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| Bento [OLD VERSION] | ![Bento [OLD VERSION]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/419K3McH%2B9L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | From: FileMaker
Category: Software
List Price: $49.00
Buy New: $44.49
You Save: $4.51 (9%)
New (15) Used (3) from $33.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 2064
Format: Cd-rom
Platform: Macintosh
Media: CD-ROM
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 1.1
MPN: TP934LL/A
Model: TP934LLA
UPC: 044866034724
EAN: 0044866034724
ASIN: B00123WD40
Release Date: January 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 38 | | ... 8 NEXT » |
 read user comments before you buy November 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There are a ton of reviews for this product on the web, try to filter our the marketing plants and the irate users. I purchased Bento from amazon and here are my thoughts on both usability and the now infamous Filemaker policy regarding NO upgrades.
The best thing about Bento is that their intention was to make a VERY simple database "oriented" product that looks great. There really is a niche for this product and assuming you can find ways to make it your own then it has value. The greatest strength is its greatest weakness and that is why most people who critique this product find it too crippled for their use. Through tweaking the guts of the program I was able to make it useful for me but it IS a very elementary piece of software.
So should you buy it? I have reviewed the upgrade to Bento 2 and still find little different from Bento 1 to change my review in the previous paragraph. This certainly is not a full upgrade from 1 to 2 and still can disappoint many a buyer. I have hopes that this will become a mature product but I fear that it will not. To me the issue lies in the attitude of Filemaker as they are not looking at this software as a long term project.
Based on the research I have done they have either made a major marketing blunder in alienating their core users or they are simply taking a short sighted view on who will buy their product (ie one-time buyers who care little about the long term use of the product.) I myself will wait for Bento 4 (which in Filemaker timelines may be released within the year :)
Unacceptably slow, surprisingly awkward, feeble capabilities November 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bento version 2 has gotten some good reviews.
I can't explain that.
In my testing it's a toy application.
I have a large iCal database with about 6,000 events living on a G5 iMac running OS X 10.5.5. This is a relatively large event collection (though it would not stress Outlook at all) and my hardware is dated -- so I expected a few performance issues.
I did not expect dreadful performance. Minutes to open the Bento (SQLite really) database. A minute to add a single event record. Inability to add a record when viewing a query (filtered list). No drop down for calendar names ...
If you've used any database you'll be surprised to learn you can't emulate a join; you can't find common names in two lists for example.
This is a toy application that will only work with small data sets on a modern machine.
It's awful. Filemaker should be ashamed.
 Cute, but eh - and no upgrade to 2? Shameful! November 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Bento is a cute way to organize your contacts, etc, but it's certainly not powerful. It's certainly not worth $50, though I guess it's better than paying $300 for FileMaker.
I bought Bento about six weeks before they upgraded it to Bento 2, and they're not upgrading me at all. How rude!
The database for people who don't know what a database is for October 31, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have a major love/hate feeling about this product.
Many users are upset over the release of Bento 2. First of all because Filemaker has left us high and dry. No bug fixes to ver 1, and NO UPGRADE POLICY!!
This database is very limited. There are no relational links, only "representations" of other data. If you intend to use this in a business you are out of luck, It is fine for making a home inventory or planning a party or other "Soccer Mom" stuff.
The interface is so friendly and beautiful you want to use it, but that's on the surface. Underneath the pretty face it is quite shallow.
Version 1 users (like me) had such high hopes for Bento 2 and were shocked and disappointed with this release.
Be aware the product listed here on Amazon is the original version. DO NOT BY THIS! Look for Bento 2 which was released a few weeks ago.
My rating of one star reflects how I feel about the way Filemaker does business. I will NOT be paying another $50 for this poor excuse for an "upgrade". Should they release "Bento Pro" or a contemporary version of Filemaker Pro I would invest. Filemaker 9 looks like it came out with Mac OS9 - needs a serious facelift, or to be honest rebuilt from the ground up. Hey Filemaker there's a new thing called Cocoa. Check it out.
Excuse my rant, back to the review. I absolutely love the way this product integrates with ical, mail and the mac address book. Filemaker claims Bento is compatible with the iphone. That is VERY misleading. Its pretty much a lie.
The table view that now works so much like a (sortable!) spreadsheet is wonderful. Import/export is vastly improved, but reports and printing are weak. I am never able to use my data the way I want. There is always a compromise or work-around involved.
My wish is to record my billable time and expenses on my iphone and drag or paste that information right into an invoice. WHY IN THIS DAY AND AGE IS THAT NOT POSSIBLE?? Oh how I long to be free of MS Money or Quickbooks for my business!
Unfinished Beta Product for Sale October 30, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
WHY do I have to pay $51.45 again for the upgraded Bento?!?! The reason on the site, "... we considered it, but decided to have everyone pay the same price..." is really WEAK! I tried the trial version when it was released, and purchased it in April of 2008. I didn't get much use out of it due to its limited capabilities. Now six months later, that the features have been upgraded and it's now considered more user-friendly, I'm supposed to pay full price again! I don't consider this to be good business practice. Six months of potential use, and no consideration for those of us who've already paid full price.
Lessons learned: "Don't trust FileMaker" or "Don't buy now because you'll get more for the same money in a short period of time" or "You don't want this software THAT badly that you're willing to keep shelling out money to keep it up-to-date".
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