Apple's Claris launches beta of tool to create apps faster

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The Apple-owned developer of FileMaker Pro has launched Claris Connect Beta, a system to make creating new business apps faster and more robust.

Detail from a Claris demo of how the new service will work
Detail from a Claris demo of how the new service will work


Claris has revealed a beta version of its forthcoming Claris Connect, a service that will use libraries of pre-existing code to help users speedily create new apps for business use. As well as leveraging the company's own longstanding FileMaker Pro database app, Claris Connect will utilize third-party services. It aims to give developers "hyper agility" in going from idea to an app.

"There have never been any limits on what our developers can create with Claris FileMaker, which is why we are widely deployed by everyone from SMBs to Fortune 100 companies," said Brad Freitag, CEO of Claris International, Inc, in a statement. "That said, the speed of digital transformation happening in every industry demands hyper-agility and the ability to go from idea to workflow in minutes. Claris Connect drives this forward."

Brad Freitag, CEO of Claris
Brad Freitag, CEO of Claris


Unveiled at the 2019 Claris Developers' Conference, Claris Connect is going to be a service built around integrating different workflows for small to medium-sized businesses. It will be released publicly in early 2020 and the beta program is accepting applications now.

"Claris Connect represents a significant leap forward for problem solvers to create better outcomes," said Srini Gurrapu, vice president of product management and design at Claris.

"With Claris Connect, simplicity and power no longer have to be a tradeoff," he continued. "Whether you are a citizen developer or pro developer, Claris Connect makes workflow automation easy and powerful."

Claris Connect was first previewed at FileMaker DevCon 2019 in August, and in demos there resembled services such as Zapier or IFTTT. Users can specify triggers that start an action, then create a workflow that sees information pass through a series of connected apps to get their end result.

Claris is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Apple, and the new service follows Claris's rebranding from its FileMaker, Inc name in August, as part of ongoing work to reposition itself as an app creation tool instead of a database.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    Why didn't Apple "sell" off Aperture to Claris?
    JWSCMacPro
  • Reply 2 of 13
    Apple should integrate it into iWork. Yeah, lost revenue, but right now it's overpriced anyway. Way overpriced. No, integrate it, resuscitate Bento, and bring back dogcow!
    JWSC
  • Reply 3 of 13
    Eric_WVGG said:
    Why didn't Apple "sell" off Aperture to Claris?
    Uhm, because that was DAM software, therefore completely unrelated?
  • Reply 4 of 13
    I laughed at the term “citizen developer” — used versus “pro developer” — but upon reflection it does somehow capture the essence of the distinction.
  • Reply 5 of 13
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,976member
    Eric_WVGG said:
    Why didn't Apple "sell" off Aperture to Claris?
    Uhm, because that was DAM software, therefore completely unrelated?
    Not exactly. That might have been true of FileMaker Inc although there are a lot of parallels between DAM and database applications.

    Just seeing the name Claris brings back great memories. In the original spirit of Claris Corporation (back then), something like Aperture rebuilt could find its (spiritual?) home. 

    Claris was a great collection of software titles, ClarisWorks being everybody's favourite I suppose.

    Another great piece of software that would fit well is an application to fully open every single Apple format that has ever existed. No file should rot due to lack of format support.

    I recently had to clear out a ton of old books but two will never leave my possession: Ted Landau's Sad Macs, Bombs and other disasters and a beaten up book on ClarisWorks 2.1. Those two titles were milestones.
    edited November 2019
  • Reply 6 of 13
    I laughed at the term “citizen developer” — used versus “pro developer” — but upon reflection it does somehow capture the essence of the distinction.
    Claris (FileMaker) started really pushing the term "citizen developer" about five years ago - it was being used by a fair-sized part of the industry when discussing low-code/no-code environments - but they're moving away from the distinction now.

    And as much as people want Claris to be a home for all types of software, that ain't gonna happen. They will have multiple offerings beyond FileMaker Pro and Claris Connect, but anything they sell will be in the service of solving business administration problems. There might be someone who develops an Aperture-like product with FileMaker Pro (and a very basic, if you squint really hard it could be, product like that already exists: http://fmgallery.net), but Claris will not be Apple's software experiment company.
  • Reply 7 of 13
    avon b7 said:
    Eric_WVGG said:
    Why didn't Apple "sell" off Aperture to Claris?
    Uhm, because that was DAM software, therefore completely unrelated?
    Not exactly. That might have been true of FileMaker Inc although there are a lot of parallels between DAM and database applications.

