Claris
 | This article needs more citations. (March 2017) |
 | |
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Predecessor | FileMaker Inc. |
| Founded | 1987 |
| Founders | |
| Headquarters | |
| Key people |
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| Products | Claris Emailer, ClarisWorks, Claris CAD, ClarisDraw, Claris Resolve, Claris Impact, FileMaker (Pro, Go, Server, Cloud), Claris Home Page, MacWrite, MacPaint, MacDraw, MacProject |
Number of employees | 300 |
| Parent | Apple |
| Website | claris |
Claris International Inc., formerly FileMaker Inc., is a computer software development company formed as a subsidiary company of Apple Computer (now Apple) in 1987. It was given the source code and copyrights to several programs that were owned by Apple, notably MacWrite and MacPaint, in order to separate Apple's application software activities from its hardware and operating systems activities.
In 1998, the company divested itself of all but its flagship product, and reformed as FileMaker Inc. In 2019, FileMaker Inc. announced at DevCon that it was restoring the Claris brand name. Also in 2019, Claris acquired Italian startup, Stamplay, a cloud-based integration platform which connects web services like Dropbox and Slack without writing code,[1] and announced they would rename their product offering as Claris Connect.[2]
The company develops, supports and markets the relational database program FileMaker. The FileMaker Platform is available for the macOS, Microsoft Windows and iOS operating systems and is aimed towards business users and power users.
History
[edit] | This section may contain original research. (July 2010) |
In the early days of the Mac, Apple shipped the machines with two basic programs, MacWrite and MacPaint, so that users would have a working machine "out of the box". However, this resulted in complaints from third-party developers, who felt that these programs were good enough for so many users that there was little reason to buy something better.[4]
Apple decided to allow the programs to "wither" so that the third-party developers would have time to write suitable replacements. The developers did not seem to hold up their end of the bargain, and it was some time before truly capable replacements like WriteNow came along. In the meantime users complained about the lack of upgrades, while the third-party developers continued to complain about the possibility of upgrades.[citation needed]
Eventually Apple decided the only solution was to spin off the products to a third party of its own creation, forming Claris in 1987. Claris was also given the rights to several lesser-known Apple products such as