So over a year ago we had a discussion here about 64 bit apps and FileMaker Pro. My FM Pro Adv 11 is way too old so I didn’t really like the idea of continuing to run it in a VM. On Mojave I can still get it to run, but Catalina will be a dead end. Fortunately, on Amazon there were inexpensive single-user licenses for FM Pro 16 which should be just fine for my old database. And thanks to @cwilcox here I know that 16 is 64 bit, i.e. should be good to go for Catalina.
My only remaining question is how those box-free licenses (no CD-ROM etc.) work with FM Pro. I was searching their website and for the life of me couldn’t find a simple download link for the app. All I found was updater downloads. I googled it but as you can imagine was bombarded with shady links.
I must be missing something. If you legally acquire a FM Pro license, how do you get the app so you can enter that license?
You may need to ask the seller what exactly they’re selling. Digging into one of the “download” sellers for FMP16 on Amazon, they have a comment on the Condition of what they’re selling; “Open Box - Like New. THIS GENUINE FileMaker Pro 16 SERIAL CARD WILL BE “”SHIPPED”” NOT EMAILED….You will receive a like new Filemaker Pro 16 Serial Number/License Key card for Mac and Windows. The card has the Filemaker Pro 16 Serial number and download link on the card for quick installation.” [emphasis added]
When I get a new version of FileMaker software at work thanks to our maintenance agreement, they email me a unique link for downloading the installer. I can believe they could print unique URLs along with the serial on a card. If they don’t, it may be that license-only sales are only for people who already have one full copy and need additional licenses.
Aside from one suspiciously cheap download option, most of the download options on Amazon aren’t much cheaper than the ones selling a full retail box.
Filemaker purchasing has become very complicated. Being from Sydney, I have to go through the Australian agent. Licensing (subscription) for more than one Mac or enabling iOS access to a database is prohibitively expensive, particularly since they haven’t fixed fundamental shortcomings of the product.
I will continue using my current version (FM15) for as long as possible. I also don’t intend going from Mojave to Catalina due to 32bit woes that might apply to FM15 (it possibly has 32 bit calls)