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Claris FileMaker II

Rating:	Your rating: None Average: 4.7 (3 votes)
Category:	Business & Productivity Database
Year released:	1988
Author:	Alan Albert Spec Bowers Dan Chadwick Elisabeth Bayle Allen Olsen Don Warren
Publisher:	Claris

[www]_.se [ftp]_.se [mirror]_.us
FileMakerII_1.0.sit (226.35 KB)
MD5: d50151667d3dcb5f485d00f0053bbf66
For System 6.x - Mac OS 8 - 8.1

[www]_.se [ftp]_.se [mirror]_.us
filemaker_ii.sit (351.07 KB)
MD5: 3d09ca9672e805dcd6f476aa462a82a6
For System 6.x - Mac OS 8 - 8.1

[www]_.se [ftp]_.se [mirror]_.us
FileMaker-II-1-0.sit (579.38 KB)
MD5: a01ad045cc7d94277e8a1a0e2ae7749c
For System 6.x - Mac OS 8 - 8.1

[www]_.se [ftp]_.se [mirror]_.us
FileMaker-II-1-1v2.sit (588.48 KB)
MD5: e9eb751b055a1f3ac54df04899a32c11
For System 6.x - Mac OS 8 - 8.1

Emulation
This app works with: SheepShaver, Basilisk II, Mini vMac Mini vMac II

FileMaker II is the first version of FileMaker released by Claris, in August 1988.

Sometime between 1983 and 1985, the original FileMaker was developed by Nashoba Systems. Forethought, which had sold the IBM PC database Nutshell, acquired FileMaker and sold a version called FileMaker Plus, around 1986 or 87. Not to be outdone, Nashoba took it back and offered FileMaker 4 in 1988. Within a couple months, an 800 pound gorilla named Claris stepped in and changed the name to FileMaker II.
— Nashoba Systems and the Early Days of FileMaker Pro

DL #1: Claris FileMaker II v1.0, a preinstalled copy in a StuffIt Lite 3.6 ".sit" archive.
DL #2: Claris FileMaker II v1.1rev2, a preinstalled copy in a StuffIt 5.5 ".sit" archive.
DL #3: Claris FileMaker II v1.0, Disk Copy 4.2 floppy disk image set in a StuffIt v2.0 ".sit" archive.
Not original but a reconstructed facsimile of the original release using "virginized" copies, modeled on the Nashoba FileMaker 4 originals and FileMaker II v1.1v2 pre-installed sets.
DL #4: Claris FileMaker II v1.1v2, Disk Copy 4.2 floppy disk image set in a StuffIt v2.0 ".sit" archive.
Not original but a reconstructed facsimile of the original release using "virginized" copies, modeled on the Nashoba FileMaker 4 originals and FileMaker II v1.1v2 pre-installed sets.

Note: Of the two Disk Copy sets (DL's #3 & #4), Claris FileMaker II requires personalization on 1st use, but no serial is required or asked for.

In FileMaker II is the Easter egg shown in the last screenshot above. I couldn't find the magic key press to show it but it's easy to spot with ResEdit. Also the secret project name "Dracula", which I thought it must be the code-name for FileMaker II, but it's also present in Nashoba's FileMaker 4.

After Claris released FileMaker II, next came the first of the FileMaker "Pro" series. For anyone using FileMaker Pro today, FileMaker II will still look remarkably familiar.

See Also: FileMaker 4 by Nashoba Systems.

Compatibility
Architecture: 68k

FileMaker II will run on a Mac OS from System Software 5 and newer.
It runs very well in Systems 6 & 7, on Mini vMac, Basilisk II & SheepShaver.
Untested in OS 8 and later.

Comments

by MikeTomTom - 2020, May 7 - 10:34pm

@mtgmackid: Thank you for the version 1.0 additition. Also thanks for uploading it using StuffIt 3.6 for the archiving.

by mtgmackid - 2020, May 5 - 1:26pm

I have a preinstalled copy of FM II v1.0 (which has a late 1988 release date instead of July 1989) and will upload it here on this page shortly.

by MikeTomTom - 2020, January 16 - 8:59pm

@jameykey: FileMaker 4 is linked to in the page above, after "See Also".
- I no longer have my own copy. But the copy we have on that page is identical to what I had.

by jameykey - 2020, January 16 - 5:41pm

Do you still have your FileMaker 4? Could you take a scan of it?

by MikeTomTom - 2010, September 27 - 3:22am

Great find and upload. I used to have a copy of "FileMaker 4" by Nashoba Systems (not to be confused with FM Pro 4). This was FileMaker before Claris bought the rights to it and took it further. FileMaker 4 looks almost identical to the screenshots you've put up (they're closer in appearance to FileMaker 4 than FileMaker Pro). - ~~Sadly, I lost my copy of this~~. - Found thanks to mrdav.