FileMaker Inc. Terminating Bento

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In a statement, FileMaker, Inc. says it is increasing its focus on FileMaker Product Line software, and thanks to the ease of creating iPad and iPhone solutions, its customers’ use of FileMaker on iOS is growing rapidly, so as part of a sharpened focus, they will stop further development of the Bento consumer products.

Bento for iPad, iPhone and Mac will continue to be available on the FileMaker Store, and the App Store and Mac App Store, through September 30, 2013, and they will provide technical support for Bento products through July 30, 2014. Bento for iPhone and Bento for iPad will be discontinued as well.

They say they know that many Bento customers will be disappointed, but that Bento may meet their needs for some time to come, and FileMaker Pro will be appropriate for certain users of Bento for Mac. They encourage Bento for Mac customers to visit their “Is FileMaker Pro Right For You?” page to understand the differences between Bento and FileMaker Pro and to download a free trial of FileMaker Pro.

You can check it out at:
http://info.filemaker.com/FMP_overview.html

A Migration Tool is available to move data from Bento 4 for Mac to FileMaker Pro 12. Bento for Mac can also export to Numbers, Excel, and comma-or tab-delimited files. You may save media field contents individually.

However, there are some Bento functions that are not features of FileMaker Pro including:
• Integration with the OS X Contacts, iCal, and iPhoto applications
• Field types supported in Bento but not FileMaker: Rating, Encrypted, Simple List, File List and Message List
• Collections and Smart Collections (In FileMaker you set up relationships and finds to accomplish the same tasks)
• Bento provides Wi-Fi sync with Bento for iPad and iPhone. FileMaker allows you to copy your complete database to the free FileMaker Go apps for iPad and iPhone. You can also make modifications and copy the database back. But you can’t sync.

FileMaker Pro takes more work to set up than Bento. However it is also more flexible. For example, in Bento you can drag out a field and Bento will automatically arrange the other fields but it will space them how Bento thinks is best. In FileMaker Pro you must move the fields yourself but you can place things exactly as you like. In Bento you can choose an address field and Bento will set it up. But there are few modifications you can make to how the address field works. In FileMaker Pro you must set up each part of the address field yourself (street address, city, state, and so on) but you can make any kind of address field you like.

FileMaker Pro offer: For a limited time, Bento licensed customers can download FileMaker Pro 12 for $179 (Save $120). *Terms and conditions apply. This offer is only applicable to customers who have purchased a valid license of Bento software and limited to one discounted purchase of FileMaker Pro 12 and associated License Key per person, household or company. Offer valid in U.S., Canada, and Latin America on Download versions only and requires Internet access and is not applicable for orders of Boxed products. Offer is valid only on online orders placed via the FileMaker Store at http://store.filemaker.com between 30-Jul-2013 to 30-Oct-2013.

For a list of worldwide FileMaker offices, which may have other special offers in your region, visit:
http://www.filemaker.com/intl

For more information, visit:
http://info.filemaker.com/Bento_Statement.html

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