Inevitable upgrade from FM4.... lot's of Q's

[Crossett]

The company I work for has been using FM4 for the last 10 years or so. When I asked my boss why he hasn't upgraded he said that The newer versions are slower due to "running mainly on the internet". I have never tried a newer version, so I can't say that it won't be, but I have a hard time imagining this is the case. His opinion comes from how long it takes to sort files when you are connected to our local network vs. connecting from elsewhere.

It's getting to the point where we are going to have to upgrade. On the windows side FM4 doesn't work with 64 bit OS's, on the Mac side it won't run on any Intel Mac and OSX 10.5 doesn't support classic (which FM4 needs to run). So our hardware choices are quickly vanishing.

I am pretty much the go to "IT guy" here, so I am going to be the one handling the upgrade.

Is there a certain version of FM that I should look for? What are the benefits of one version over the next? Can someone dispel the speed loss idea in a way that I can explain it to him so he will be willing to upgrade sooner rather than later? We have several gigs of FM files that are essential to the operation of the business. I am assuming that all the newer versions of FM are backwards compatible, but are there any issues I will run into using files that were written with FM4 and earlier on a newer version (I'm also assuming I will use FM9 unless you guys inform me otherwise)?

[mr_vodka]

His arguement makes no sense. Yes you do have the OPTION of accessing FileMaker Data via the internet (CWP, IWP) but that doesnt mean that it has to.

You should get FileMaker Server 9 and FM9 Pro. You may also want to get 1 copy of FileMaker Pro Advanced to help you develop.

To upgrade from 4, it may be more wise just to create a new solution and then migrate the old data over, as there are tons of new features that can make the solution faster.

[Crossett]

What happens if I just open my existing .FP3 files with FM9?

[Fitch]

Answered here.

[IdealData]

We have several gigs of FM files that are essential to the operation of the business

Having experienced FMP from version 2 through to 9 I can tell you that there are remarkable improvements in performance on slower links - due mainly to the way FM Server delivers the data to the client. Sorting is still one of the slower processes - but you can often design around that, in fact that should have happened in the first instance.

Your boss is simply wrong and he has already cost your company thousands in lost productivity, slow systems through uneducated opinion.

I've been an FM developer for over 12 years, maintaining my in house system (45 files) for last 9. I did the conversion from FM6 to FM8 two years ago and it took me 3 months to plan through - I'm still fix the occasional bug now. My system remained fully live at all times and I didn't re-write at all but took the conversion route as I had to maintain a live system with a 30 user base that I didn't want to re-train. My system runs cross platform, but I had to remove OS 9 from every where before I could make a move. This took over a year in itself - once again there is a training issue.

Consider all the points I raise above - then you can probably estimate your conversion time scale. 1 year??

[Lee Smith]

Hi Tom,

I split, and moved the topic to Here

[Fitch]

Yes, I saw that and moved my answer.