Starting next month, FileMaker, the wholly owned subsidiary of Apple, will quit distributing Home Page. Home Page is the Web-authoring application that was once a mainstay of Claris, the former software branch of Apple.
“Distribution of Home Page has been small and declining for some time, as inexpensive and even free Web-page creation alternatives have multiplied,” according to a note on the FileMaker Web site. “Unfortunately, the demand for Home Page does not warrant the large investment needed to revise it.”
Plus, Home Page doesn’t fit with FileMaker’s focus on creating workgroup database tools. No replacement software is planned, though the company says it will provide tools and solutions that “extend FileMaker’s advantage in Web publishing.” The company will continue to offer its standard technical support for customers of the Web authoring app through July 31, 2001.
For fans of Home Page, FileMaker recommends using the software with FileMaker “for as long as it meets your needs.” The company also recommends that users learn about the wide variety of Web authoring tools available at online resources, or check the Web sites of leading vendors of Web authoring tools such as Microsoft, Adobe, and Macromedia.
Home Page was targeted to the consumer market. A similar product, Adobe’s PageMill, was also discontinued earlier this year. At the time Raine Bergstrom, group product manager for Adobe’s Internet Products Group told MacCentral that all those who develop Web pages for business purposes and “more than once every few months” will eventually use a competitive tool like GoLive or Macromedia Dreamweaver.
Hobbyists and prosumers will probably also end up using such products, he said. However, for consumers who merely wish to produce personal home pages, Bergstrom feels the trend will be to create them with the tools provided by other programs such as Microsoft Word or AppleWorks, and through online building tools such as Apple’s HomePage, a component of its iTools services.
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