Bento 3 brings local sharing, iPhoto integration
updated 09:30 am EDT, Tue September 29, 2009
Personal database app gains major update
Apple-owned FileMaker has released Bento 3, a major new edition of its personal database utility. The software now includes iPhoto integration, which allows users to associate extra information with images. Photos can be linked with any material in a database, such as events, contacts or projects.
Bento has additionally been upgraded with features such as database sharing, which allows up to five users to view a person's libraries over a LAN connection. For security's sake a host is able to encrypt fields individually, protecting important information while exposing everything safe for consumption. Passwords lock out unauthorized viewers.
Other changes include a new Grid view, which displays both images and data in thumbnail form; similarly, File Lists now interweave thumbnails alongside text. Ten more templates have been added, covering topics like job and home searches, vacation planning, and wine collecting.
Bento 3 costs $49, and requires Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later. Bento 1 and 2 owners are eligible for a $20 rebate. FileMaker is also promising to release an updated iPhone app in the near future, Bento 1.0.3, which should fix compatibility problems.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2005
Another limp upgrade
I guess it made sense years ago to break the FileMaker product off into a separate company, the better to give PC users the sense that they weren't getting an "Apple" product. But times have changed. PC users have integrated iTunes and Safari into their lives. They're using iPods and iPhones. And they're happily traipsing in to Apple stores to spend their money. So it really no longer seems to be a strategic necessity to have FileMaker as a separate company anymore, given that it's not necessary to continue to fool PC users.
With that in mind, I wish Apple would disband FileMaker, Inc. and bring its products under the Apple umbrella. That way we would get fully featured, robust, and well-conceived upgrades and bug fixes instead of the tepid upgrades we've been getting with Bento. Really, is there THAT much of difference between versions 1 and 2? Or between versions 2 and 3? Maybe if Apple were looking over the shoulder of Bento's product manager, we'd be on version 1.3 instead of 3.1.
I'm going to ignore this upgrade, 1) because I think it's silly, frivolous, and barely moves the needle; 2) because, as was proven with the upgrade to version 2, when FileMaker releases an upgrade of Bento, they ignore the bugs in the previous version; and 3) because I resent being charged full price for a limp set of new features I'll never use.