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Interesting that they would choose the Japanese term for a box lunch for their database...

Does it come in a box?

Bento box.

Couldn't resist.

This is great news for AppleWorks users who are looking for a way to leave AppleWorks behind, step up to iWork AND have a database Lite application to replace AW's database module. The fact tat it's based on FileMaker, with it's thoroughly Macintosh pedigree, is a major plus!

Mac OS X outsells Windows in Japan.

Now Bento.

Apple IS going to buy Sony.

It's just getting Japan Inc. accustomed to a American company owning one of theirs. Figure?

This looks like it may be pretty sweet.

Mikey likes it!

iPhone GTD anyone?

I'm going to have some sushi and a bento box.

NFW Apple is buying Sony.

Downloaded it. I like it. Sweet how it integrates right in with your existing data. Nice. (Leopard required).

Meh. Would be better if it were cross-platform. I'll still check it out, though.

Welcome to Bento! ...FileMaker Application for iPhone?

Is the first FileMaker application for iPhone? look, feel, etc? It feels like it. The buttons look the same, the headers are similar.

They say its made for Leopard, isn't it really made for the iPhone?

Maybe they chose the name because the different foods in a bento is organized into separate compartments.

I think this is a brilliant idea for a product. It provides both security and safety as a backup repository for other databases, plus a way to centralize and relate data.

Key to this will be making it easy for others to integerate in to bento. For instance, I'd love to be able to link my delicious library to it as well.

I think this will be an interesting product to follow...

Nice if this goes cross platform and cleans the floor with that POS called Access...

THIS IS WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT!

I posted a comment on August 16, 2007 to the MDN article: "Mossberg reviews Apple’s iWork ‘08: Elegant but ‘wimpy’ compared with Microsoft Office", in which I fantasized about a new database application that I wish Apple would add to iWorks, that was very was very much like Numbers except geared for databases.

I lamented that the layout elements of FileMaker Pro still make your database look very much like an OS 9 application. FileMaker still uses text fields with OS 9-looking scrollbars for goodness sakes! That I felt FileMaker is hampered by its cross-platform development, and that I wish Apple would create a new database application from the ground up that took advantage of OS X technologies with OS X layout elements.

Here's one paragraph from my original post:

"What would this new database -- probably called 'Data' or 'Cards' -- be like? First, it would be easier for newbies to set up a database than FileMaker. It's templates for starter databases would not be as bland-as-Windows'-templates as FileMaker but rather would have the panache of all the templates in the iWorks package. Second, it would have the power of FileMaker but a completely different layout design engine that would take advantage of the OS X interface."

Well, this is a step in that direction and I am excited. Just today, I was looking for some other application on versiontracker so I could design a simple database for my needs that was both simpler to layout than FileMaker and yet more elegant and more OS X-like.

Funny... I had always wondered if Apple did come out with such an application for iWork how it would deal with the obvious comparison / competition to FileMaker. What a great idea to release it through FileMaker Inc. -- EVEN THOUGH IT LOOKS ENTIRELY LIKE AN IWORK APPLICATION.

I would not be surprised if Bento ends up being spun off into iWork '09. In fact, I would not be surprised if Bento today spells out the future look of FileMaker Pro itself tomorrow, that eventually Apple will release the next generation of FileMaker Pro that looks and behaves much like Bento with entirely new Leopard-like layout capabilities. In fact, I would not be surprised if Apple does release a next-generation of Filemaker Pro, that -- just like Shake and Logic -- Apple ends support for the albatross of Windows, as FileMaker Pro will be tied to OS X Leopard's technologies.

I've been holding off on upgrading to Leopard but my just have to do it now so I can take Bento for a spin.

MDN Magic Word "return" as in: I had to return to my original post back in August.

Sounds like it's a national for not only OS X (10.5) but also for iPod Touch and the almighty iPhone too... and maybe art long last a true PDA... out of the likes or either the iPod Touch or the IPhone or better yet both!

