4000 functions in 10 years
We know that this is just a number and we had to reach that eventually. But of course we are all proud of this achievement here. Especially we are happy to reach that number now as we already ordered posters for our DevCon booth with the number 4000 mentioned. You come to Las Vegas to visit our booth?
Nobody expected that our plugin would get that big when a few clients (using our REALbasic plugin) asked to port a few (!) functions to FileMaker. And thanks to Todd Geist who asked in 2006 for an AppleScript execute function and finally convinced me to start writing a FileMaker plugin. So we started with AppleScript, added Window and Screenshot functions and released version 1.0 in September 2006. In October we released version 1.1 with already 50 functions.
One of the early decisions was to make it just one plugin file for easy installation. Another one of the decisions early in 1.0 development was to use one MBS function instead of filling the calculation dialog with 20+ functions as an one of the development versions did.
We did license individual parts at that time. With just a few parts (AppleScript, WindowsScript, Window, Screenshot, etc.) this was easy. But today with 114 parts it would be difficult to track who has a license for which part. So a few years later we lowered prices and gave a Complete license to everyone instead of just the part they ordered. Today you still buy the complete pack for the first function you need and the rest is included for free.
Which functions people use? Well, that is difficult as we can't analyze your databases. At least we know everyone probably uses the Register function. And probably the Version function and IsRegistered or Trace. From feedback with users I know a lot use CURL for web services, menu functions to show popup menus and various window functions. Also popular should be showing progress dialogs, image scaling, file management and barcodes. But only you know what you code and your users know what they click.
Thanks to all the people who supported us the last years. Thanks for talking about our plugin, for referring it to clients and friends and of course for purchasing licenses. Also thanks for endless hours of beta testing and good feature wishes. Your ideas make our plugin better. And thanks for all the fun at the conferences and meetings!