My first post!

1. I am running an ancient (1994) version of Filemaker Pro. I began with Windows 3.1 and just kept loading the source disks onto Windows 95 and now 98, as I got new computers. I keep about 7,000 book descriptions in FM. Is there anything I should be aware of before I buy the latest version of FM? I am assuming that it will accept all my dust-covered ancient files, but you never know.

2. I plan to buy a new PC with Windows XP. Any problems there? Should I get XP Professional?

3. Essentially, I'll buy a new PC and a new FileMaker program, and try to upload everything to the new system. Advice?

4. What about backward compatibility? That is, can I load the new FM onto my old 95 and 98 machines too? That way, I'll have redundancy and backup to the new system (you know about new computers and new operating systems)

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Thanks.

Rich Merritt/www.bazillionbooks.com

You should be ok on all counts. You didn't say what version you were currently running. In 1994, it could be anything UP TO 2.1v3. FM 5.5 will import FM 2.1, but not all earier versions. If you are running FM II or FM Pro 1.0, you may need to have someone import your files into 2.1v3 first.

-bd