When I first downloaded the Bento demo, I was a little disappointed. It seemed like Bento would be good for tracking a few appointments, contacts, or projects, but not for anything heavy duty. I have been surprised, though, with the breadth of what I was able to build with Bento. It’s like having a setting of simple tools that, when used in combination, can make something which didn’t seem possible.

Case in point: smart collections. I was disappointed when I saw the list of options for smart collections. It’s nice to be able to view a list of projects that are due within the next three days. But what about overdue projects? How do I distinguish between tasks due yesterday and those due last month? For projects due yesterday, I can select those for which the due date is “in the last 1 days.” But there was apparently no option for selecting tasks that were due at least 14 days in the past.

So I put on my thinking cap and browsed the manual. I came across the section on Calculation fields and inspiration hit. A Calculation field   while nowhere near as powerful as those available in Filemaker Pro   could get me to where I wanted to go. I created a Days Overdue field by subtracting the due date from today. Creating a smart collection where the Days Overdue field is at least 14 (or “2w”) shows the tasks that are at least 2 weeks overdue.

The proper workflow to use is still something of a mystery to me. I created several smart collections, only to discover that later changes to the library’s forms don’t get replicated in the smart collection. So I need to make sure that I finalize the data fields and forms before I start filling out the smart collections.

Having worked with sophisticated databases and interfaces for many years, I still struggle a bit to get things done in Bento. But it sounds like Bento is a good springboard into Filemaker Pro, so it should serve the firm well for at least the next 6-12 months when a more advanced solution is ready.

Or, as AppleInsider put it:

Prior to Snow Leopard, the unlimited user version of Mac OS X Server cost $999; that’s what the unlimited user version now costs with the Mac mini server thrown in for free.

I’m not deluding myself into believing that small businesses that currently run Windows are going to race out to buy Mac Minis to replace their servers. But for small businesses that are on the fence or leaning toward Macs, this could be a game changer.

But probably the biggest news of the day (apart from a multi-touch mouse – which I’ll really have to stop into the Apple Store and play with to get some impressions on it) is the server Mac Mini. For $999, you can get a Mac Mini loaded with Leopard Server. It also has a second hard drive in place of the optical disk player for a total storage of 1TB. If we ever decide to move away from Dropbox for more control over our file storage, it will definitely be worth a look.

It’s turned out to be quite a nice surprise. Bento version 3 finally includes what was probably the first user feature request: database sharing. I am honestly not sure why this feature is buried so far down on the list because it is huge for small businesses. The ability to share a database with a few other people in your group is a perfect budget solution for new businesses and situations where you just want a “quick and dirty” solution.

Left without another solution, I decided to have another look at DropBox. I spent a few hours reading reviews and digging through their site to see if my original concerns were still valid. I wasn’t impressed with the site. It was hard to find information. And, seriously guys, in the two years since Leopard came out you couldn’t find time to do another screencast? Haven’t you introduced any new features in that time that are worth mentioning?

But after much research and lacking any other options, I decided to give DropBox a go. My experience so far has been quite positive. I have been able to locate my folder exactly where I wanted (not just in my Documents folder). Synchronization happens quite quickly and reliably. So far there have been no disappearing or duplicated files. And thankfully the icons in the folder aren’t decorated with that cheesy green checkmark. I ended up purchasing the Pro option because 2GB wasn’t quite enough for our use.

So I am quite happy with my decision to try DropBox. Thanks to everyone who suggested it.

* And by “successfully” I mean it was a slow-as-all-heck synchronization solution that required relaunching every few days and had extensive downtime – but otherwise seemed to be fairly reliable.

So I was a little surprised when someone suggested using Windows Live Mesh to replace Syncplicity as my synchronization solution. Two weeks ago I grudgingly installed the beta for Live Mesh and set up my first computer. Nothing seemed to break or disappear, so a couple of days later I set up my second computer and started synching.

Live Mesh and I didn’t get off on exactly the right foot because I turned synchronization on for the second computer from the website. That plopped the synched folder right on my desktop, not exactly where I wanted it. But after doing some quick internet research, I was able to delete the desktop folder and put the synched folder right where I wanted it by using the local Live Mesh application.

Two weeks later and I am pretty happy. Synching isn’t as fast as with Syncplicity. I don’t know exactly how fast it is, but it can take more than a couple minutes to get even small files from one place to another. I’ll probably run some tests to narrow that number down so I know how to plan my workflow on multiple computers.

Importantly, I haven’t lost any files that I am aware of. And I haven’t created any unnecessary duplicate files from hitting Save too often (something that was a problem with Syncplicity and may have been related to them pulling the Mac client).

In fact, I have had only one spotty problem. For a period of about 3 days, the Live Mesh client had trouble connecting. It looked like it was trying to synch, but instead of the new or modified files I expected, there would be 0Kb files with a different extension (which I can’t remember at the moment). I learned how to detect this problem, though, by looking at the Live Mesh menu extra. If it wasn’t connected properly, quitting Live Mesh and relaunching it 2-3 times would generally fix the problem. It’s been clear sailing for the last few days, though. So its possible the problem was on the back end and has been fixed.

