Look, I don’t know about you, but when I think about database software, I think of Japanese food. Strangely enough, I’m not alone in this: Apple subsidiary FileMaker Inc. has released a new personal database application called Bento (yes, as in the boxed meal).
Bento’s kind of like iWork meets FileMaker Pro, a simple easy-to-use database application intended for the user who doesn’t need the full power of a professional level database, but just wants to keep track of some information for a small business, hobby, or home. If FileMaker Pro is a seven course meal, Bento is, well, a boxed lunch.
I’ve had a chance to play around with the application for a few days, and it pretty much does what it says on the tin. Bento includes templates for the most common types of databases: inventories, customers, classes, etc., but building your own with the drag-and-drop interface is a snap. They include a bunch of different themes you can apply (complete with gratuitous Core Animation ripples when you switch between them), and you can store media such as sounds, movies, and images in records too.
The most useful part of Bento is its integration with OS X: out of the box—if you’ll excuse the pun—it integrates with OS X’s Address Book and iCal. You can set it up for both of those to appear in Bento’s source list, and pull information from them to insert into other databases. And since the software is linked directly into them (not just working off of a copy), data edited in Bento is reflected in Address Book and iCal.
Professional users aren’t about to throw away FileMaker Pro, and developers are certainly not going to give up their mySQL, but that’s not what Bento is for anyway. And at $49 (or $99 for a five license family pack), Bento is a heck of a lot cheaper. FileMaker is planning on shipping the full version in January, but a free time-limited public preview is available starting today.
They're promoting it as something to use alongside FileMaker for "personal" purposes. But they don't say if there is a way to convert the simpler sort FileMaker files to Bento?
I fit that market. I'm still using FileMaker 6.5 because I don't need anything more powerful. But eventually, Apple will come out with an OS that it doesn't run on. I'd convert to Bento in a flash if the converting were easy.
--Mike Perry, Inkling Books, Seattle
@Mike, sounds like you should partake of the free preview.
I'll be giving it a chance but based on the information I have seen so far about it I don't think this is going to be a useful application. All I'm looking for is a basic version of MS Access that will enable me to import data to be analysed, create queries and analyse the results. I'm waiting for my download link to try the application but as best as I can tell Bento seems to work only on a single table at a time whereas I need to link tables of data together (either that or use badly designed tables that break the Normal Form rules).
However, I'm going to give it a try and see if this is what I need. It's just a shame that there is no MS Access on the Mac as the current alternatives (FileMaker or mySQL) are either too expensive or lack an acceptable interface to do the relatively simple tasks that I use Access for.
I just discovered your site. Great info. Please keep up the good work! I love having a programmer's view rather than a journalists view. Much needed.