Bento, the Japanese meal of databases, is back with a new release. Bento 4 brings new printing options (most notably Label printing in addition to printing options that use less ink), new fields such as "Location," the ability to store sound files from mobile media, and a Simple List field that provides a small scale spreadsheet within a record. While not as powerful as FileMaker, Bento is significantly easier to use and, more importantly, is dirt simple when it comes to creating a new databases from scratch. Bento 4 continues to add features and power and still maintains its ease of use and development.

The word for the day is "ribbons." Moving from the floating Formatting Palette, Microsoft has now joined the Mac version of Office to the PC version, and we have ribbons! Also part of this transition is bringing the email client Outlook to the Mac and eliminating Entourage. Sometimes ribbons work and sometimes they do not; it depends on the application and how they are implemented. They are not the best thing in software applications and are certainly not the worst. Meanwhile I'm finding Outlook to be a major step backwards. Like any big release, there are some excellent new features and some improvements on older features. Similarly, there are some new features that one has to be wondering what they thought they were doing. Nonetheless, the new Office for Mac 2011 has been released and it's time to explore what we have.

FileMaker is back with another stellar update to its flagship product, FileMaker Pro. I always enjoy seeing what direction each update leads to; sometimes the updates are more for those who create the databases, and sometimes the updates are for the users. This release has a bit more for users and content manipulators, but it's hard to nitpick on this release. For example business users will appreciate the new charting features, while those who collect research data will appreciate the QuickFind and the new highlighting feature. Databases creators will appreciate the new Inspector and a plethora of ways to enhance the users experience. In other words, lots of people will be happy with this release.

Bento, as a Japanese meal, is a box where the various items are cordoned off in small regions. As an application, Bento is a database where each field is cordoned off in small, self-made regions. And a database (so we are all together here) is simply an application that contains data (within fields) that you access easily, quickly, and efficiently. Bento is made by FileMaker, Inc., who also makes the database program FileMaker Pro. FileMaker is probably the best databas application there is. Unfortunately, to construct a full-fledged, full-featured database that's easy to use can be a bit of a challenge. While not as powerful as FileMaker, Bento is easy to use. Now, with Bento 3, it's even better.

The stalwart database program for the Mac and the PC, first released some 24 years ago, has just released a new version. This latest "Pro" iteration marks the decade release (with the "Pro" title) with "10." Over the years, each release brought some small and/or giant steps, some more for users, while others were more for database developers. This one is is a good mix, albeit slanted toward users a bit more than developers. Without a doubt, the biggest change will strike you the moment you open up a database for the first time. After 24 years with a mostly similar look, FileMaker (the company) has changed the look of FileMaker (the application). The UI changes are mostly good (I do have a few quibbles here and there), but the single addition of dynamic editing, as well as a few other important inclusions, make this a mostly great update.

Expression Media is a DAM, or Digital Access Management program. That is, if you have two hundred or two hundred thousand images, you can use Expression Media to help organize, find, and manage your images. It can be used by the professional photographer or the amateur. If you do not have Photoshop or a similar image editing program, you can do rudimentary adjustments and alterations with Expression. Similarly, you can create contact sheets and web galleries. As you shall read, Expression has some great strengths and some surprising weaknesses.

PowerPoint has some very strong attributes and features. It's a good program with strong interactive ties with the rest of the Office suite. If you have Office, there is less of a driving need to get Keynote. If you are in a situation where you have to use PowerPoint, you will be able to create strong presentations. However, if you own both Keynote and PowerPoint, and you have the option of choice, I'd go for Keynote.

Entourage is a strong mail program. It's coupled with an address book, calendar, notes, tasks, and a project center that works with the rest of Office 2008. There's much to like with Entourage, and I do like it. However, as you push Entourage to access all of the features, you find it also has inefficient dynamics. One has to go to too many different places to accomplish tasks that should be accessed via similar or consistent routes. Despite that, I like Entourage very much and find that it satisfies my needs better than Apple's Mail program.

Excel, under the original name Multiplan, was one of the first Macintosh software programs, long before there ever was a Windows. Now, after all these years, this staple of office, financial, and scientific calculation is still commanding respect. And despite the fact that a number of people still try to use it as a database (e.g., storing rosters, et. al., something that spreadsheets are not really good at), there are still a few new tricks with this version.

For those of us who remember it, there will never be a version of Word as good as version 5.1. It was a tight, full, and well-balanced program. Word 6 was not only viciously bloated, but you could go out to dinner while it booted up. Starting with Office X, Word has started to regain what it once had by providing new features while letting older features become more accessible. With Office 2008, the number of features continues to increase, but, on the whole, the program is much easier to negotiate. Significantly reduced are multiple locations of the same preferences, gone are confusing preferences, arrived is easier access to features that will appeal to offices. But not existent are features to customize Word to anyone's wishes.

As you probably have heard by now, Microsoft (via the Mac BU (Macintosh Business Unit)) has a new version of Office 2008, with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Entourage, and (what once was iView) the newly renamed Expression Media. Probably the biggest and most long-standing complaint against the Office programs has been that they suffer from software bloat, generating comments such as "more program than anyone needs or wants," "takes too long to learn," "one only uses a fragment of the program," etc. Well, not surprisingly, the bloat is still there, but Microsoft is doing what it can to make the program more "find-able," easier to use, and less overwhelming. They succeed in some areas, not so much in others.

FileMaker Pro 9, the best database program for Mac users, comes with some fantastic new programming features and some nice new features for those who use FileMaker databases created by someone else. If you do not have FM Pro, this review may make you want to run out and purchase it. If you have FM Pro and write databases with it, you probably will want to run out and purchase it. If you have FM Pro and use it to work with databases created by others, well, you may or may not be motivated to purchase the new version. And, if you upgrade to Leopard, you may have to upgrade, which is a whole different issue.