Month: July 2010

Freeplane first appeared in Mind-Mapping.Org last year but recently they announced that they were on a stable, live release: 1.1.1

They list the most important new features as these:

There is also a portable version that can be run from a thumb-drive.

I updated this post with an image of the full Freeplane window to show the interface!  Click the image to see it larger.

Vic

Subscribe to the RSS feed for regular posts
& follow me on Twitter for in-between items
about visual tools you never knew existed.

Just a word of warning, if you use McAfee’s SiteAdvisor, you may get a message about this being a dangerous download.  I did, so sent  [Updated: SiteAdvisor no longer giving the warning.]  I uploaded the installer to virustotal.com for a check, and all 41 of the A-V engines there, including McAfee, said it was clean (you can check the report here).

Google

I wrote about Mindjet’s inclusion of me as a Trusted Voice in my last post and my abstention, but as I thought about it, I noticed some odd omissions from their list – one of them very odd.

(Click the image above to go to the Mindjet page)

I edit MindMapSearch – a search engine that focuses on people and sites that provide good information about visual thinking (and keeps the “made for advertising” sites out of the search results).  I have done that for years.  So I think I have a pretty good finger on the pulse of  those who have a “voice and leadership in the mapping community”.   Mindjet have included people on the list all of whom I believe to be good and trustworthy, but imagine my surprise at not finding these names there:

Tony Buzan (@tonybuzan), Gideon King (@gideonking), Roy Grubb (@roygrubb), Wallace Tait (@visualmapper), Paul Foreman (@mindmapdrawer), Eric Blue (@ericblue), ActivityOwner (@activityowner), Michael Tipper (@michaeltipper),  Andrew Mason (@masontech).  All are active and promote mind mapping generally or some specific angle on mapping.

The first three are associated with other mind mapping software so perhaps we can treat “doesn’t in any way reflect the individuals’ allegiance to Mindjet over another mapping solution” with some skepticism.

But just a minute, “highlight those in the mapping community that are dedicated and recognized for championing the concept and values of mind mapping” and “leadership in the mapping community” does not include Tony Buzan?

I don’t know who might and might not feel it appropriate to have a MindJet badge on their blog or website, and its up to them, but it’s hard to understand how the list was drawn up.

Vic

Subscribe to the RSS feed for regular posts
& follow me on Twitter for in-between items
about visual tools you never knew existed.

Google

I just had an invitation from Mindjet to be badged as one of 14 blogs they consider to be “Trusted Voices”.

I’d like to have the advanced information offered, and access to the Mindjet blog.  It can only improve my information source and ability to spread the pro-mapping word.

But I like to think that Mind-Mapping.Org is already everyone’s trusted voice.  Surely association with Mindjet puts a doubt in the mind of anyone using Mind-Mapping.Org or reading my blog posts and tweets?

I like MindManager and use it a lot, but when I say that now, it carries more weight than if I had a Mindjet T.V. badge on my site.  And I like plenty of other mapping software as well and feel free to say that.

There’s nothing wrong with sites that on-sell MindManager doing this, and most of the others who may accept it (I don’t know who yet) are probably blogging about mind mapping itself more than the software.  No “holier-than-thou” feelings here!

Thoughts?

Vic

Subscribe to the RSS feed for regular posts
& follow me on Twitter for in-between items
about visual tools you never knew existed.

Google