Microsoft Office and FileMaker Pro importing over a network

A reader found that Microsoft's new Office 98/FileMaker Pro Importer does not support FileMaker databases that are hosted over a network. He asked Microsoft about this and they replied: "Yes, we are aware that the Importer does not allow data to be taken from Databases over a network. This added capability was not a design goal this time around. You might have more luck with a new FileMaker Pro ODBC (preview). However, you won't be able to use this with MailMerge, since Word does not support ODBC."