The Mind Mapping Software Weblog

Sharepoint integration for MindManager

In December, Mindjet Labs published a technical note that describes how to collaborate and communicate with MindManager maps on Microsoft SharePoint Servers. It includes links to two components that must be installed for integration between SharePoint and MindManager to work. If your company utilizes SharePoint and is experimenting with MindManager, then you may want to read this!

Review of ConceptDraw MINDMAP Pro 4

Late last year, CS Odessa launched ConceptDraw MINDMAP Pro 4, the latest iteration of its full-featured mind mapping software. I just completed a review of it, which you can read on the InnovationTools website. Read it to find out what makes the newest version of ConceptDraw MINDMAP more attractive to business users than ever before.

Mindjet seeks beta testers for Japanese version of MindManager

In its January e-newsletter, Mindjet has announced that it is planning to release a Japanese language version of MindManager Pro 6, and it is seeking bilingual beta testers for it. The beta testing program will start in March 2006. If you are fluent in Japanese and English and have any interest in helping Mindjet to test this new version of MindManager Pro 6, there's a link on this page to sign up for the beta program.

Mind mapping interview on the Personal Productivity Show

Cameron Reilly from the Personal Productivity Show conducted an extensive interview with me earlier today on the topic of mind mapping software. You can download the podcast and listen to it here.

A collection of mind mapping software reviews

During the last few years, I have written numerous reviews of mind mapping software. Here is a convenient summary of the last 10 programs reviewed on my InnovationTools website:

• MindManager Pro 6
• BrainMine Standard 2005
• Visual Mind 7
• NovaMind 2.0 (for Mac)
• Inspiration 7
• Inspiration for Pocket PC
• HeadCase
• Map it!
• Visual Concept 2.5 (concept mapping)
• ResultManager 2.0 (for MindManager)

Now in the writing process: A review of ConceptDraw MINDMAP version 4.0.

A good place to keep up with the latest news and product reviews of mind mapping software is the Mind Mapping Resource Center on InnovationTools.com. I also publish the Creativity Software Alert e-newsletter (usually published weekly, or as often as there is news to report). You can subscribe to it here.

AKS releases version 2.6 of Mind Pad

AKS Labs announced the availability of version 2.6 of its Mind Pad software yesterday. Here's a link to the news release. The program features a number of new and improved features, including:

• The ability to create links to web resources,
• A "reorder children" function, which enables users to quickly and easily re-order the branches of their maps,
• Enhanced printing options, which now enable users to specify how many pages a map should be printed on,
• An expanded map workspace (good news for laptop users, especially), and
• A new "full screen" mode, which fills your computer's entire screen with your map (ideal when presenting maps to others).

For a full list of all of the new and improved features of Mind Pad 2.6, visit the new release page on AKS Labs' website. Looks like a worthwhile upgrade.

mindMapp.com launches new mind-map based programming tool

A company called mindMapp.com has just launched a new object-oriented programming tool, based on MindManager Pro 6.0, which allows knowledge workers with minimal technical skills to build custom web applications. Here's a link to yesterday's announcement. Here's how this application is described on the mindMapp.com website:

"The user describes their needs in a set of mind maps, and a complete application is produced - including pages, forms, sites, collaboration spaces, etc.  Users can easily share what they build with others, thereby resulting in the creation of powerful workgroup and even enterprise applications that are built from the bottom up.

mindMapp was developed with non-technical users in mind. You do not need to know how to program, you don't need to understand databases, and you don't have to learn scripting.  Once you understand how a mind map works (usually takes less than 5 minutes), you can start building your solutions."

Click here to view some examples of applications built entirely using mindMapp. This looks like an intriguing product, because it enables you to build web applications in the same way that you think - visually!

Collaborative mind mapping application... for education

Douglas Woods reports in his Ecademy blog that a collaborative mind mapping application - one that enables multiple users to simultaneously contribute to a single map - is now available. But there is a catch: it's only available for the educational market for now. The program is called 2Connect and was developed by the educational software firm 2Simple. Based on the screen shots on the 2Simple website, it's obvious that this is a rudimentary mind mapping application. But considering that its users are primary age school children, the need for simplicity is obvious.

This leads Douglas to the question: When will the major developers of business mind mapping software provide similar collaborative functionality? No one seems to know for sure, although he reports that Mindjet recently conducted a survey where it asked some questions about adding collaborative capabilities to MindManager.

I think the developers of business mind mapping software will only implement such a feature when they can see a proven need for it. Obviously, it makes sense for school children to work on a visual map simultaneously while in the classroom. But how often would this kind of functionality be required in a business setting? I could see it being used in group brainstorming sessions, for one thing. Other than this application, my gut feeling is that much corporate work is "asynchronous" - that is, team members may need to work on or contribute to a common visual map or repository of information, but not necessarily simultaneously (sort of like a visual wiki?). If the mind mapping software developers could enable this kind of non-simultaneous collaboration, now that would be valuable!

Do you feel differently? How do you think businesspeople would use or benefit from simultaneous (or non-simultaneous) collaboration within a mind map? Please post your thoughts in the comments section!

Under development: A content summarizer for MindManager

According to a post today in the Yahoo MindManager newsgroup, a company called Model Technologies is working on a new plug-in for MindManager that can review a Word document, extract the key topics and phrases, rank them in order of importance, and can insert the results into a MindManager map. It looks pretty cool! Click here to view a brief demo.

The Elements of Mapping

Software-created mind maps are wonderful things. You can structure them any way you want, according to the way your brain works. Unfortunately, when you share your maps with others, there is a chance that your colleagues may not easily understand their meaning. That's why Tom Blossom has started to create a list of "best practices" for creating good maps on the Mindjet Blog. His list of ideas are quite practical, and easy to put into practice, no matter which mind mapping software program you may be using. Do you have some tips to add? Then be sure to visit this post and add your comments!