FileMaker 4, developed and released by Nashoba Systems mid 1988 and
was within 3 months acquired by Apple's Claris Corporation, rebadged
and released again as [Claris FileMaker II][1].

This archive is of the rare FileMaker 4 database as released by
Nashoba before the acquisition and takeover by Claris.

FileMaker 4 is a good historical example of how great software is
born.

The download contains three Disk Copy 4.2, 800k floppy disk images
compressed in a StuffIt 3.6 ".sit" archive.
One of the images contains an early Macromind demo of the database.

Note: The Macromind demo works best in Mono display Macs, such as the
Mac Plus, SE, Mini vMac, etc.

> FileMaker began as an MS-DOS?based computer program named Nutshell -
> developed by Nashoba Systems of Concord, Massachusetts, in the early
> 1980s. Nutshell was distributed by Leading Edge, an electronics
> marketer that had recently started selling IBM PC-compatible
> computers.
>
> With the introduction of the Macintosh, Nashoba combined the basic
> data engine with a new forms-based graphical user interface (GUI).
> Leading Edge was not interested in newer versions, preferring to
> remain a DOS-only vendor, and kept the Nutshell name. Nashoba found
> another distributor, Forethought Inc., and introduced the program on
> the Macintosh platform as FileMaker. When Apple introduced the
> Macintosh Plus in 1986 the next version of FileMaker was named
> FileMaker Plus to reflect the new model's name.
>
> Forethought was purchased by Microsoft, which was then introducing
> their PowerPoint product that became part of Microsoft Office.
> Microsoft had introduced its own database application, Microsoft
> File, shortly before FileMaker, but it was outsold by FileMaker and
> Microsoft discontinued it. Microsoft negotiated with Nashoba for the
> right to publish FileMaker, but Nashoba decided to self-publish the
> next version, FileMaker 4.
>
> Shortly thereafter, Apple Computer formed Claris, a wholly owned
> subsidiary, to market software. Claris purchased Nashoba to round
> out its software suite. By then, Leading Edge and Nutshell had faded
> from the marketplace because of competition from other DOS- and
> later Windows-platform database products. FileMaker, however,
> continued to succeed on the Macintosh platform.
>
> Claris changed the product's name to [FileMaker II][1] to conform to
> its naming scheme for other products, such as [MacWrite II][2], but
> the product changed little from the last Nashoba version.
>
> ?Excerpt: adapted from [Wikipedia article][3] on FileMaker.

See Also: [FileMaker 1.0][4] (Nashoba Systems) | [Claris FileMaker II][1]

Compatibility
Architecture: 68k

FileMaker 4 will run on a Mac OS from System Software 5 to Mac OS 8.1
(and perhaps earlier than 5).
It runs very well in Systems 6.x - 7.x - This is contrary to the
[curious assumption made on LEM][5] that it (including FileMaker II
and Pro 1.0) does not run in Mac OS's beyond 6.0.7 - not true.

There is no modern installer app with these disk images. Simply mount
the FileMaker 4.image and FileMaker 4 Examples.image (or write to 800k
DD floppy media) and drag the contents to a folder inside of your hard
drive. FileMaker 4 will then be ready to use.

To mount these disk images:
If running a Mac OS 7.0 or later, drag these images over onto an icon
of [Disk Copy 6.1.2][6] or newer to mount onto a desktop.
If running System Software 6.0.8 or earlier, use [MountImage][7] \-
Both MountImage and Disk Copy 6.x are located here at the Garden, if
needed.
Alternatively, if using Mini vMac to access these floppy images; drag
the images into a running Mini vMac window, to mount.

  [1]: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/filemaker-ii
  [2]: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/macwrite-ii-10v2
  [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileMaker
  [4]: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/filemaker-10-nashoba-systems
  [5]: https://lowendmac.com/software/f/filemaker.html
  [6]: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/disk-copy-6
  [7]: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/mountimage