FM Roadmap

Claris Corporate Announcements
21

FileMaker has a ton of customers, which just happy pay them millions of USD if they keep it running, support it and modernize it.

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22

It seems like Claris is to be something other than FM. Sure, you’ll see the odd feature pop-up but nothing that FM deserves.

23

Maybe FM needs a new product at its side to attract younger crowds, FM’s user base / developers apparently won’t fit that attribute...

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24

Agreed. The issue that I’m wondering within Claris, though, is are they talking about having both products side by side?

25

Are we riding a dead horse?

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26

It's complicated. It appears like there has been a strategy to build something like MS power apps that is aimed at non-developers. It appears resources are being moved out of FM. I'm not totally prepared to say it is a dead horse though.

27

Well, a FM-based solution is the main reason I move customers to Apple hardware.
Why ending a win-win-win solution?

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28

Apple itself is a major FileMaker customer.

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29

Hum,

FileMaker exists since 25+ years, and suddenly it's not a good horse anymore :thinking:. MS Power apps and others like that are the talk of the town, but how much time before that kind kind of tool will prove to be not the solution ? Sure the large corporations that sell these will make a lot of money, but is that any good for the buyers of these solutions ?

FileMaker has appealed a lot to citizen developers for a long time, but what a bout the quality of the created apps ? I can tell you that it's not always good, far from that. The casual developer is not knowledgeable enough to create apps, and even though with the advent of no code tools, they will; not be. For sure some of those citizen developers became real good - I know one - but not all of them. Just think about how FileMaker makes it safe to develop by protecting the apps creators, and evaluate the cost for that: lot of thinking and develop time is required, the price goes up, and in the end the product is kind of closed - you can't create your own controls. Flexibility is not there.

But wait, with 19 it's now easier to integrate JScript in Web Viewers . . . but will the typical citizen developer be able to cope with JScript ? I don't think so.

Instead of creating a new product to compete with MS Power apps, Claris should put it's bet on FileMaker that has been there for a long time. Sure it may not be that used, but then the owners are responsible for that. Who teaches FileMaker, I mean but for some partners ? Which school or universities provide training ? The secret is well known: you want to sell your software, the make it so it is taught about everywhere. Those who know the product are your best salesman :smiley:.

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30

Generally, what would this entail that is different than it already is?

31

Some opinionated comments...

  1. FileMaker is a very complicated tool. Just ask anybody in any office. Features of late such as the Quick Start Experience and Data Import method do not favor a novice.

  2. Sales is failing Engineering.

  3. The latest logo belongs to the novelty pirate flag of Oracle when they sail their black boat on the bay.

  4. All middle school students should be exposed to FileMaker in the classroom as a fundamental course.

  5. Price fixes everything.

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32

Here are some of the things I had heard in previous discussions: iPad Pro app, modernized Windows and Mac UI, a replacement for web direct, server-based performance and scripting stats/reporting, a new cloud-based data layer, freemium Pro (move to Server-based pricing). I'm sure there was more, I just can't recall them all.

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33

I'm putting love into that wish-list. I want to see all of them come to reality.

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34

Or if Claris Connect is a commercial flop

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35

How about making your dream come through?..

36

Agreed. I was a happy and proud non apple disciple until FM came into my life. I’m in the process of selling my tower to exclusively work on my mini, bought last year to better focus around fm. Power user taking the hit because beginning in mac os. It even made me purchase my new iPhone at a time when I was debating moving to android.

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37

11 years ago, first time I discovered the power of FileMaker PRO I thought : “My bad, it's a true miracle”.

Two times ? Seriously ? Naaa

:wink:

38

The market that Claris Connect is entering is huge and growing so I think it will be very hard for them to fail.

When I first encountered FileMaker in the 1990s there was a very low level of engagement with computers. The growth market was the business sector. Many of these people saw business advantage in the computer but did not have maths/science/computing backgrounds. The range of products or services were limited and the cost of custom software was very high. The FileMaker product was perfect for the time.

In the current environment there is a very high level of engagement with computers. Young adults have been learning computing and programming since early childhood. The base level of knowledge know is much higher. The range of software and tools is enormous. Video tutorials can walk you through the process of generating an app from readily available platforms and there is a large pool of talent that can do that for you at good prices.

In addition there are very good SaaS products that allow you to sign up and start straight away. We saw this during the recent lockdowns. Businesses of all kinds went online. They signed up with ready-to-go SaaS. They didn't buy FMS and start tinkering.

FileMaker is still an incredible product but the competition is fierce.

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39

If FMP is discontinued, will the “new thing” be good enough to make a difference? Even though it’s a big potential market you still have to bring something unique to the market, especially when you’re as late as Claris.

40

Hi all,

I know quite a few folks here at fmsoup. For those I haven’t met, I first used FileMaker in 1988 and haven’t looked back since. For 26 of the last 30 years I’ve worked at Claris (& FileMaker Inc.) doing every job imaginable with the platform. A friend pointed me to this thread, and I hope you don’t mind I jump in and respond to a few things.

So first, to set the record straight, Claris is not abandoning FileMaker. Claris fully supports FileMaker and will continue to do so.

We are expanding capabilities of the platform — with Claris Connect and more on the way — so we can bring more value to our mutual customers. We’re skating to where the puck is going. We’re definitely going to leverage modern technologies and cloud to do it. We know FileMaker is unique in its power and reach for delivering custom apps basically anywhere. Companies run their businesses on FileMaker. You depend on it. Therefore, for us there is no strategy where we abandon FileMaker that makes any sense.

Regarding cloud, we’d be crazy not to leverage cloud advantages and synthesize them with the platform. We use “cloud smart” in messaging because we believe our platform is better than pure-play cloud offerings (competition). What’s better? That we have both cloud and on-premise. We’re not abandoning on-prem. As evidence here — the recent Linux release of FileMaker Server along with significant performance and reliability improvements. And also the Claris Connect on-prem integrations. We’re committed to on-prem as much as we are to cloud.

We are moving our offices. I can’t tell if that was meant to be controversial above. It shouldn’t be. I will have some nostalgia for the old building. But we’re getting a better location and more efficient space. Or we will… when we can stop working from home.

About Claris NG. The name wasn’t intended to imply a replacement for FileMaker but rather a technology-forward toolset for problem solvers. It will be workflow centric in its approach to experience (or app) design. It’s intended to complement FileMaker and work with it. Like Connect, there will be use cases where you could choose one or the other (best tool for the job) or use them in concert. We’re pretty jazzed about it, but please be patient while the bread is baking.

Finally, on the traditional roadmap presentation. We have fully embraced the agile process across our org. We are no longer working with a requirements definition that is planned year(s) in advance and from which we can communicate to the feature level that’s coming next summer. In agile, we work with north stars and we iterate towards those goals. Our product teams presented on those north stars at Engage, and we’ll do our best to keep you up to date via Community, blogs, and events. But our pace will be more communications in smaller chunks.

You might have also seen agile play out this summer as we steadily released FileMaker Server for Linux to a broad testing audience. Or the incremental releases around add-ons. Or the MVL release we just shared for the quick start creation experience. We’ve also in some cases basically embedded customers with our engineering teams for feedback during the iterative process. We’re getting a lot done a lot faster and at higher quality as a result.

I for one am pretty excited for the road ahead. And I hope this helps for some perspective. We also encourage you to visit the Community for regular updates about our vision, roadmap, and releases.

If you’d like to provide further feedback or ask questions, please reach out to community@claris.com — we are always happy to engage.

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