[297] in sw-release-announce
FileMaker 6.0v4 Release Announcement
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Peggy Conant)
Wed Apr 2 13:44:03 2003
Message-Id: <5.0.2.1.2.20030321121545.025a4dd0@hesiod>
Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2003 13:44:49 -0500
To: winpartners@mit.edu, itpartners@mit.edu, sw-release-announce@mit.edu
From: Peggy Conant <pconant@MIT.EDU>
Cc: infosys@mit.edu, itag@mit.edu
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Date: April 2, 2003
To: MIT Community: winpartners@mit.edu, itpartners@mit.edu,
sw-release-announce@mit.edu
Cc: infosys@mit.edu, itag@mit.edu
From: Software Release Team
Subj: FileMaker 6.0v4 Released
-----------------------
Information Systems is pleased to announce the availability of and support
for FileMaker Pro 6.0 v4 for Macintosh and Windows. Under MIT's license
agreement with FileMaker, faculty and staff are eligible to receive
licenses for FM Pro 6.0v4, FM Pro 6.0 Unlimited, and FM Server 5.5 at no
cost for official MIT business. MIT students are eligible to receive
licenses for FM Pro 6.0 while enrolled at MIT.
Who Should Upgrade and Why
-----------------------------
Anyone in the MIT community who would like to upgrade to FM 6.0 is welcome
to do so, but you are not required to upgrade at this time. FM 6.0 offers
complete backward compatability with both 5.0 and 5.5 except in cases where
new 6.0 features have been employed. Users who are already working with 5.5
and who do not plan to incorporate any new 6.0 features into current
solutions may be just as comfortable staying with FM 5.5.
Users of FileMaker 4.1 and earlier are *strongly* encouraged to upgrade to
6.0, but must do so in concert with others with whom they share databases,
since there is no backward compatibility between the 4x family and the 5 or
6 family of FileMaker products. If you are upgrading from 4.0 or 4.1,
particularly if shared databases are involved, read Upgrade Considerations
at http://web.mit.edu/is/help/filemaker/issues.html.
NOTE:
IS support for version 4.x will be discontinued June 30th, 2003.
IS support for versions 3 and earlier of FileMaker was discontinued as of
June 30th, 2002.
New Features
------------
FileMaker 6.0v4 includes several new features, such as:
A find/replace command
XML import and export capabilities
Dynamic and customizable dialog boxes
Batch folder and image imports
For a complete description of new features in 6.0v4, go to: Here's What
You'll Get with FileMaker Pro 6 at
http://www.filemaker.com/products/compare_fm6p.html.
Platform Support
----------------
FileMaker 6.0 products run on all IS-supported Windows and Macintosh
platforms. Some FM 6.0 features do not work in the Mac OS X version, namely
Toolbars and ODBC import. FileMaker recently announced that 6.0 is the last
version that will run on MAC OS 9.x or earlier operating systems.
FileMaker Server 5.5 (still the current version) can run on Red Hat Linux
as well although IS does not support Linux servers at this time.
See http://web.mit.edu/is/help/filemaker/ for current support information.
Backwards Compatibility: Some Issues
------------------------------------
FileMaker 6.x and 5.x databases cannot be opened with earlier versions of
FileMaker (i.e., 4.1 and earlier).
FileMaker 6.0 databases *can* be opened using 5.5, but 6.0 features will
not be available to these databases. In most cases, the 6.0 feature is just
invisible to the 5.x user. But with certain 6.0 features, 5x users will see
odd results. For more information see Upgrade Considerations at
http://web.mit.edu/is/help/filemaker/issues.html.
A Note About Security
----------------------
Unfortunately, FileMaker 6.0 adds no new security features to the product.
Data and passwords are still sent "in the clear," making the data
potentially accessible to unauthorized users. A summary of the security
issues, and suggestions for reducing the vulnerability of databases, is
provided at
http://web.mit.edu/is/help/filemaker/security.html.
Where to Get FileMaker 6.0
--------------------------
Anyone who previously obtained FileMaker software from IS under the MIT
volume license agreement brokered with FileMaker Inc. will be sent email
requesting a review of past license requests and current license needs for
their area. A CD for 6.0 will be sent to those who fill out a request form
available through http://web.mit.edu/is/products/vsls/mitfmpro/. Anyone who
has not already obtained a license/CD for a previous version, can submit a
request via http://web.mit.edu/is/products/vsls/mitfmpro/.
Please allow two weeks for delivery from the date of this announcement.
(The media will be sent to the departmental representative who obtained the
software, not to each end user running FileMaker. Check with your local
support provider first if you are expecting the new version.
Where to Get Help with FileMaker 6.0
-----------------------------------
The Computing Help Desk provides support for FileMaker 6.0, and is
available to assist you with upgrading your site from a pre-5.0 version of
FileMaker.
email: pc-help@mit.edu (WINDOWS) or mac-help@mit.edu (MAC)
phone: x3-1102 (WINDOWS) or x3-1101 (MAC)
web: http://web.mit.edu/helpdesk/
Documentation for FileMaker at MIT is available at
http://web.mit.edu/is/help/filemaker/.
Enjoy the new version of FileMaker!
______________________________________
Peggy Conant
FileMaker at MIT Product Release Coordinator
N42-240H, x8-6481
filemaker-release@mit.edu
