September 15, 2004

1:37 PM

Does anyone know of a freeware or shareware database program that can read and edit .fp5 files? I know they're proprietary to filemaker.
posted by Metametadata to (5 comments total)

I use filemaker pro 5 at work and recieved a license through the company. On occasion I need to work from home and reference these files. Needless to say I'd rather not have to shell out the $300 for a personal filemaker pro license and work isn't interested in buy it for my home pc either. Anyone know of a way I can at least peek into the file?
posted by Metametadata at 1:39 PM on September 15, 2004

Have you examined the filemaker pro 5 license? Many licenses, especially for older products, specifically allow you to install it on both a home and work computer as long as it's not in use on both at once.
posted by boaz at 3:08 PM on September 15, 2004

And here it is, section 1(b):

Make one copy of the Software in machine readable form solely for backup purposes. Additionally, the primary user of the computer on which the Software is installed may make a second copy for his or her exclusive use on either a home or portable computer. As an express condition of this License, you must reproduce on each copy any copyright notice or other proprietary notice that is on the original copy supplied by FMI.

You're golden.
posted by boaz at 3:12 PM on September 15, 2004

Thanks! Now I just have to convince my LTE (local technology expert) to give me the installation disks. Maybe if I send him this askmefi entry...
posted by Metametadata at 3:18 PM on September 15, 2004

You can access Filemaker Pro through ODBC, which almost all databases recognize. This link tells you how you can setup an ODBC connection to your database. Once you do this you can access the files through all kinds of software.
posted by SNACKeR at 5:15 AM on September 16, 2004