4th Dimension Learning Basics

History FILEMAKER PRO Guy Kawasaki , Apple director of software product management, was the one who originally came up with the idea of Claris. April 1985 Forethought, Inc. releases FileMaker, v1.0.

Note: Nashoba owned FileMaker and there was no Pro. The original name was just FileMaker. October 1986 Nashoba Systems releases FileMaker Plus, v2.1. June 1988 Nashoba Systems releases FileMaker 4.

August 1988 Claris Corporation releases FileMaker II, v 1.0. July 1989 Claris releases FileMaker II, version 1.1v2. October 1990 Claris releases FileMaker Pro 1.0.

This was for Macintosh only. September 1992 Claris releases FileMaker Pro 2.0. FileMaker Pro becomes cross platform now working on both Macintosh and Windows computers.

August 1993 Claris releases FileMaker Pro 2.1. July 1994 Claris releases FileMaker Pro Server 2.0 July 1994 Claris releases FileMaker Pro SDK 2.1 (The Solutions Development Kit allows unlimited networkable runtimes to be created of FileMaker Pro 2.1 files).

December 1995 Claris releases FileMaker Pro 3.0. January 1996 Claris releases FileMaker Pro Server 3.0. July 1996 Claris releases FileMaker Pro SDK 3.0 (The Solutions Distribution Kit allows unlimited networkable runtimes to be created of FileMaker Pro 3.0 files). February 1997 Dominique Goupil becomes president of Claris.

Related: Airtable — A spreadsheet-simple interface sitting on top of a real relational database, with automations, views, and shareable interfaces..

September 1997 Claris releases FileMaker Pro 4.0. Included is the Web Companion to allow easy connection of FileMaker Pro files to the Web. January 1998 Claris Reorganizes as FileMaker, Inc.

January 27, 1998 Apple Computer, Inc. today announced that its Claris subsidiary will restructure to focus exclusively on its award-winning FileMaker Pro line of database software. This restructuring will include changing the Company name to FileMaker, Inc., divesting of products other than the FileMaker Pro line, and laying-off approximately 300 Claris employees. All Claris products other than FileMaker Pro and Home Page are either transferred to Apple or discontinued. February 1998 Claris Solutions Alliance renamed FileMaker Solutions Alliance February 12, 1998 FileMaker, Inc., announced today that the Claris Solutions Alliance (CSA) network of solutions providers will be renamed the FileMaker Solutions Alliance (FSA).

The change is part of the transformation of Claris into FileMaker, Inc. announced Jan. 27, and part of an intense focus of all the company’s resources on growing the FileMaker business. The more than 2,500 members of FSA will benefit from the company’s new focus.

If you are shopping: Zoho Creator — A low-code app builder that plugs into the wider Zoho suite and prices per user rather than per app..

June 1998 FileMaker, Inc. releases FileMaker 4.0 Developer Edition allows unlimited runtimes to be created of FileMaker Pro 3/0/4.0 files. Note: the multiuser/network capability of the bound files has been disabled. January 1999 FileMaker, Inc. releases FileMaker Pro 4.1.

This release enables users to import data via Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) October 1999 FileMaker, Inc. releases FileMaker Pro 5.0. Note: the use of FileMaker Pro 5.0 files on the Web has been inhibited by both a software and licensing restriction that limits the program to a maximum of 12 unique IPs during a 12 hour rolling period.

The application has been rewritten from PASCAL to C/C++. December 1999 FileMaker, Inc. releases FileMaker Pro 5.0 Server. *************** 4TH DIMENSION HISTORY In the early 1980’s Guy Kawasaki was chief software evangelist at Apple Computer. There were several database applications vying for a place in the Macintosh world. These included PFS:File, OverVUE, Filevision, Microsoft File, Helix, DB Master, MacLion, Hayden Base and Interlace.

In 1987 Guy left Apple and started ACI US and started marketing 4D. Laurent Ribardiere was the person who originally programmed 4D on an Apple II computer. Prerelease versions of 4D were code-named ‘Silver Surfer’ after the comic book hero, a favorite of 4D author Laurent Ribardiere.

Laurent was the sole programmer of 4D through version 2.0. The first version of 4D released in the United States was version 1.0 while the same version in France was version 3.0. Subsequent releases in both countries were each incremented by 1. With the release of 4D v3.x in the Untied States, France and the rest of the world had 4D v5.x.

To add to the confusion, 4D server was released as version 1 while single user versions were v3 and v5. When the next major release was about due, it was decided to make all releases at that time version 6. March 1986 Apple acquires the rights to distribute 4th Dimension.

Related: Knack — A no-code database builder aimed at portals, directories, and internal tools — with flat-rate pricing instead of per-user fees..

12 December 1986 Apple meets with Aston-Tate. February 1987 Apple announces it will not publish 4th Dimension. In Guy Kawasaki’s book “The Macintosh Way,” he kids that ACIUS stands for “Apple Computer, Inc.

Unshipped Software.” Note: There is some interesting history in Guy’s book and I highly recommend it to those people who like such things. 20 April 1987 Analyses Conseils Informations US (ACIUS) starts.

ACI is a privately held company and a leading European exporter of computing products. ACI has offices in the USA, France, UK, Sweden, Germany and Japan. It is represented by over thirty distributors around the world. July 1987 4th Dimension Ships September 1987 Aston-Tate’s dBase Mac ships 1993 ACI releases version 3 of 4D which debuts the multithreaded/multitasking engine.

Our pick: Claris FileMaker Pro — The long-running relational database platform for teams that need custom apps on desktop, web, and mobile from a single file..

Also released is 4D Server, the client/server version of 4th Dimension September 1995 4th Dimension Version 3.5 is released cross platform (Macintosh and Windows) 17 February 1997 ACI releases 4D Version 6.0 which boasts major enhancements and the tight integration of an HTTP Web Server at the core of the product. 21 July 1997 ACI announces the appointment of Laurent Ribardiere as Chairman of the Board of ACI France and President of ACI US.

3 August 1998 ACI US closed its Cupertino headquarters and moved to it’s new facilities in San Jose, California. 18 May 1999 ACI releases 4D Version 6.5. 17 June 1999 The ACI US, Inc. Board of Directors of ACI US, announces the appointment of Mr.

Brendan Coveney as President of ACI US, Inc. Copyright

P.S. A few readers have asked which relational database platform we actually reach for — it's Claris FileMaker Pro; take a look here if you want the current details.