I did a review of Bento 1.0 earlier in the year, and I found it to be a great solution to anyone looking for a personal database solution to be used in a variety of ways.

Well today FileMaker has announced Bento 2.0. There are numerous feature updates, which looks like Bento is moving in the right direction. I will have a review up in the next couple of weeks.

“SANTA CLARA, Calif. – October 14, 2008 – FileMaker, Inc. has announced the immediate
availability of Bento 2 (www.filemaker.com/bento2_pr), the new version of its wildly popular
personal database that is as easy to use as the Mac. For the first time, Bento 2 now links Apple
Mail messages and RSS feeds to contacts, events, projects, and other information stored in Bento.

With Bento 2, users can export spreadsheet data from Excel and Numbers directly into Bento 2 to
view and use that data in beautiful Bento 2 forms, and secondarily import Bento 2 data into the
spreadsheet apps. With Bento 2, users get convenient iTunes-style searching, quick sorting,
instant summary stats, and much more. AppleWorks data may now also be imported and exported
to and from Bento 2 via new support for tab-delimited files.

The new Bento 2 offers exciting new functionality including spreadsheet style “no set-up” data
entry with intuitive “fill-downs”; the ability to edit records and modify forms without ever
changing modes; view and edit table and detail records in split-view on one screen; and even
instantly link to Google Maps and online chat.

Bento 2 is affordably priced at $49 U.S., or $99 U.S. for a family pack of five licenses, and is available on the FileMaker Web store (store.filemaker.com). Bento 2 will also be offered exclusively at the Apple Web store (store.apple.com) and Apple retail stores until October 27 and through other online and retail stores after this date.
Bento 2 requires Mac OS X v.10.5.4 Leopard on a Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5 or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor. A minimum of 512MB of RAM and 1GB of hard drive space is recommended. A CD drive is required for installation of boxed software. ”

See more about what is new in Bento 2 at www.filemaker.com/products/bento/top_ten.html

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