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Jan 04, 08 - 01:37 pm Comment from: Wandering joe

Sounds OK, but where'd they get the name?

@Wandering Joe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bento

Jan 04, 08 - 01:44 pm Comment from: Mac User since 1984

I played with the preview and was disappointed by its performance. It felt very sluggish on a 1.67 GHz Power PC G4 (my current work rig). Is it time for me to consider an Intel based Macbook Pro?

Jan 04, 08 - 01:46 pm Comment from: 84 Mac Guy

I played with Bento in its beta state and found it to be an excellent basic database. I especially like the looks of Bento.

Hopefully, Filemaker, Inc. will borrow some of the concepts they put into Bento and apply them to their big-boy database, Filemaker. Filemaker is a great relational database. But, while you can customize it to do all kinds of wonderful things, you can't make it look good on a Mac.

"FileMaker Jr." has been needed since iWork came out and it looks like Bento will do the job rather well - even if it is a separate app.

One key issue will be the ability to download and use files on iPods and the iPhone/touch platform - that is where a huge market will develop. Since both the iPhone SDK and Bento's market EIS are both in February there is hope.

"Despite the gap left by AppleWorks, neither iWork nor Office provides a database component..."

isn't Numbers within iWork a "database component?"

Jan 04, 08 - 02:04 pm Comment from: Wandering joe

@burnt weeny sandwich
ask and ye shall receive...
Thank you very much!!

what would i, joe semi-prosumer, use this for?

mw: "sound" 's fun, but why?

I signed up for the preview but haven't gotten a response.

@Botvinnik, Numbers is a spreadsheet, not a database program. I'm always preaching to people that they should not be using a spreadsheet for db work. Like others, I hope Apple will add a good DB (FileMaker) component to iLife. Perhaps they port Bento as part of that.

Bento is a Japanese lunchbox. The traditional ones are lacquered black but they come in different shapes and sizes these days. Here's a link showing some non-traditional bento boxes:

http://www.bentoyum.com/?cat=19

I want some Japanese food after looking at that link...

Jan 04, 08 - 03:05 pm Comment from: Demon

I'm using the Bento preview to catalog all of my Video and Audio Projects and their associated assets. It's been a rock with even with almost 1.5TB of managed data to handle. FileMaker was quick to fix the few minor issues I did have. I'm looking forward to the release.

Jan 04, 08 - 03:13 pm Comment from: Ampar

To Mac User since 1984:

"Is it time for me to consider an Intel based Macbook Pro?"

Yes. It's time.

If it only had buttons in addition to the fields to perform simple tasks. A nice start and nice to see a db that doesn't look like your fathers db.

Jan 04, 08 - 03:40 pm Comment from: Mr. Reeee

84 Mac Guy...

Don't blame FileMaker. It's YOUR job is to make a Filemaker database look good. ;^)

___________________________
I played with it a bit, obviously not enough to be able to rave about it like some do. It would be a nice addition to iWork, though. I use Filemaker Pro, but a simpler app would be welcome by many.

I DO hope FileMaker builds in the ability to import AppleWorks and some simpler FileMaker Pro database files.

One of the GREAT disappointments of iWork/Pages is that it can't import ANY AppleWorks files that contain graphics or spreadsheet objects.

Pages is very nice to work with compared to AW, but it's a real killer for me, since I've got years and years worth of AW business files with my logo/letterhead and little spreadsheets embedded and no way to move them forward to iWork, or any other app for that matter! When AppleWorks finally STOPS working, someday it will, then I'll be screwed unless Apple does the right thing. Pages desperately needs a Batch Convert command and FULL AppleWorks import ability!

Jan 04, 08 - 08:28 pm Comment from: 84 Mac Guy

@ Mr. Reeee

Filemaker is wonderful and it can do wonderful things and I can program it to make an organization's life much easier and more organized. But, all I can do it put lipstick on the pig.

What I am saying is that Filemaker needs a healthy revision to have more of the look and feel of Bento and the other Mac applications like iWork. Currently Filemaker feels much more like an old fashion database from 10 years ago.

Bento as in bentomywill?

Jan 05, 08 - 05:23 am Comment from: Schuimpje

84 Mac Guy, understand where you're coming from. You might be seeing some of it with a next release from Filemaker, though I think the chances are slim simply because they have the task of keeping it cross-platform.

As I see it, Bento serves 2 main purposes:
1. An easy to learn and use database solution for the masses.
2. A testbed for database-solutions using a next-generation platform (Leopard) with all the bells and whistles.

In time, when the installed base for OS X is big enough to justify a 'Filemaker OS X - Plus', that has more options than its Windows-cousin, they might just make that available.
But for now, I think they have to keep supporting both sides which means leaving out the 'Bento stuff'.

Jan 05, 08 - 06:08 am Comment from: Occasional Poster

Its more commonly called "O'bento here in Japan

Can someone explain what use a 'database' is without a query function? Bento has less functionality than a spreadsheet in this respect, so why bother?

A query function? I have Bento but haven't delved into it yet except for basic stuff. However, it does have smart collections - I think that's the query function.

Does Bento have the following abilities?

1) Mail Merge
2) Mailing Labels
3) The ability to perform basic queries.

If not, it's unfortunately only a good-looking toy at best!