If you’re in the market for a synchronization solution, I would suggest giving Live Mesh a look. It’s free, and you get 5GB of storage for your files.

The email I received was from the folks at Syncplicity. They announced that they have identified some serious issues with the Mac client. So they are pulling the client for a complete rewrite and plan to give some guidance on their schedule next year. Syncplicity for Mac will work until July 31 (not so far off) and then cease working.

We’ve been using Syncplicity for several months now to synchronize files across four computers. I briefly tried out DropBox, but didn’t like the fact that everything had to be stored in a DropBox folder. That simply won’t work with our setup (where the synched files need to be stored in different folders on different computers). We used JungleDisk for a while as a backup solution, but it didn’t seem to be a good synching solution (I can’t remember right now whether it supports synching or not – I just know we didn’t consider it for that).

We also briefly considered setting up a Leopard Server (I do have a copy that right now is not being used). Syncing is nice though because of the extra redundancy and online backup built into a good synching solution. It also provides offline access and keeps people from stomping on each other while trying to work in the same document. So it is a possible fallback position, but I’d much prefer to use a good synching solution.

Please post below if you have any suggestions for synching solutions (whether or not you have used it, but of course its better if you have and can share your experiences). Thanks in advance!

The problem is that we frequently have to transfer documents between the Windows and Mac side. I had set up a shared folder, but it’s slow in Windows and it means several extra steps. About a week ago I was moving some documents and I said, “wouldn’t it be nice if I could just drag this off the Windows desktop and onto my Mac desktop?” As I said this, I started dragging the file to the edge of the window. If you’re a VMWare Fusion guru, you know what happened next, but it surprised the heck out of me. The icon changed to a Mac icon as I got close to the edge of the window, and I was able to drop it on the Mac desktop. I then saw a message that VMWare Fusion was copying the file.

How did I not know about this before? After discovering this feature, I checked the VMWare documentation and didn’t see any mention of it. I wonder how many other VMWare Tools features I’m missing out on. At least now using Windows has become much more pleasant (and I am no longer tempted to migrate my Windows install).

So two days ago I uninstalled the Safari 4 Beta. The improvement was immediate and noticeable. After the restart (required by the install/uninstall), I could tell things were faster. I have been using Safari 3 for a couple days now and haven’t had a single issue with beachballing or experienced any slowness. I liked some of the new features of Safari 4, but I don’t care how much faster the Javascript performance is if it brings my whole system to its knees.

There are a couple of solutions for accessing files in the multi-computer environment. One solution is to have a central server to which all the computers connect to access work files. This simplifies administration somewhat, but it doesn’t work well in an offline environment (such as the aforementioned laptop). Another solution is to store the files on each computer but use software to keep the two or more computers in sync. This is the solution my wife uses in her practice.

I have been quite skeptical of syncing software for a long time. I don’t have a horror story from my youth that has scared me away from it. But it just sounds dangerous – running a program every few minutes that deletes and updates files based on its own internal calculations. So if we were going to use syncing software, it would need to be bulletproof (or at least make me feel like it is bulletproof).

The first syncing application my wife investigated was DropBox. DropBox seems like a very capable solution, but it has some limitations for the Mac law office. First, DropBox seems to sync a single folder and it has to be the “DropBox” folder. It’s a little clumsy to have a folder named “DropBox” be the primary repository for business documents. I didn’t investigate whether the folder could be renamed because of the second problem: DropBox doesn’t play well with FileVault. Depending upon the kind of law you practice and which state you practice in, FileVault (or something like it) is somewhere between strongly recommended and mandatory. So DropBox was out.

Coming along at exactly the right time was Syncplicity. This little application works great. It supports FileVault without any hitches. You can synchronize any number of folders – named anything you want. This is especially useful in an estate planning practice. Many estate planning attorneys use Windows drafting software. Using Syncplicity, my wife can draft an estate plan in Windows (under VMware Fusion) and have it sync over to the Mac folder almost instantly. Because the drafting folder is a different folder, the entire collection of business documents doesn’t need to be synced onto Windows (which would mean storing two copies of each document on the computer, one copy for Mac OS X and one copy for Windows.

It hasn’t all been roses. A few times, for no reason my wife can ascertain, multiple copies will appear as if someone was editing a file even though the file wasn’t open on any other computers. This is a minor quibble, though, because it only happens about once every couple of months and no data has been lost. The real complaint we have is that Syncplicity won’t sync empty folders to other computers. Empty folders do appear in the online view of your files. But they won’t be synced to other computers (I even asked, and this is the way Syncplicity is intended to work). So, alas, Syncplicity isn’t perfect. But it has helped my wife be productive and kept her documents complete across different offices.