And that's about the time I''ll retire my aging Handspring Visor Prism and get one... <GRIN>

...Hmm..I see something bigger here! Could this possible be a precursor to the technology that would be used in the new Apple "Touch" PDA/Tablet rumored device? After all, the technology is 'owned' by Apple via FileMaker. This could be awesome! A compelling reason for me to get an Apple "PDA/tablet" device to act as a portable "little brother" to my destop/main computer....with WiFi included so I could have access to the Web when on the road. I would love it!
Also note that the Bento website says it will be available in January 2008, and the Macworld Expo just happens to be in January 2008. A coincidence?

If Bento means lunchbox in Japanese, in English it sounds like the name of an aging terrier whose owner dresses him in plaid sweaters.

I wonder if that's a codename that will be changed prior to final release. (Hmm, maybe Records... now part of iWork...??)

@the repguy
@dave viets
You guys are right on target!

This is the missing link for an Apple PDA (i.e. iTouch). It's exactly what is needed to bring this thing to market.

I, too, will give up my aging Tungsten T3

If you want cross platform, buy FileMaker. If you want all that the Mac offers, then buy this.

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?

Sure would be nice if they'd email me that download link anytime now. been waiting almost two hours, registered with two different email addresses, and it's not in my spam folders. Nice.

Ah, see there, all I needed to do was complain about it, and it showed up... finally!

First a couple of posts (laments or requests but really, wish-list stuff) I've made in this past year:

iCal & FMPro
I'd like the ability to link iCal dynamically with a FileMaker Pro database (a no-brainer - just why haven't Apple and FileMaker integrated iCal, Address Book even if only via iSync?). Do this and iCal becomes available as a front end resource for enterprise systems that deal with work scheduling in a way that could potentially end up supporting PDAs via a Mac.

FMPro & AB
I'd like a fully integrated FileMaker/Address Book solution with flows of information from Address Book into FileMaker if not in both directions. I would like to be able to call up information held in Address Book for use in a FileMaker database without having to resort to copy/paste or some sort of vCard export/import exchange followed by a round of reviewing records to eliminate duplicates and resolve 'conflicts'.

Now my take on the hour of fun I've had: YES! YES! YES! I LIKE IT!!!

It may be v1 but it is a giant step in the right direction.

New stuff for the wish-list:

Add scripting
Ability to convert and import existing FMP6, 7, 8 & 9 databases
Download/hookup each 'library' with a counterpart in iPhone and iPod Touch.
Link libraries created in Bento to FMPro databases so information can be drawn from a bigger (possible shared) repository held in background just like the way it integrates with iCal and Address Book...

Also, the points made above about tablets are spot on!

Just a few thoughts...

MDN MW: family - as in, the Apple family is coming along just fine!

@since1984 (the first guy; not the Plug dude above),
I have been saying the same for a long time, too. Not since 1984 but WAY before August of this year and in a much, much shorter post and not nearly as rambling.

Basically, I have been saying that iWork won't be complete until it gets spreadsheet and database apps. The spreadsheet app has been taken care of. Now for the database app. Well, we're getting closer and Bento not that expensive, but I would like to see it in iWork and not a separate purchase.

The OpenDoc compound document file format was called Bento. Curious.

@Plug (MacHead since 1984):

Best of all, it's free.
http://econtact.slade.de/en/index.php

Not only was Bento a format within OpenDoc, but that was part of a concept referred to as Gluon, which was a codename for Bento.

Someone elsewhere suggested doing a Google search for OpenDoc Bento. I added Gluon as well. Guess what is out there? An article titled "Gluons and the
Cooperation between Software Components" that mentions OpenDoc's Bento format, and mentions that "A Bento object contains a collection of properties and properties contain values which are the placeholders where data is actually stored." Sound familiar?

http://www.iam.unibe.ch/~scg/Archive/OOSC/PDF/Pint95bGluons.pdf

I've been looking this over for a few hours. It's cool! Very easy to use, yet fairly powerful. Great for the power-user (as contrasted with the software developer).

I think Bento is the final name. It's trademarked, it fits the icon they have for it, manual is done, etc.

I have not found any noticible bugs so far. An excellent product so far!

Can't see the point of this if there's no query feature. In fact less useful than a spreadsheet.

@Cubert

Lord, I was born a ramblin' man...

MW: hear