Comments on: Mindjet MindManager 8 Test

By: Test MindManager 8 part 2 | Hypershifters

Test MindManager 8 part 2 | Hypershifters — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:22:07 +0000

[...] Read the second part of the Mindjet MindManager 8 test. [...]

By: Wallace Tait

Wallace Tait — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:04:05 +0000

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

By: Abby

Abby — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:36:54 +0000

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.

By: A new mind mapping blog you should pay attention to: Hypershifters - Mind Mapping Software Blog

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:25:37 +0000

[...] presented in an attractive, businesslike design, Hypershifters offers product reviews (including this new one on MindManager 8), videos of visual mapping being mentioned or “evangelized” around the world, [...]

By: Andrew Wilcox

Andrew Wilcox — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:39:07 +0000

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.