play with it since I had the beta pre-release with FSA and since we have a maintenance plan here I think we may indeed go with 9 in out next production release. That being said, if I were not afforded that chance and had to use it for my personal development, I probably would hold off.

[JesseSFR]

I would say upgrade. There aren't a lot of things a newbie would probably use in this release but what's the point in learning FileMaker 8.5 when a you could be learning on the newest version? When you finally do upgrade, you will be starting over learning the new interface so why not start with the best out there right now?

One of the big things I think a someone newbie would be able to take advantage of is the current tab in the data viewer. This will point out mistakes like incorrect relationships used and misspelled variable names. Also the script Groups and search option in the new ScriptMaker will allow you to keep track of all your scripts you are bound to create.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

So now it is time for my question:

what do you recommend to a FM Newbie, should I keep poking along with 8.5A or should I upgrade to 9A.

So for the new version. That way you'll be 100% current.

Steven

[Leather Knight]

I would agree with Steven, as usual, it is always best to stay up to date if your apps are to be up to date. It is not a big learning curve with Filemaker. So run with the latest version.

[Genx]

Steven's a bit biased, he'll ALWAYS recommend the new version.

But I would say run with the latest version as well, It really does have some cool new stuff in it beyond the unnecessary-to-some sql integration.

The dis-hype by us developers is mainly due to false hopes each of us had had for the integration of certain new features... but meh, just upgrade, golf...ing is boring anyway. If you really want though, you could always visualize FM 9 as a shiny new golf club.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

You might be enlightened to learn that I am the proximate cause of the only version of FIleMaker Pro's ever having been pulled from distribution.

Steven

[Genx]

Well yes, definitely enlightened. But out of actual curiosity which version was that?

[Leather Knight]

However, I still am dismayed as to updating. Gee do I sound like I am kicking a dead horse... I wanted to see a way for updates to my distributed apps without using a separation model, but rather have it already implemented...So I guess we all have gained from the new version as well as lost with the new version. In any case, I left Alpha Five and came back to filemaker at v8.5 and plan on staying.

As for a new golf club...I could use new pipes for my motorcycle, loud ones:) but we shall see.

[xoomaster]

Not upgrading is like jumping a class, you always tend and feel like you missed something.

Hey Old Advance Guy, who are you ? Can you expand on your comment above ?

[Lee Smith]

Click on his profile, and then follow his links to his sites.

Lee

[xoomaster]

Thanks Lee, I just did't want another CIA agent on my tail :

[Steven H. Blackwell]

4.0v2

Steven

[fmlawl]

You might be enlightened to learn that I am the proximate cause of the only version of FIleMaker Pro's ever having been pulled from distribution.

how does this have anything to do with getting the latest and greatest and taking advantage of the things in Pro 9?

I would always recommend getting the latest version right away for multiple reasons.

1) Price cuts

2) Start playing with and developing with the latest features

3) Taking advantage of involving those new features into your solutions for marketing reasons

Just those 3 alone give advantage to your finances and enjoyment of FileMaker, so why not upgrade? :

Edited July 16, 2007 by Guest

[fmpwnerer]

I agree with the lawler. What does holding the release of an update 8 years ago have to do with anything?

I don't get the chest thumping that goes on in the forums. Isn't the point to help people?

Honestly, updates aren't always for everyone. If you're a developer you're silly not to make this update, if nothing else for the enhancements in Script Maker.

[Lee Smith]

fmpwnerer and fmlawl,

He was asked what version. (his answer confirmed the version I was thinking it was.

His initial response was no more off topic than a lot of the BS that has been mentioned over and over in this Topic.

It is time to take note of Admin's Request (in BIG BLACK TYPE) at the topic of the page.

Lee

[aholtzapfel]

I own Licencing for 9 (becuase of mat. on 8.5) but I am NOT in a big hurry to upgrade. I am an In-House Developer for a Home Improvment Company and we use filemaker for almost everything. (12,000 phone calls a day, Appointments, jobs, ....)

Point is, the soulution currently works. I would not have upgraded to 8.5 if we had not gotten some Vista Machines in. Thier are some new features I REALLY REALLY want to try but, the files I work on are Mission Critial and I CAN NOT afford to have them fail. It made me look pretty foolish when I had upgraded the files to 8.0 only to find out 3 months later (when the patch came out) that there were serious indexing issues. Records were left off reports, users would do a simple search and not find a record that was indeed there. Now, I know that this upgrade doesn't change the file type and that specific issue will not be a problem with this upgrade, but there is always somthing. What is it this time? I don't know. Does anyone yet? I personally will wait (most likely 3 months) before I even think about upgrading the company to 9 (only bought my licencing for 8.5 2 weeks ago). I try to let others find the big bugs and give filemaker time to responed to them with an update.

