Duane on Macs

My company does consulting on Mac-Windows Integration, Apple Certification Training, and database projects using Filemaker and mySQL.

I have been amazed lately how much our Filemaker business has grown. It is a combination of companies upgrading from version 5.5 to version 9 and some new projects taking over for people with databases that have outgrown their expertise with Filemaker.

This growth has taken me by surprise and I am wondering if this is due to the increase in Macintosh sales or the fact that Filemaker has evolved into a very capable database that can easily integrate with both the web and other SQL databases like mySQL, MS SQL Server, and Oracle.

We now have 4 Filemaker programmers on staff and are looking to add another. Another indication that Filemaker is becoming more popular is the number of calls and emails I am getting from Indian companies to offer assistance with our projects. It would be interesting to see sales figures for Filemaker over the last 3 or 4 years and see how sales have grown.

To quote Mark Twain, “The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated“.  Apparently this can also apply to the Mac Mini.

If this is true, what would you like on the next version? I can think of a few things.
4 USB Ports with room enough to attach flash drives
Target Mode for USB
eSATA Interface
400 MB FireWire
Video capable of driving 30″ monitors
up to 320 GB hard drive
up to 4 GB RAM
Smaller Form Factor achieved by eliminating the optical drive but letting the Mini use the Air’s external Optical Drive

I use Minis in my training classrooms and as test servers. I have one dedicated for Server 2003 and Active Directory testing. Several of my customers use them as workgroup servers by booting off external 3.5 inch drives and in one case a Drobo.

Personally, I love the Mini and hope it doesn’t go away for a very long time.