I have heard that filemaker now has a SQL backend version available. Is this true, and if so can someone give me a url for more info?

This is really the fault of the Marketing Dept.

The New version of File Maker (5.5) has a much better communication with OBDC databases (SQL included). You should check out the FM web site for more info, or the OBDC section here.

Here is what the FM site says;

Create calculation-based SQL queries to ODBC* data sources (e.g. Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle) and update ODBC data sources with the Execute SQL script step. Access FileMaker Pro data from ODBC compliant applications, or use the FileMaker Pro 5.5 simple query tool to bring in data from ODBC compliant sources.

Hope this helps. I am not sure how practical it is to use FM as a front end yet (but I am dying to find out!)

Jerry