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Mindjet MindManager 8 Test

Online mind-mapping

Mindjet recently released and offers a successor to MindJet Connect: Mindjet Catalyst – a possibility to for example share project activities online. A €20.- a month subscription gives you access to a  ‘workspace’ for personal as well as shared documents. It is thus not only possible to share mind maps, but also other documents accompanied by a potential for web conferencing (up to 15 people) and project management.

Given the price and capabilities, Catalyst is more suited for larger projects and less for “simple” mind maps. A disadvantage is that the data of such larger projects is stored on the Mindjet server, something that often rubs larger companies and governments the wrong way.

Another drawback is its sluggishness – having to wait two minutes before a chart is visible (with a reasonably speedy Internet connection and not at the busiest time of day) is not very convenient. Mindjet hopes to resolve this problem by bringing in a Catalyst server for Europe.

By the way, a link from Facebook, Twitter of LinkedIn allows one to show the chart to others in a web browser, including an ability to download it.

A part of Mindjet Catalyst is Mindmanager Web, a browser-based application (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Chrome) through which Mindjet Catalyst can be accessed. So nothing needs to be installed.

In order to be able to quickly and properly use it, training is recommended. For that matter, simpler packages are available on the marketplace.

Technical and other info

MindManager is available for Windows and Apple. At this stage Version 7 is available for Mac, but with less functionality than the Windows version. That will change shortly since Version 8 for the Mac is around the corner. The arrival of the beta version 8.2 for Windows will offer capabilities for touchscreens and tablets running Windows 7.
A version for the iPhone was also recently introduced.
MindManager is only available in English and German, but has spell check for multiple countries.
Besides the ‘regular’ pdf export, Mindjet Player can also be used. Supported by Java and Adobe Acrobat, an interactive pdf is created with branches that can be opened up and collapsed. With Version 8.0 this happened locally; Version 8.1 farms the generation of such a pdf out to Mindjet (which means that your data leaves the premises…).
Furthermore, we feel it is time for a new text module for the note field. The existing version cannot generate its own images, sometimes does generate unintended spaces and bullets, and will occasionally hang when placing multiple images in the notes field.
The memory problem has also apparently still not been resolved. Visit www.mindjet.com for more information. We have the impression that, to the user, Mindjet in recent years has become more bureaucratic – something to watch, with so many new choices entering the marketplace …

Conclusion

There is a good reason why Mindjet MindManager is one of the leading mind mapping programs. It scores high on our yardstick based on work processes.
Especially in the area of MS Office integration it scores high, demonstrated by its reporting and presentation capabilities. MindManager also scores above-average with its brainstorming and meeting applications. This because of its quick recording abilities. If the proper add-ins are utilized, the package also scores very high at project and knowledge management.
When looking at the personal dashboard more innovative alternatives come to mind – for example MindMeister.
For knowledge management, larger organizations are better off choosing an application that allows online mind mapping on an in-house server. An alternative could be a combination where the online package is able to import and export MindManager’s mind maps.
Because of the less brain-friendly format of mind maps, MindManager is an excellent but certainly not inexpensive alternative for the more business-minded mind mapper. Especially when the final technical glitches related to memory and editing text in the notes fields are solved.

Testing team

Hypershifters’ testing team for this article were Hans Terhurne, Jerre Lubberts and Alexis van Dam.

Hans Terhurne (World of Minds), Jerre Lubberts (aHa!Coaching), Alexis van Dam (Hypershifters). In addition, Hypershifters has other members in its testing panel: Andrew Wilcox, Kees van Amersfoort, Chuck Frey, Wallace Tait, Roland Wijnen, Prof. Brian Friedlander, Ton Meeuwissen, Jamie Nast, and other visual mapping experts who serve as a sounding board.


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  • Abby,
    Indeed NovaMind is an excellent Mind mapping application and Gideon King and his development team have done a good job of the improvements to version 5.

    Here’s the thing Abby; NovaMind remains to be a Mind mapping product, while MindManager utilizes the Mind mapping format and offers the user the ability to express information and knowledge in many other graphical formats. MindManager has moved beyond mere Mind mapping and evolved some time ago into the most effective Visual mapping product on the market to date.

    It is rather presumptuous IMHO, to believe a single format would topple the leader of the mapping field. There is indeed lots of space for other offerings, and I like what I see in the NovaMind product.

    What I like about the Mindjet Corporation is their recent move to be more focused on the customer (user); something that has been admittedly lacking. As a Visual mapping consultant it is essential for me to see, perceive and experience a strong Mindjet organization, with the ability to provide the future of graphical expressiveness for the future information manager.

    I had an in depth conversation with Michael Deutch recently, and he assured me; Mindjet are on track with a long term strategy that involves listening to the voice of the user more effectively. I welcome this proactive approach and further welcome more forward thinking developments from Mindjet.

    The third party universe associated with Mindjet is again testimony to add-in developers seeing the continued value of supporting the leader of this field.

    Of course competition is good and necessary for further innovative development within the Visual mapping arena, but I see the future being more dependent on more robust database capabilities associated with products such as Mindjet.

    The cloud; well we’ll have to see how that develops this year, but I’m sure Mindjet will surprise again.

    Just my thoughts J
  • Abby
    I agree with the point you raise about Mind Manager taking over control of the layout - there is virtually nothing you can put where you want it, and where they do allow some flexibility (e.g. positioning callouts) they have screwed it up and you can get topics on top of each other. Also in most cases the layout wastes a lot of space.
    I've been trying out the technical preview of NovaMind 5, and believe that it will be a worthy competitor to Mind Manager within the next year. They have done what nobody else has done, and gone right back to basics and designed a layout system that really works, keeps the mind map compact, and allows you complete flexibility to position the topics where you want them. They even have the ability to lay out the topics automatically at any angle. Very cool. They have a video highlighting the issue on the NovaMind 5 page of their web site.
    They have a way to go to be as feature complete as Mind Manager, but what they have is already clearly superior. Well worth watching. I've already got myself a license and am looking forward to the release.
  • What this review highlights to me is that if you cannot manage the process with MindManager as delivered you can find an add in that will or you can build one. This makes it fairly unique in this genre of software.
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