FileMaker and OS X Lion
In eagerly anticipation for the arrival of OS X Lion (OS X 10.7), you may be wondering if it is safe for your FileMaker database to upgrade right away to this new operating system. As a general rule, someone running mission-critical software for his business or workgroup should be a little hesitant before upgrading to the latest software. Often new software will still have a few bugs and issues that will take a revision or two before they are resolved. Another issue when it comes to upgrading an operating system is that some your current software might not function correctly in the new environment.
The engineering team at RC Consulting has begun testing various FileMaker solutions and plugins with Apple’s new Lion product and has run into a few issues that we would like to bring to your attention.
1. Older versions of FileMaker such as FileMaker 6 and all preceding version will not run in the Lion.
2. SuperContainer’s current Java coding will run into some major bugs while running on Lion and can crash FileMaker. (360Works’ Document Storage Plugin http://www.360works.com/supercontainer/). 360Works is ware of these issues and is working on fixes. Not ETA at this time.
3. There are other issues related to importing and exporting of Excel documents as well. FMI is aware of these issues.
For these reasons, RCC cannot recommend that FileMaker users upgrade to OS X Lion. We do expect some sort of release or fix for FileMaker 11 and Super Container, but we are not sure when this will occur. Users of previous version of FileMaker, including 10, 9, 8.5, and 7 should proceed cautiously. If there are problems with FileMaker in these older versions, do not expect a bug fix from FileMaker.
We know for a fact that versions of FileMaker previous to 7 will not work at all so for users who greatly prefer a Mac and FileMaker 5 or 6, then 10.6 will be your last operating system.
FM Starting Point
RCC is pushing out updates to FM Starting Point in the near future! The English version of FM Starting Point 2.1v10 will remain the same, but localized copies of FM Starting Point 2.1v10 will be released in the following languages Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Swedish.
FMSP 2.1v10 French is available now on our website, and can be purchased for $99.95 USD. Go to: http://www.fmstartingpoint.com/languages/french.html For FM Starting Point French. FMSP 2.1v10 Chinese will be available next, and additional updates will be available soon. You can check for updates via website, Twitter, and blog. Stay tuned!
Sales Beaver
The RCC Engineering Team is working on an update to Sales Beaver Expanded that will allow users to keep a local copy of Sales Beaver on their iPad, while syncing with other people in the company. This is accomplished by syncing local copies of Sales Beaver Expanded on each individuals iPad with Sales Beaver Collaborative on a cloud server. Check the Sales Beaver website for updates on this new feature!
What is Sales Beaver? Sales Beaver is a dedicated FileMaker application tuned primarily for iPad and laptop computers. This tool is designed to support outside sales reps. www.salesbeaver.com
FM Coaches' Corner 