Major third party registration required presentations have been announced to introduce to Claris Studio!
Isn't it a little bit early and a necessary marketing strike?
Trying to household with my time and frankly overwhelmed by all the noise about the latest and greatest or better the 'next and best' is it implied to participate or wait until fully baked?
(already drooling over 19.6 when it's there and scales..)
Yes... I'm afraid that studio walks the path of bento (or connect?)
)-:
For our business here, it is a bit too early - there is (as demonstrated) no way to put an existing FileMaker-Solution to that web-thing
Before Claris Studio was demonstrated, people made a lot of comments about something they never seen, and that was bad for Claris. Add to that that there are many new players going to the low code/no code playground.
So Claris thought it would be better to explain where they were heading. Add to that in the pas FMI/Claris was blamed for being secret.
Sure, what they demoed was fare form being complete, but we know what is coming. I prefer having early information than no information.
It's early for everyone, and Claris made it clear that is not feature complete and that it would take some time to be.
Those who feared that it is the end for FileMaker Pro were wrong, it's not the end. Long time users will be able to carry on with FileMaker or go to with the "new stuff". It will be some time before customers will have a choice of tool. In the mean time, we will be able to follow the development of the new tool.
Just for me I like first hand infos from Claris and no redundancy and (great sounding) promises. Why are first class Platinum Partners inviting instead? Obviously they got a major head start ..
Well, this new software may ship in fall this year as a 1.0.
Limited, but maybe useful for a few people to do some forms to collect data.
We'll see how it evolves and how it is priced.
Especially when the first customers will have the licenses for FileMaker Pro, Connect and Studio parts, you may use it.
Claris Studio sounds suspiciously like another Bento forms app. or even Claris HomePage (which I loved at the time).
The obvious question is - well it's all very nice, but can't we just do it straight from FileMaker? Can we even just take layouts from FileMaker and use them in Studio?
I have a client with a solution that has always used anonymous logins for their clients to register for events in a FileMaker table. The data in this table is then checked and ported through to a live booking system. But the forms and data that the client sees on the web, are all driven directly from FileMaker.
Initially we started off using PHP code on webpages to do this (AWP was a pig's ear). Then WebDirect became usable and we moved to this method with the great advantage of having layouts built directly in FileMaker with dynamic elements and calculations run straight out of FIleMaker. To begin with WebDirect was a bit clumsy and slow, but it is now working reliably and faster, but the client has to pay over £1000 pa for anonymous licences for just 5 concurrencies in addition to their annual maintenance. But ... it works!
How does Claris studio help us here? At best, it just looks like it creates another layer to do what we already do in WebDirect and forces us to use a Claris subscription.
Despite any offered discounts, needless to say, we won't be rushing to jump onto the Studio wagon, although I am happy to take it for a spin round the block. I am sure if it proves itself, then it will command a price tag all of its own.
Lots of questions you have ! Have you watched previous presentations of Claris Studio - they provide answers to your questions. A new presentation takes place on September 14th. They will surely present the now available version.
EDIT
The presentation will be on September 13th, sorry for the error.
I think that Claris are trying to take on the challenge presented by Google Forms, Airtables, etc.
As you have observed, web direct does this perfectly well, at a price. The gotcha for Claris with WebDirect pricing is that it is all-or-nothing. You pay the same price whether you are presenting a few very simple forms or delivering a complete SaaS web app.
Shame they can't just build on what they have with FileMaker and not try to reinvent the wheel! The history of these new developments for Claris is very poor, so on the one hand I hope they do better this time, but I also sense an unsettling undercurrent of desire to move away from FileMaker in more than just a name. If they can get Claris Studio to do what FileMaker does, then FileMaker becomes redundant and everyone has to have Claris subscriptions. Uncertainty over the future of FileMaker will make new clients very wary.
