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Dissapointment hits home

Warning: This post started out simply about FileMaker’s Leopard compatibility. But then, it started to take a path towards becoming a rant. I decided to post it anyway, despite my aversion to doing so, because I feel it’s valuable to anyone who is just coming into the world of FileMaker thinking their brand-new FileMaker solution or web site is going to be loved by FileMaker and they’re going to get all kinds of support and love from FMI the company. To be honest, don’t expect much.

It all started with the bad news.

I was really excited to taste the new features in Leopard for OS X. Then I read this article on Macworld that gave me the bad news. It is, with this post, my sad duty to inform you that FileMaker is not currently compatible with OS X Leopard.

What?

Are you kidding me? FileMaker is owned by Apple!

Yeah, that was my thought too. Then, after reading this article, my distaste for this news was eased a bit. It seems there are two issues which are causing the problems.

1. Instant Web Publishing doesn’t work
2. Language settings can cause inoperability

These are spelled out in very little detail by FileMaker. Now, this same announcement states that FileMaker is targeting a release for November 19, 2007. I can only guess there’s some hurried programming going on at the headquarters of FMI and who really knows what else might be broken.

My only question is. “As an Apple owned subsidiary….[pause]…uh, how did this happen?”.

I ask, not because I’m all heartbroken about installing a new version of the OS, and being an early adopter and having to weed through all the issues I’ll eventually resolve by searching MacFixit. Moreover, it’s because I’m not impressed that FileMaker hasn’t been brought into the 21st century with regards to its user interface and interaction. (No ill will towards my friends in the interaction dept. at FMI)

The 1980’s happened over 20 years ago

Don’t get me wrong, I love what I can do with FileMaker - and how quickly it CAN be done (that’s why I provide the content I do). What I don’t love is the lack of informational features throughout the interface. For example, why can’t you see, at a glance, in Layout mode, what table occurrence a layout is tied to, which table that’s tied to, and any anything else that will prevent me from jumping into the myriad of dialog boxes I have to swim through just to see what is connected to what.

If I was leading FileMaker development, I would have ditched the four dialog boxes you have to open just to add a script parameter to a Perform Script script step all in favor of a single window that allows you to accomplish most of your programming efforts. Yeah, we’ve all heard the “Easy-to-use” mantra, and it worked when fewer people used the software, but it’s developers who are developing with FileMaker - even if they’re just starting out as beginning developers, do they really need all the dialog boxes that FileMaker employs? Seriously, if you have a comment about how you enjoy the number of dialog boxes in the application then please publicly flame me below.

Let’s all be nice now

Ok, so I don’t need to go slamming the market that feeds me, lest I fear a loss of income because FileMaker Inc. decides to stop providing me with information about what’s coming down the pike - Oh…. wait, they don’t do that currently. In fact, I have to tell you that FileMaker is one of the worst companies I have ever heard about (and personally worked with) with regards to supporting and promoting their third party markets - simply for the sake of supporting those companies who support them - with the desired result of reciprocal support for their own market. I guess they probably figure they’ll get it anyway.

In fact, let me go so far as to say that FileMaker doesn’t even know how to leverage their third party market. They’re horrible at it.

How do I know? Well, I have friends in other markets, who are paraded around by the companies they support. These companies are much larger than FileMaker Inc. and you’d think there was more red tape at them because they are larger. Who are they? Well, one is Adobe the others are smaller, but still much more supportive of their third party market.

Here’s a little bit of info that supports my opinions. Did you know that FileMaker, Inc. only lists products, sites or solutions by members who pay an annual fee to be part of their developer programs - no matter how good it is? I know because there is a blank space on this webpage where the link used to read “Magazines”.

It’s not there anymore because I raised the issue and kept pursuing the fact that I didn’t feel I needed to pay to be part of their business program in order to have my quality resource listed - especially when they had a category which was earmarked exactly for my service. (Of course, who am I to say that my website and content is quality? Maybe my Alexa ranking should mean something.)

Need more? Try this Google search looking for anything on the FileMaker.com web site that references this site. Nada. Zip. Zero.

I also have a number of friends within the third party FileMaker market and in pretty much every case, Ok, I’ll say 90% of them, they voice their opinions about FileMaker Inc’s support of third parties in a less than favorable light.

Even after speaking with Dominique Goupil directly (probably a year or two ago), about the state of affairs with regards to how FileMaker approaches their third party supporting sites, there was no change. It was simply business as usual.

I heard ABSOLUTELY nothing about 8.5 or 9 prior to its release - despite the fact that I personally know the folks responsible for PR. This wasn’t always the case. Trying to get pre-release copies of the software is almost unheard of unless you’re MacWorld or some other larger company. I’ve known a good number of people at FileMaker who have tried to make a difference and they’re not working for FileMaker now - myself included.

Boil it down for me

So, Matt, did this one piece of news about Leopard compatibility cause you to break down and start this rant about FileMaker Inc and how they operate?

Nope.

Quite simply, it’s been on my mind for a number of years now. I think FileMaker needs a wake up call. Sure, they’ll always get feedback from users requesting features they think will make FileMaker better. But what will they do when a top FileMaker web site has something to say?

My guess. Not much.

Every company and the products they provide can be improved. It’s what humans do. They move forward. While FileMaker has added new features to the software it doesn’t quite feel like it’s moved forward as a whole - at least to me. It feels like it’s hobbled along with the addition of some nice features. What other well used applications still use patterns from 1980’s MacPaint, doesn’t support gradients and doesn’t provide OS native interface widgets.

What it boils down to is this “FileMaker, are you listening?”

So are you giving up on FileMaker?

Criticism and open comment about what you feel about how a company operates can be a double-edged sword. You can fear you won’t ever get invited to speak at Devcon because you publish information such as this or that the company won’t license your products out of spite. Or you can feel that your market is deserving of the information that you have to share. They may not like it, but is it true? And who is “they” anyway?

It’s people, not companies, who make decisions and maybe there’s someone or multiple people who simply don’t like this website, or even myself, over at FileMaker Inc. What I do know is that it’s the FileMaker market, you, my reader, who is supporting my efforts regarding FileMaker informational resources. I still like the software, what it can do and how it can be used. I’ll always be honest about where FileMaker fits and I won’t shove it into a round hole when I know it’s a square peg. There are plenty of places that need square pegs.

The moral of the story

I remember first getting started with FileMaker. You may be where I was in 1991. I was starry-eyed and quite hopeful that the world of FileMaker (more specifically the company) was going to treat me right. In many ways it has. In other ways it’s been disappointing.

It turns out that it’s the market itself that has always been there the most - not the company that makes the software.

No, I’m not giving up on FileMaker. I’m getting older and wiser and learning to set your expectations low while relishing the highs is the best way to approach anything you do - be it working with FileMaker, raising kids or making a peanut butter sandwich.

Much luck, and as always Happy FileMaking!