(just thought I would list the reasons not to upgrade right away)

[AudioFreak]

I think I would be more worried about the bugs in Vista :

[fmlawl]

My post was nothing more than why there was BS being posted, when all there was the need for was opinions of he should buy the upgrade or not. As for the bold typing at the top, I've listed in my post that upgrading is a great idea for developers. Having an edge on the other developers that do not update because of the new features.

The new features always make developing easier and more fun, at least for myself.

All in all, even though there a bunch of post about how things were left out of this release of filemaker, i enjoy my copy very much and take advantage of the things that are inside of this release. It truly is FileMaker Pro 9, I dont feel cheated or ripped off, and was happy to pay for what was included! :

[Genx]

Why would you be worried about those? It actually seems to be more stable than XP lol.

[AudioFreak]

Tell that to the one guy here that has it. lol

[Genx]

There wasn't BS being posted.

In passing I simply mentioned that Old Advanced Man seems to have ties to FileMaker and so he'll always recommend upgrading whether it was worth it or not.

He simply replied that he had been the main cause of a version being pulled -- i.e. he doesn't recommend all versions just for the sake of it -- which he has every right to point out.

Cheers.

[Ocean West]

As someone with tenure in the FileMaker community I always encourage clients to stay CURRENT my main reason is COST for you should factor in and consider your investment in your chosen solution. Add in to your equation the number of seats, server, third party plugins, access to "current" discussions on the technology be it here on the forums at your local user group or on RealTech or even on FileMaker's TechNet.

If you are in an in-house scenario I would imagine you already on VLA license and have opted for the maintenance upgrade, entitling you to any updates that are released (usually 12 - 18 months in the product cycle.)

Always upgrade at MAJOR version numbers as typically the majority of features are added in. Keep current so that you can take advantage of features to make your development less of a burden. V rev's are also essential as they may address bugs that have made it thru the testing phase.

There is a great deal of testing in REAL WORLD environments by several people on this forum who have had the chance to work with this version MONTHS prior to its public debut. We as a community and CUSTOMERS of FileMaker report our findings and in turn provide valuable insight and polish to the product that YOU rely on. Many features and enhancements to the final features are evident a result of this feedback.

There is a lot of effort put in to this and I might add we do so VOLUNTARY in effort to keep the tool we use everyday just that much more powerful and effective.

I realize some may be on a shoestring budget diligently evaluate your costs you calculated above you may find that your upgrade investment is actually less when you keep it current vs upgrading every other version, not only are you keeping financially ahead but intellectually you are on the same page as the community. I strongly encourage you to get the VLA and Maintenance, at least you have the latest version for you to deploy when you are ready. Any serious developer would want time to test their solution especially if they have new OS and third party software. Its the cost of doing business, bite the bullet and go for it!

An old english idiom "In for a penny in for a pound." You've made it in this far... go all the way. Especially if your FileMaker solution is mission critical. You really wouldn't want to break out the calculator to estimate your costs of what it would be to rewrite your solution in another environment.

[Steve N]

I could not agree more on the VLA. I bought a package deal of 10 seats that included a free server and one year maintenance. That was back with FM 6 and right before 7 came out. I don't think the deals are as good now, but they are still worth it. I have since renewed the licenses several times and added FMA to the license. When you renew the licenses you get a much better deal then buying a brand new set. FM has come out with yearly updates so the makes the renewels more valuable even if some of the new versions are not as robust as we would like.

No I dont work for fileMaker and dont get a commision. Just giving my honest opinion. When I lose faith in fileMaker then I will get renewing.

I dont know if they offer maintenance with developer only. If you depend of software for your livelihood I dont know how you can not stay current. That is a part of doing business. As a graphics company we just bought 4 copies of CS3 for 1000 each (we did get a printers discount on 2 copies). We also stay current on quark, Freehand, publisher, Corel, word, excel, and so on. That makes the cost of fileMaker not so bad.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

At the current price structure you'd have to figure that FileMaker would not issue a new release for over 2.5 years to lose money on maintenance. If Advanced is acquired as part of a VLA, then it's covered as well.

If you're in the USA, talk to your Inside Sales Rep.

Steven