[iguana_shine]

There was once a time when tools like Microsoft Access and FileMaker Pro were common. These were a database and custom GUI designed using a drag and drop editor. I don't know whether these apps ever had network server capability or if they were always offline or why they died out. It was a bit before my time

[tjohns]

FileMarker Pro had a dedicated server product (FileMaker Server) that you could use for multi-user access. Claris still sells it: https://www.claris.com/filemaker/

Microsoft Access was strictly file based. You could drop the .mdb/.accdb file on a SMB share and it would support basic concurrency via lock files. However, you could also swap out the internal database engine (Jet) with anything else via ODBC, so your Access database could connect to a remote Microsoft SQL Server instance - or even MySQL/Postgres.

Back in high school, I even wired up an Access database to give a graphical frontend to an accounting app running on an IBM AS/400 mainframe. ODBC made it easy, and Access itself didn't really care where the data lived.

[wpm]

I know a dude who runs his business off of FileMaker and even does work for his customers building them FileMaker stuff. He loves it.

I should probably give it a shot.

[moduspol]

How many names do you think they ruled out before they settled on "Filemaker"?

[CobrastanJorji]

I wonder what the state of workflow engines is these days. Back in the (distant, distant) past, everything seemed to use Lotus Notes. Today, there are oodles of workflow engines of all shapes and sizes, but asides from domain-specific stuff like Salesforce, I hardly hear anyone mention them.

[j45]

I helped a legacy Lotus Notes application reincarnate once, and it was impressive how reasonably solid it's ability was to be offline-first, and mobile first, and how fewer sychronization/replication errors there were than I expected.

[shakna]

Salesforce is used well beyond its domain, unfortunately. A lot of BAs love the drag 'n drop design features.

[harikb]

I’ve lived the Microsoft Access times. The downfall of those tools was the refusal to keep the interface simple. They kept layering on features and UI cruft until they became massive apps pretending to be databases