    Just seeing the name Claris brings back great memories. In the original spirit of Claris Corporation (back then), something like Aperture rebuilt could find its (spiritual?) home. 

    Claris was a great collection of software titles, ClarisWorks being everybody's favourite I suppose.

    Another great piece of software that would fit well is an application to fully open every single Apple format that has ever existed. No file should rot due to lack of format support.

    I recently had to clear out a ton of old books but two will never leave my possession: Ted Landau's Sad Macs, Bombs and other disasters and a beaten up book on ClarisWorks 2.1. Those two titles were milestones.
    Very fond memories of Claris for me as well. Really liked ClarisWorks, and later I created FMP db's. After switching jobs I never stayed up to date with FMP, and now I can't open v7 db's from backup. Wish I had kept myself in the loop. Now they're on v18 or something...
  • Reply 8 of 13
    JWSCJWSC Posts: 1,203member
    avon b7 said:
    Eric_WVGG said:
    Why didn't Apple "sell" off Aperture to Claris?
    Uhm, because that was DAM software, therefore completely unrelated?
    [...]  Another great piece of software that would fit well is an application to fully open every single Apple format that has ever existed. No file should rot due to lack of format support.  [...]
    Exactly!  How am I supposed to access my MacPaint files on my 3.5” floppies from the mid-1980s?
    lolliver
  • Reply 9 of 13
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,822member
    Eric_WVGG said:
    Why didn't Apple "sell" off Aperture to Claris?
    Uhm, because that was DAM software, therefore completely unrelated?
    One could argue a DAM is a database ...  :)  I would agree that photography, color and so on are not in the Claris wheelhouse.
    edited November 2019
  • Reply 10 of 13
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,822member

    Eric_WVGG said:
    Why didn't Apple "sell" off Aperture to Claris?
    What's more interesting IMHO is to wonder is why Numbers, Pages and Keynote were not in that camp considering ClarisWorks.
    edited November 2019
  • Reply 11 of 13
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,822member

    JWSC said:
    avon b7 said:
    Eric_WVGG said:
    Why didn't Apple "sell" off Aperture to Claris?
    Uhm, because that was DAM software, therefore completely unrelated?
    [...]  Another great piece of software that would fit well is an application to fully open every single Apple format that has ever existed. No file should rot due to lack of format support.  [...]
    Exactly!  How am I supposed to access my MacPaint files on my 3.5” floppies from the mid-1980s?
    You attach a ZIP SCSI drive to the Mac SE, copy the files over.  Then you attach a USB Zip drive to a later Mac and copy them over.  MacPaint files per se might not open but I did this for a ton of other files that I was able to open only a few months ago.  There are Swiss army knife apps out there for file conversions that could possible be done with MacPaint files, in a few steps going between several generations of Macs...  OK I know you were not serious haha!
    edited November 2019
  • Reply 12 of 13
    MacPro said:
    Eric_WVGG said:
    Why didn't Apple "sell" off Aperture to Claris?
    Uhm, because that was DAM software, therefore completely unrelated?
    One could argue a DAM is a database ...  :)  I would agree that photography, color and so on are not in the Claris wheelhouse.
    Touché.

    Yeah, photography is indeed something different than the 'office apps' Claris makes.


  • Reply 13 of 13
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,822member
    avon b7 said:
    Eric_WVGG said:
    Why didn't Apple "sell" off Aperture to Claris?
    Uhm, because that was DAM software, therefore completely unrelated?
    Not exactly. That might have been true of FileMaker Inc although there are a lot of parallels between DAM and database applications.

    Just seeing the name Claris brings back great memories. In the original spirit of Claris Corporation (back then), something like Aperture rebuilt could find its (spiritual?) home. 

    Claris was a great collection of software titles, ClarisWorks being everybody's favourite I suppose.

    Another great piece of software that would fit well is an application to fully open every single Apple format that has ever existed. No file should rot due to lack of format support.

    I recently had to clear out a ton of old books but two will never leave my possession: Ted Landau's Sad Macs, Bombs and other disasters and a beaten up book on ClarisWorks 2.1. Those two titles were milestones.
    Very fond memories of Claris for me as well. Really liked ClarisWorks, and later I created FMP db's. After switching jobs I never stayed up to date with FMP, and now I can't open v7 db's from backup. Wish I had kept myself in the loop. Now they're on v18 or something...
    Phil, run an older mac OS that can run the older FMPro in a VM,.  That said some can't run in a VM due to graphics issues but I'd suspect FMPro would be fine.
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