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Bento personal database

November 14, 2007 › Sandy McMurray | comment

Apple subsidiary FileMaker has announced an interesting new product called Bento.

Bento is the new personal database from FileMaker that's as easy to use as a Mac.
Bento organizes all your important information in one place. So you can manage your contacts, coordinate events, track projects, prioritize tasks, and more -- faster and easier than ever before.

Unlike other FileMaker products, which are available for both PC and Mac computers, Bento is "designed exclusively for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard."

A free preview version of Bento is available for download from the FileMaker site. No price has been announced yet. (Update: Single user license will be $50; family pack will be $100.)

What's in a name?
According to Wikipedia, Bento is "a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine." This appears to be the metaphor for the product; the personal database is an empty box that you can fill with anything you like.

Long-time Apple fans may also remember that the OpenDoc compound document file format created by Apple was also called Bento.

I haven't had much time to play with Bento yet, but it looks promising. On the face of it, Bento's apparent focus on simplicity and function is a welcome departure from previous versions of FileMaker, which were powerful and feature-rich, but always seemed to require a team of consultants to set up and operate.

November 14, 2007 › Sandy McMurray | comment on this item