Poor FileMaker Support

Posted by Pierre Igot in: Macintosh
February 22nd, 2003 • 2:33 am

FileMaker Pro 6 introduced new functionality that enables a FMPro database to automatically open following the detection of a mounted CompactFlash card or similar memory devices for digital cameras. This means, of course, that you can create your own custom-designed photo library in FMPro, instead of relying on ready-made database-driven solutions such as iPhoto, iView MediaPro, etc.

The problem is that the new version also introduced a bug that would cause FMPro 6 to unexpectedly quit whenever you mounted a CompactFlash card or a similar volume via USB.

It took a while for FM to fix the bug, but they finally did it in FileMaker Pro 6.0v4, which no longer unexpectedly quits in such circumstances.

The problem is that the application FileMaker itself is not just available as “FileMaker Pro”. It is also available as part of the FileMaker Developer package, for example. The application included in that package is called FileMaker Developer, but it’s almost identical to the regular FileMaker Pro 6 application, with the exception of a few additional debugging tools.

Check the list of currently available updates on FileMaker’s web site, however, and you will notice that, while the latest version of FileMaker Pro 6 is 6.0v4, the latest version of FileMaker Developer 6 is… 6.0v3. And guess what? The FileMaker Developer 6.0v3 application still suffers from the bug that causes it to unexpectedly quit when a CompactFlash card is mounted.

What’s the logic here? Does FileMaker just assume that people who use FileMaker Developer 6 don’t use “consumer” devices like digital cameras? What are they waiting for? Why isn’t FileMaker Developer 6 updated to 6.0v4 as well?

If it were just a delay of a few weeks, I’d understand. But this has been going on for months.

Shame on FileMaker.


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