It seems so. Looking on the bug fixing strategy also the (deprecated since a new Xojo Version is published therefore Bug is deleted) I have the feeling that the quick release strategy is realizing that exactly. While the Bug is in an old Version it has not to be fixed and while the Bug’s command is renamed it is also not to be fixed. Do it fast enough you will be in front of while users need time to write the new Bug report.
That ‘freemium’ version was a marketing hoax, it never saw daylight.
Claris aficionados can now register for their developer conference in…Austin, Tx!
That’s two clown cars in one town.
Claris customers are having a lot of fun with licensing:
https://the.fmsoup.org/t/fm-server-licensing-question/3668
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Companies like this having their own rules and their own ways. That was the thing what made me working with Java from the beginning. Having an open Source Tool and an Open Source Toolchain made it even better. Since 2008 it is open Source what made it better to work with. but even in the not open Source time it was coming up with no upfront costs. I could never understand why there was something like Claris becoming that big and that interesting. Also I could never understand why Companies like Xojo could become that big and interesting with their proprietary non standard closed source tools with limited Bugfixing and all the problems around.
Programming in ojo is not more simple or more sophisticated than programming in Java. I have all the needed Stuffs like Screen Designer, XPLAT (okay, even more than Xojo has). And all of that you have also with C++ (what is more complicated and in XPLAT use even more). But still this companies were growing in that times while everybody now meant: I am a programmer. They could not do it with Java, C++ or C. But they could do it with VisualBasic and later with RealBasic and also with Claris. That was in their eyes more simple. It isn’t by the way.
While running all time behind the Bugs and Workarounds and all time having issues with the big changes from version to version people programming still in ten years old versions while their programs are written in that old versions and nobody cares.- And yes, that IS a definitely hard core security Issue. Nobody is interested in that.
All as a result of the marketing of that companies. Good Job of the Marketing department. Bad Job of the customers not getting that they are on a one way street with a dead end. Only to remember: they could make everything Bug free and totally performant and wonderfully working. Could. But for that they would need a structure with many more employees. That is impossible because of the market.
And yes, other languages having issues. But the most of them are not even close to be a show stopper. Xojo and also Claris having that kind of issues. And what developers are doing: workarounds over workarounds and external plugins for much money.
So there has to be a reason why people believing in it and using and paying for it. What shall I say. Good Job of Marketing and advertisement for the Solution. Nothing else.
And yes, it is sad that the solution is so poor (in case of Xojo) and so restricted ( in case of Claris) in licensing. But that is also the own fault of the programmer: he is the one which decided to do his business in that language and not in another one which is available for free. Therefore I can not understand how people can rely their entire business model on that kind of products.
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Bad job of the marketing department actually, they lost customers and developers in numbers. Shit finally hit the fan:
https://the.fmsoup.org/t/filemaker-pro-filemaker-server-claris-claris-studio-oh-my.
https://community.claris.com/en/s/question//big-news-about-the-claris-roadmap
Glad I moved on to a different platform.
Same reason VB became huge
Companies used it and it didn’t require a PhD to write software
You could drop it on just about anyone and create “an app”
You do NOW - but didnt then
In 1994/5 when I started with VB Java wasnt as usable as it is now - screen designers ? HA !
Now its an entirely different story
These tools have had this for 2+ decades
And that made them immensely popular esp in the corporate world
Drawing a screen layout isnt easier than having to write the code to do it ?
I’d disagree - having done both in VB, other tools with visual designers way back then & in Java and C back then
Yes you CAN do a layout in code but its not nearly as easy to get it right unless you plan it out ahead of time
With a visual designer I could just draw it, show the customer, and they’d say “move this here move this here”
That was 1994/1995 ish
Unquestionably old versions are a security risk - true for every piece of software out there
100% agree with this
People believe there is a silver bullet/magic bullet that will let them write once run anywhere and be hugely productive with it and it will all be EASY !
If you’re a person whose passion is … photograp[hy
And you need something to help you run your photogra[phy business
Are you likely to grab Java ? unlikely
Claris FM or Xojo ? possibly because you can “do things” quickly and fairly easily
And then you code and code and all the sudden you have this monster
But you sell it
And make a decent amount of $ from it along side your photography business
And that is how “citizen” developers come to be
Thats how they end up with people using Xojo & FM - and other similarly approachable tools & languages that a “professional” might not pick day 1
But years down the road the citizen needs some help and asks a professional - and now that professional has to pick through years of hacks, bugs, work arounds and odd design choices to help that person out
Trust me.
Been there done that and seen it happen a LOT
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Sorry, did I miss a memo?
Didn’t realize that Xojo had become “that big and interesting”
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wow
switch a few words and it applies very well to our green friends
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Absolutely. That’s why they are both so successful in the market 
True, Matisse was released in March 1997 and not in 1996 so Xojo was one year in front of java. But still it was as usable as it is today compared with Xojos usability in that time. It was not the same like it is today.
That you didn’t know, okay that I can understand. It was not named Netbeans then it was named Xelphi.
Drawing a screen layout isnt easier than having to write the code to do it ?
I’d disagree - having done both in VB, other tools with visual designers way back then & in Java and C back then
Yes you CAN do a layout in code but its not nearly as easy to get it right unless you plan it out ahead of time
With a visual designer I could just draw it, show the customer, and they’d say “move this here move this here”
That was 1994/1995 ish
Like I said, we speak about 1997 in Java world. The first Designer of Sun Developer was released before but never mind it was never really published to the outside but was still to get for free. What was riding them not to publish more about? Hey, that was sun a company of GODS.
One of the reasons why I am using always the newer Versions / maintained LTS Versions of Java. And that gives the security behind while I know that the Java Version I can use to compile my Software is running at the end for the next decade from starting the development in state of the art security reason.
That’s what I have. Running on Linux and tested: will run on MacOS and run will run on Windows and run. No question. We test all times all platforms. But first Bugfixing testing on one platform with all people and after we test all of this again and again on all selected platforms. We had never until now an error / a Bug only on one Platform. If then we did not found it on the other platforms but it was there. But we had never that case that it was related by Java. With Xojo…
See, I never met somebody what told me I am a citizen Developer. I met only Professional Developers, okay I met two. Sorry I have to correct me.All. the others titled themself as professional Software Developers. And them I can’t really understand while relying the business model as a et me say software company on it…to hard for me.
I can understand the few consultants but they are becoming less while reaching out to other platforms like Gelang. What I can understand very good. And not to forget many also in the c#, C++, Java Edge.
What I realized is that many people try to get to Python but also there I can see: they are not the pro Developers. The pros using Gelang for Web or Server uses, Python similar as Script Language (where it has definitely many strength’s and as MicroPython for ESP32 and STM32 MCU what is super while implemented by the mCU vendors. The others try to write Desktop with it or using it like PHP. Hmm. What ever, you can see that people try to get out. I can understand that but what I can’t understand why not using the one with the biggest ecosystem and the most stuffs around depending on the wanted Platforms? What ever.
So of course when Windows: c#, C++. When MacOS: Swift/Xcode. When Linux: C++ definitely. When Cross Platform Desktop with high Performance needs with let me say for example Opencascade 3D CAD application: C++. Mobile with the platform Software Android Studio and Xcode/Swift.
When XPLat needed: Java CN1 for needed Android, IOS, Desktop in my Case. When Web needed: Vaadin. When Desktop needed: yeah now you can select, in my Case Swing but you can use also JavaFX.
So there is a structure what I am using for what. Providing Java while? While it is so simple and much faster to learn than instead learning C++. And it is cheap. C++ makes sense with QT. Costs 500 per year and people having no Money or can’t spend money jet. So the ways are there, with JFormdesigner on IntelliJ for a few Bucks or for even free with JavaFX and with Matisse Designer on Netbeans.
But again: always a question what people want to get and to do. The entire Point is that I am deep inside of Java and also C++ but I have also to say: C++ programmer and former C programmers having no Problem learning Java. And vice versa. It opens both worlds.
Claris gets frank feedback from developers and must now live with the fact that their ‘we know better than you’ has failed in a most miserable way.
Like in the green forum, developers who speak loud and clear and voice their dissatisfaction (also as paying customers, after all) get attacked by self-proclaimed henchmen who want to improve their standing with the vendor. We haven’t heard a single word from the Claris CEO since several months. Maybe he is busy preparing for a career with Xojo.
Do you get the sense that FM IS listening ?
At all ?
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They continue ignoring what developers say. They are hellbound to sink the ship.
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maybe it will show up in their revenue
seems 1997 was a good year & it jumped to 97 million
now various reports say its anywhere between 45 and 73 million
Yep, customers leave in numbers. The certainly feel the (financial) heat now.
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Honest feedback hurts ?
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These companies sometimes remind me of a communist regime.
And they do have apparatchiks!
I really need to add the facepalm emoji 
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Sentimental stuff brought to the service of marketing. Claris is a walking dead.