Roadmap 2019

Everyone seen this - just published.

Claris Roadmap Presentation.

1 Like

Just as a precaution, everyone, before posting remember we have the HVAC for comments that are not constructive…

1 Like

Thanks for the heads-up @Mark!

There is the good, the bad and the ugly in it.
The first 20 minutes were filled with marketing hyperbole.
A 12 months limit on security bug fixes in not in line with European law, its 24 months.
Bringing new technologies like CoreML and IoT support to FM is a good idea.
A customer advisory board can be a good thing - let’s see how members will be s(elected).
The continued need for on-premise has been understood - good.
FMS on Linux on-prem is promising.
Shorter release cycles are a good idea if this leads to better software quality (aka less bugs).

The number of times I heard ‘we are investing’ or ‘investment’ raises suspicion. Last time I heard that song, it came to the tune of a substantial price hike.

2 Likes

That is what I find the most concerning: this model born from the Agile approach misapplied to public releases instead of internal milestones is bound to follow the Microsoft, and now Apple, release model: full of bugs. At the Sofa meeting, someone was mentioning something about testing apps and trying to find bugs; Charles comment "we have clients for that" was met with plenty of LOLs.

Also, will these release contain BOTH new features and bug fixes? How can one do all the testing to ensure it won't break their systems. Businesses will not go for it. At the speed things are going, IT people might start beating Vets at occupational depression and suicide rates!

4 Likes

Yes, they will include Features and bug fixes.
You don't have to install every release. It allows us the flexibility to make changes as needed, and test what is important to us, then deploy.
This is, honestly, what we get from every other software vendor.

Thinking long term, the more that is pushed to web technologies, the easier it is to test. Things become much less dependent on the underlying OS, but still gives you the hooks into the OS to get the most power from all of the features.

The anecdotes about more releases = more/fewer bugs, is just that, humorous stories. It about implementation and execution of the plan. This is not the same FileMaker, Inc., the lead team and upper management are much different. Think about a feature that isn't fully battle-tested yet. If it's not ready in May, so what, just include it when it's ready. We only have to wait 3 months ( give or take ) before the next release.

And keep in mind, we don't HAVE to upgrade. We can wait, presumably, up to 2 years if we need to. That should be plenty of time to work out what we need.

1 Like

That's the way Xojo goes. For example this year there have been 3 releases: 2019, 2019r1 and 2019r2. In the last one they made a lot of changes where numerous methods were rename and some were deprecated. If Claris does it properly, that can be very interesting.

Customer advisory board sounds good in practice but will probably be made up of developers from their platinum partners again. They have different needs to us lowly single developers. Will our voices be heard?

1 Like

We will see. Give it a chance.

I would say that may be partially true, but at the same time, many of the changes you've seen that benefit you the most have come from the current advisory board.

What is your favorite 5 features to come from the past 3 versions?

Fav 5 features since last three versions is easy for me to say:

  • cURL (built into Insert from URL)
  • JSON functions
  • the Data API
  • PDF creation support in WebDirect and on Server
  • Card Windows

:slightly_smiling_face:

8 Likes

We definitely not attended the the same webinar. “FileMaker” is not on the spotlight anymore. I was wondering if FileMaker inc had really acquired Stamplay. To me, Stamplay had acquired FileMaker inc instead. We are done.

1 Like

Probably quite a few of us. Time is really the main constraint.

I missed my alarm this morning and didn’t attend the webinar. Is it under NDA?

Sure it is.

Wait - is there another webinar, not the ‘Roadmap’?

It’s not. It’s posted in the other thread. The recording is already on YouTube.

1 Like

This is what I watched.

I stand corrected. Thank you !

Well, that does not change my points. FM is dead.

3 Likes

That is so not true. It is just no longer the only product.

This may be an overly pessimistic view. there are question marks, as @jormond said. Some announcements are quite positive - if implemented in a proper way.
Let’s see. The biggest risk is that they overstretch resources - taking away from FM. Their continued effort to fix an unfixable product (the forum) isn’t a bright move. I hope they will do better with the rest.

Ah, and I still need horizontal portals!

3 Likes