Apple's business database for Windows and Mac (you read right) moves forward

FileMaker Pro 11 left beta testing for general release on Tuesday, adding a host of new capabilities for better productivity in database use, faster database creation, and easy production of eye-catching charts.

Now updated for Microsoft's Windows 7 and Apple's Macintosh native Mac OS X "Cocoa" platform, FileMaker Pro is the only software in its category that runs on both Windows and Mac, noted Ryan Rosenberg, vice president, marketing and services for FileMaker, Inc., in a briefing for Betanews.

"We're number one on Mac, and number two after Microsoft Access on Windows," according to Rosenberg.

With so few rivals for FileMaker Pro on either platform, why is the Apple division adding so many new features this time around? "We want everyone to become a database user," the VP responded.

In contrast to FileMaker's Bento personal database program, a Mac-only product targeted at consumers and very small businesses, the division's flagship FileMaker product is designed mainly for "knowledge workers" at mid- to large-sized businesses.

Rosenberg said that FileMaker, Inc. now eyes expanding the adoption of FileMaker Pro among both advanced database users and novices, who might have been performing tasks such as invoicing using spreadsheets instead.

Like Bento, FileMaker Pro requires no familiarity with programming languages. In recent releases, the product has gained external links to Oracle, MySQL, and Microsoft SQL Server databases.

Rosenberg also contended, though, that FileMaker Pro has long contained a number of features -- such as Web publishing, for example -- still unavailable in the Windows-only Microsoft Access. He then argued that, on the whole, FileMaker's interface is smoother and easier to use.

Key enhancements in FileMaker Pro 11 include:

• FileMaker Charts for quick production of colorful bar, line and pie charts.
• Quick Find, an intuitive, iTunes-like search engine for database information.
• A Quick Start screen for making new databases, managing files, and finding help resources.
• Quick Reports for setting up data in a similar way to the popular pivot charts in spreadsheets.
• Snapshot Links for easy sharing of the most up-to-date database query results with co-workers and business partners.
• Layout Folders allowing advanced users to capture and reapply their favorite layouts across multiple types of reports.
• Inspector, a "master tool palette" for controlling layout objects and properties.
• A new Invoices Starter Solution, one of 31 template-based built-in solutions for performing specific tasks.

Rosenberg also acknowledged a certain amount of "cross-fertilization" between FileMaker and Bento, even though the two database programs are geared to different audiences.

"Features such as Quick Reports have been heavily influenced by Bento. But it really goes both ways, because Bento was originally based on the FileMaker product, anyway," he observed.

The new FileMaker series actually comes in four flavors: FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Pro Advanced, FileMaker Server, and FileMaker Server Advanced. Rosenberg said that FileMaker Server Advanced has been enhanced to remove limits on the numbers of supported users, while adding the ability to set different permission rights for various groups of users.