I currently use filemaker but as a small business hoping to sell low cost solutions to the NHS (national health service), there is no low cost way of deploying these solutions. I didn’t previously consider Base because though Writer is good, Calc uses Basic which is difficult cf VBA and has limited columns. I am concerned that Base is similarly limited:
1. How could you deploy a Base solution? Eg. can muliple users get to it on a server from remove PCs? Can it be accessed over a cloud network?
2. Cost: LO is free aside from donations but what costs are likely associated with making or deploying a Base solution? I am most concerned with components that might need ongoing licence payments. Eg. I didn’t mind paying for Filemaker itself, but the server per user costs make it a ‘software as a service’ before you’ve even charged a user for the solution.
3. Functionality: How does Base cf Filemaker and other competitors? And in 1 review, it mentioned that Base doesn’t work well with MS software; does it mean Excel/Word or Windows?
4. Licensing, protection and security: Can you lock a solution so that only paid licensees can use it, protect its forms and back-end from accidental alteration and secure it from people capturing data and scripts.
5. Base forum: Filemaker does have a v. good forum. Does Base have a good one?
6. Examples: Any links showing examples would be useful, especially if they covered the above topics.
Thank you,
Stephen