Hi Shawn, great post. I've been using mind mapping for a couple of years with only a series of colored pencils and white paper ... haven't used any of the the online apps. From your list, which would you say is your top 2?
after trying a dozen of them, I ended up using FreeMind.
Vic
· 2 years ago
There are 80 mind mapping packages described at my site (thumbnails, links, brief description, OS, price). There are also 37 that can do concept maps (there's some overlap).
And there will be a few more once I complete this weekend's update.
Someone asked which are the top two. I'll give you the top three for the kind of mind mapping I do: MindManager for project management, but it's priced for corporate users. Freemind for learning and for techies - it's free and the techies can get inside it. Topicscape for organizing information.
But you can't ask for the top two and get a useful answer unless you say how you're going to use them . . . learning, capturing ideas during brainstorming, guiding and recording meetings, planning a book or article, as an information organizer, or planning and managing projects.
One that's not on my site yet (only came out of stealth a couple of days ago) but I'm going to be adding today is bookvar.net. Very strong on adding images, but I haven't spent much time looking at other features yet. It does require you to install a Beta version of .Net, and that makes me cautious.
Hi, it's a wonderful thing to have some of these great tools. I think you not mention in your list some mindmapping software that can be used on your mobile phone, iPhone etc. IblueSky is a very good tool for the iphone http://www.tenero.mobi/products/ With MindBerry you could draw mindmaps on BlackBerry devices. But it's still not released yet (in beta testing). Please check out http://mindberry.net for information about mindmap software on BlackBeerry
great post, just what i wanted for tracing connections in actor-network research
Winston Fassett
· 2 years ago
Yeah it is kind of ridiculous that you left out FreeMind. I've used it for years. Many people have. Its use is probably second only to MindManager.
Ummm, that said, I've written a zoomable, Windows-based mindmapper for personal use, based on FreeMind. I wasn't planning on announcing it, because (a) I don't feel like really supporting it yet and (b) I might rewrite it in WPF to look a bit more like BookVar, but what the heck. It's not quite ready for prime-time but I still think it's pretty useful, and I've been using it as a FreeMind replacement for several months now. It's free and compatible with FreeMind files, and can be used as a zoomable viewer for them.
DoStorm.com - online application for brainstorming. Find idea or solution in your subconsciousness.
Chris Grant
· 1 year ago
I feel kinda dumb in the face of all of this mind mapping enthusiasm, but I've never seen the point of this kind of software. They all seem to be outliners, really --- tree hierarchies of thoughts. The visuals make people go wow, but I've used MindJet's stuff and never thought the results gave us any insights or helped a group work, at least not any better than hierarchical lists (outlines) would.
Maybe somewhere there's a book or article with examples that will make me wake up to how this technique can really improve a process.
Eric Blue
· 1 year ago
This may be of interest to your readers:
This application/service will allow users to take a variety of mind map formats, and display the maps inside a browser using a Java applet or Flash viewer(using FreMind). This means that maps can now be embedded directly into personal sites, wikis, or blogs using simple Javascript and iframes, and no need for your audience to have your specific mind mapping software in order to view your map.
Surely MindManager is quite a big ommission from this list?
Anyone using MindManager may also be interested in www.biggerplate.com which provides an extensive library of user-generated map content available to download for free!
All Comments
http://www.tiddlywiki.com
Thanks.
http://thinkature.com/
http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnigraffle/
And there will be a few more once I complete this weekend's update.
Someone asked which are the top two. I'll give you the top three for the kind of mind mapping I do: MindManager for project management, but it's priced for corporate users. Freemind for learning and for techies - it's free and the techies can get inside it. Topicscape for organizing information.
But you can't ask for the top two and get a useful answer unless you say how you're going to use them . . . learning, capturing ideas during brainstorming, guiding and recording meetings, planning a book or article, as an information organizer, or planning and managing projects.
One that's not on my site yet (only came out of stealth a couple of days ago) but I'm going to be adding today is bookvar.net. Very strong on adding images, but I haven't spent much time looking at other features yet. It does require you to install a Beta version of .Net, and that makes me cautious.
Regards
Vic
http://www.mind-mapping.org
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software
IblueSky is a very good tool for the iphone http://www.tenero.mobi/products/
With MindBerry you could draw mindmaps on BlackBerry devices. But it's still not released yet (in beta testing). Please check out http://mindberry.net for information about mindmap software on BlackBeerry
http://www.mappio.com/
Ummm, that said, I've written a zoomable, Windows-based mindmapper for personal use, based on FreeMind. I wasn't planning on announcing it, because (a) I don't feel like really supporting it yet and (b) I might rewrite it in WPF to look a bit more like BookVar, but what the heck. It's not quite ready for prime-time but I still think it's pretty useful, and I've been using it as a FreeMind replacement for several months now. It's free and compatible with FreeMind files, and can be used as a zoomable viewer for them.
There's a flash demo at my little site:
http://mindtree.winstonfassett.com/
Maybe somewhere there's a book or article with examples that will make me wake up to how this technique can really improve a process.
This application/service will allow users to take a variety of mind map formats, and display the maps inside a browser using a Java applet or Flash viewer(using FreMind). This means that maps can now be embedded directly into personal sites, wikis, or blogs using simple Javascript and iframes, and no need for your audience to have your specific mind mapping software in order to view your map.
http://eric-blue.com/projects/mindmapviewer/
Anyone using MindManager may also be interested in www.biggerplate.com which provides an extensive library of user-generated map content available to download for free!