Yes - the presentations so far all seem rather trivial. Given it is a new application, that is understandable, but it doesn't appear to break any new ground. We've been using XML mirror tables for years to link data from websites and other Apps to FileMaker. The last thing we want is duplication of work from FileMaker (Claris Pro) to Claris Studio.
I hope to be proven wrong.
I've been building web integrations with fileMaker for ever. WebDirect is great if you are happy with the UI that Claris provides. And that's a problem. Clients want it to integrate with their websites, especially when it is acting as a form to collect information. Many times I've offered web direct as an option and the clients have rejected it because it cannot provide a seamless integration with their web theme. It looks like Studio is offering the ability the style and theme the forms using standard web tech. Hopefully that gets us past the "ugly duckling" problem.
On the flip side, clients (a) may have their server running on hardware that is slow in comparison to fast web servers and (b) may not optimise their system for web interactions. Also, FileMaker isn't designed to support extremely active web sites. The fact that Studio is using highly available Mongo databases for the forms means that the forms can support busy websites.
Rick Kalmann is on the FM Training TV stream right now:
They should have just re-branded the filemaker line and added this new functionality into it. Now we have two product lines , how long they'll remain like that is anybody's guess....my guess is that the filemaker line becoming extinct eventually.
Right from the time Srini burst on the scene at devcon (many years ago) and announced Claris cloud, filemaker's days were numbered. At that time there was this huge backlash and people demanded that on-prem must remain. Claris then clarified that the were cloud first, not cloud only and filemaker was not going anywhere....they are still sating that. In the video linked below Rick also said there will be feature parity between claris pro an filemaker and that it was the same product (except for the integration with the studio thing)...so then why have 2 lines ?
my 2 cents!
Claris explained why they decided to create another tools. Fist reason is that the Draco engine, the backend database engine for FileMaker, is quite complex. It is so complex that adding new functionalities is more and more complicated, requiring a lot of time to implement. Regarding the frontend, it's also a challenge to add new controls. For sure, developing an app in FileMaker is faster than with standard database like MS SQL. But with advent of no-code solutions, the users are looking for better solutions.
Entering Mongo DB. Claris choose to use a database system instead of creating one, this way they can put more effort developing the frontend. The result is Claris Studio.
Form now on there will two solutions to create apps.
FileMaker we all know with FileMaker Pro FileMaker Server and FMGO
Claris Studio with Claris Pro, Claris Server and Claris GO
Solution no 1 is the one you already know. Claris Pro is different than FileMaker Pro in that in that it can display data in Mongo DB live. Web solutions created with Claris Studio can work with FileMaker files live.
Please before saying that Claris shouldn't have started from scratch to create an new tool, or saying that FileMaker will disappear soon, get informed and watch presentations in order to know what you are talking about and have educated opinions.
for me, problem #1 is the fact that there is only a linux version of claris server. For customers here, mostly a no-go since they are running windows systems - or macOS systems (what they do know...)
Then, the converting seems to go somewhat deeper than just changing the extension. There is no way back
One needs to have an internet-connection, since the Claris-ID. I have no idea what that means in daily usage
As Rick said that this 'switch' is somewhat similar to the fm6 > fm7 run, I got puzzeled. From 6 to 7 was a huge effort
Claris server is to FileMaker Server what Claris Pro to FileMaker Pro. Why does Claris Pro support only Linux ? I don't have the Claris answer so all I can do is speculate. Could be that later Windows and Mac support will be added. Claris Studio produces solution delivered through Web, and Linux has a great reputation for servers.
Let hope the presentation will answer that.
Well.. this was a presentation - with Rick
They will bring updates in very short cycles - so let’s wait…
I wonder if a few years down the road, customer will use Linux instead of Windows for server much more.
I lost a linux vm twice after upgrades - and if You are using a mac, You buy that thing and after half an hour it‘s productive - set up by a joe doe - user..
Looks like Claris got themselves lost in the marketing words maze they created. The message to customers is confused and confusing: