I'm thinking of buying Bento. However, I routinely jump back and forth
between a tethered "desktop" Mac and a "roaming and travel" Mac
even at home, and Bento won't let me install a single copy on two
machines, even though only one of these two Macs will ever be in use
at any one time. So:

1. Any freeware or shareware database apps I could put on the roaming
machine, so that I could at least read a backed-up or synched copy of
the Bento library generated by Bento on the other machine? (even if I
couldn't edit the Bento library from the secondary machine)

2. Any freeware or shareware apps that could substitute entirely for
Bento? (including having Bento's ability to access and edit the Mac
Address Book and iCal apps)

Thanks for any suggestions . . .

AES <siegman (AT) stanford (DOT) edu> wrote:

That's only true of the single licence edition purchased as a boxed
product or purchased from the FileMaker online store.

There are two ways you can do this.

(a) Buy the family pack edition of the boxed retail or FileMaker store
Bento, which can be installed on up to five computers in one household.
It includes five serial numbers in the box and you need to use a
different one for each computer.

(b) Buy Bento from the App Store (Snow Leopard only), which can be
installed on every computer you own, is cheaper, and has no serial
numbers to type in (just your AppleID).

I haven't used Bento with multiple computers or tried to sync
databases/libraries between them, so would have to do some research into
how convenient or practical that is. It syncs very well with my iPhone
(and iPad, if I needed a Bento database there).

I think I noticed somewhere that the Bento database is implemented using
SQLite, but I don't know if it is in a standard file format which can be
read with other tools.

I haven't heard of any.

--
David Empson
dempson (AT) actrix (DOT) gen.nz

In article <1k28bkf.rg2slr1kxi68rN%dempson (AT) actrix (DOT) gen.nz>,
dempson (AT) actrix (DOT) gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:

Are you sure about this? I'm not arguing with you, since I've avoided
getting enmeshed in the App Store and know very little about it. But
when I went to the App Store site just now and searched on Bento, what
came up looked more or less exactly like what is on the FileMaker web
site; had exactly the same prices ($49.95 single user, $99.95 family
pack); and seemed to have the same restrictions on installations.

[And as an aside, I called FileMaker support and was told that their
single-user version could not be installed on multiple Macs, even if
only one user was involved and only one instance at a time was active.]

AES <siegman (AT) stanford (DOT) edu> wrote:

Absolutely positive. The standard licence agreement for everything on
the App Store permits the app to be installed for personal use on an
unlimited number of Macs you own or control.

And here is a page from FileMaker Inc. which confirms it.

<http://help.filemaker.com/app/answer...may-i-install-
bento-4-on-multiple-computers%3F>

There is no "Family Pack" edition of Bento on the App Store, just the
$49.99 one, which is licensed as I described above.

If you were looking on the online Apple Store, it sells the retail
single and family pack editions of Bento as a boxed product, at the same
prices as buying direct from FileMaker. That has nothing to do with the
App Store.

To search the App Store, you need to be running Mac OS X 10.6.6 or
later. Run the "App Store" application (should be in your Dock, or in
the Applications folder if you removed it from the Dock). I'm not aware
of a web method of browsing the App Store, but Apple does have web pages
for each app (so you can send links to other people), and Google might
have indexed many of them by now.

That's probably right (for the single licence retail edition, not the
App Store edition). I've never owned that edition so haven't paid much
attention to its licensing.

--
David Empson
dempson (AT) actrix (DOT) gen.nz

AES <siegman (AT) stanford (DOT) edu> schrieb:

Bento is a poor software.
I bought it for my wife's recipes.
Poor performance esp. in printing layout.

Try a free Office distribution with database.

Regards

Peter

In article <6930026F-EEA3-46ED-BA2E-8ED8053E64FD%pfackelmann (AT) gmx (DOT) net>,
Iwan <pfackelmann (AT) gmx (DOT) net> wrote:

Thanks much. I'm fully prepared to believe this -- although maybe not
ready to go to a full Office distribution to solve the problem.

Still hoping to find some neat, small, cleverly done third-party
shareware, freeware or low-cost-ware of the type that the Mac used to be
known for. (Repeat: "Used to be known for".]

In article <siegman-4BE16C.07230702062011 (AT) sciid-srv02 (DOT) med.tufts.edu>, AES
<siegman (AT) stanford (DOT) edu> wrote:

There are thousands of applications and web-based systems around which
might suit your needs that are basically custom databases, but it really
depends on exactly what data you're trying to store and how you want to
use it.

For example, if it was just names and addresses, then of course Mac OS X's
in-built Address Book is great and free. If you want to catalogue your
book collection, then there are a couple of shareware applications
specifically for that.

Almost all "pay for" software will restrict you to using it on one
computer, unless you buy a multi-license pack, but there are some
exceptions, especially if it's software / websites designed for multiple
access (e.g. from you home Mac, from a work PC, from your iPhone / iPad,
etc.)

Helpful Harry )

AES <siegman (AT) stanford (DOT) edu> wrote:

If you want to access information directly from Address Book and iCal,
it won't solve the problem. OpenOffice (or NeoOffice) doesn't have
anything resembling Bento's direct access to those databases.


--
David Empson
dempson (AT) actrix (DOT) gen.nz