Comments on: MindView 3.0 Comes of Age

By: Matthew Bookspan

Matthew Bookspan — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:35:47 +0000

@Mike – interesting points. One big difference of Mind Mapping tools is the speed in which you can create the content vs. something like OmniOutliner and/or OmniGraffle. I think OmniGraffle is actually the better comparison of the two.

Also, I used MindManager, not XMind, and thus can’t compare the latter. If I were to make a simple comparison with MindManager, the new version of MindView blows it away with richer templates, ease-of-use and fantastic export options with round-trip import of near full fidelity. That alone makes it worth the price in my mind.

By: WebWorkerDaily » Archive MindView 3: Wrap Your Head Around Anything Via Mind Maps «

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:12:11 +0000

[...] the Windows version for the purposes of this post. For more info on the Mac version, check out this post over at TheAppleBlog by Matthew [...]

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:43:49 +0000

I use mind mapping software quite regurlarly, this does look very user friendly.

By: bmovie

bmovie — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:54:49 +0000

lol! The yellow highlights!

Ya asking me if I like the fabric on the dress the pig is wearing.

By: Mike Bowman

Mike Bowman — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:42:26 +0000

Is it the small market size of the nominal business purchase demographic that pushes up the price of Mind-Mapping software? I used MindManager on a PC years ago and have used X-mind since before its freeware days. Other than the graphic display what is it that separates this – in technology development from OmniOutliner or similar – so much so that the price has to be close to 4-5 times of what other comparable functionality delivers? OK, the export/import is tidier but I just won’t consider tools like this when a) Mind Mapping hasn’t been proven (quite) to really deliver the benefits purported and b) they seem to be on another level when it comes to pricing. While a student and therefore open to educational pricing, I can’t imagine the normal 30-40% off bringing this down to a workable offer for myself. While you’ve covered the normal mindmap functionality – visuals, blah, blah, I would have much preferred to see a stronger comparison with xmind (since you’ve used that and found it not to your liking) since, apparently, those differences are worth close to $300.

By: Matthew Bookspan

Matthew Bookspan — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:56:20 +0000

@bmovie – thanks for the suggestion. In regard to the outlined fonts – do you mean the highlights? We’ll take that feedback to the team.

By: bmovie

bmovie — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:08:42 +0000

MindNode (mindnode.com) is a much simpler application that does the job cheaper, faster and better. No extraneaous bells and whistles; no lenghty tutorials, fits on a flash drive and is as fast as my thinking. Thought is a fast, spontaneaous and often random process. Over analytical order is counter-productive. Less is so much more!

Finally, the outlined fonts on this blog gives me a headache. Not only is outlined fonts hard to read, but small type in outlines is ugly. On top of that, you combine black outline type with blue outline type — doubly painful and not worth reading.

By: Matthew Bookspan

Matthew Bookspan — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:52:19 +0000

@Jean-Francois – can’t complain about Free. I did look at Xmind – wasn’t really my cup of tea.

By: Jean-Francois Arseneault

Jean-Francois Arseneault — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:48:48 +0000

I’ve been using Xmind (http://www.xmind.net/) which is based on Eclipse and so is cross-platform by design. Very nice UI, import/export isn’t a major concern for me, ut it does support a few formats. And it’s free… :)