Wow! I never realized it was that expensive! That’s right up with with Adobe for ridiculously overpriced software applications. No matter how much it rocks, I have a real hard time paying a few hundred dollars for software when the free (or cheap) competition is compelling…
I have looked at all the Mind Mapping applications out there and have decided to go with NovaMind – the feature set is excellent, they have both Mac and Windows versions, their pricing is reasonable, the support is the best I have encountered anywhere, they produce free updates regularly. In all, this is software as it should be. I’ve been using it for some time now, mainly on MacOS X, but more recently on Windows, and am very happy with it. Suggest you check it out.
I have been using mind mapping software now for about three years. I’ve tried different ones including: Inspiration, Mindjet, Mindmanager and Spark-Space. There are advantages and disadvantages and of course cost can be an issue when it comes to paying up time.
Personally I prefer Spark-Space for the following reasons 1. it is intuitive to use 2. you can buy a basic version as well as a more expensive beefed up professional version 3. you can produce documents from maps really easy, which is what I want to do. I also teach mind mapping and 7 out of 10 my students would choose Spark-Space when they have seen the funtionality. You can see it at http://www.spark-space.com
You could look at the much more reasonably-priced 3D Topicscape ( http://www.topicscape.com/ ). Mindmapping-style planning and information management in 3D. Catch it now and it’s US$50, though a modest increase is planned soon.
I think its horses for courses when considering the benefits of these mind mapping products. What I really like about Spark-Space is the ability to complete a full document in the mind map program – Ive not been able to reproduce this with other software. I will take a look at topicscape and let you know how I get along. Spark-Space is also a 3D mapper with full text editing ability and hperlinking plus presentation mode.
I have downloaded the free trial version of the software suggested by Argey Topicscape – this sema similar in function to Idons for thinking – can anyone else draw parallel with that software also?
I have used and will use ConceptDraw MINDMAP. I downloaded and compared several products, and this is by far the most powerful and versatile. ConceptDraw MINDMAP is much easier to use and provides more design alternatives. This tool gives me more options to display the info I want to bring across.
Have you compared ConceptDraw with Spark-Space – I now have more mind map programs than I know what to do with on my hard drive.
Many of the mind mapping products work in a very similar way to conceptdraw and therefore we are often coparing pricing and one or two differences in features. Spark-Space while it does the same thing as the others really comes into its own for document creation. What do I do with a mind map? I use mind mapping to produce documents. Spark-Space does this really well.
I’ve had another session with Topicscape – it appears quiet different in its approach to other products and I can see the value of using it for project management – how does it cope with producing documentation?
I have been using MindJet for over a year and really like it but for everyone to be able to collaborate they needed to buy a copy. I was just introduced to FreeMind earlier this month. I have not really gone deep but for simple collaborative mapping it rocks.
I tried different ones and finally settled on IHMC Cmap. I am pretty happy with it. The fact that you can save the maps as XML so that you can process it other applications was one of the more appealing features. This also means you can write programs to generate mindmaps which can be used as visual navigation aids.
Phil, Sorry, I just saw your Jan 8th comment. Topicscape can produce many forms of document, as well as its 3D view. It can produce a full html page with all its internal links hyperlinked to the files in Topicscape, it can produce a pure text document indented to show the structure of the topicscape, with cross references and the paths to files in the topicscape shown. It can make a structured text file that can be used to rebuild a topicscape. It can produce an OPML document that can be viewed in a browser and has collapsable branches. And finally it can make a FreeMind map.
The Freemind mind map and structured text options allow a round trip (export – edit – import again, for example).
So there are many document options and several import-export options not mentioned above, like XSLT to read other suitable XML formats, OML import, The Brain import, and we’re working on Mind Manager import.
Wow! I never realized it was that expensive! That’s right up with with Adobe for ridiculously overpriced software applications. No matter how much it rocks, I have a real hard time paying a few hundred dollars for software when the free (or cheap) competition is compelling…
I have looked at all the Mind Mapping applications out there and have decided to go with NovaMind – the feature set is excellent, they have both Mac and Windows versions, their pricing is reasonable, the support is the best I have encountered anywhere, they produce free updates regularly. In all, this is software as it should be. I’ve been using it for some time now, mainly on MacOS X, but more recently on Windows, and am very happy with it. Suggest you check it out.
I have been using mind mapping software now for about three years. I’ve tried different ones including: Inspiration, Mindjet, Mindmanager and Spark-Space. There are advantages and disadvantages and of course cost can be an issue when it comes to paying up time.
Personally I prefer Spark-Space for the following reasons 1. it is intuitive to use 2. you can buy a basic version as well as a more expensive beefed up professional version 3. you can produce documents from maps really easy, which is what I want to do. I also teach mind mapping and 7 out of 10 my students would choose Spark-Space when they have seen the funtionality. You can see it at http://www.spark-space.com
You could look at the much more reasonably-priced 3D Topicscape ( http://www.topicscape.com/ ). Mindmapping-style planning and information management in 3D. Catch it now and it’s US$50, though a modest increase is planned soon.
Hi Argey
I think its horses for courses when considering the benefits of these mind mapping products. What I really like about Spark-Space is the ability to complete a full document in the mind map program – Ive not been able to reproduce this with other software. I will take a look at topicscape and let you know how I get along. Spark-Space is also a 3D mapper with full text editing ability and hperlinking plus presentation mode.
I have downloaded the free trial version of the software suggested by Argey Topicscape – this sema similar in function to Idons for thinking – can anyone else draw parallel with that software also?
I have used and will use ConceptDraw MINDMAP. I downloaded and compared several products, and this is by far the most powerful and versatile. ConceptDraw MINDMAP is much easier to use and provides more design alternatives. This tool gives me more options to display the info I want to bring across.
I’ve taken a look at a few of these and some of them show some real promise. My initial impression of NovaMind is very positive!
Hi Nick
Hi Nick
Have you compared ConceptDraw with Spark-Space – I now have more mind map programs than I know what to do with on my hard drive.
Many of the mind mapping products work in a very similar way to conceptdraw and therefore we are often coparing pricing and one or two differences in features. Spark-Space while it does the same thing as the others really comes into its own for document creation. What do I do with a mind map? I use mind mapping to produce documents. Spark-Space does this really well.
Hi Argey
I’ve had another session with Topicscape – it appears quiet different in its approach to other products and I can see the value of using it for project management – how does it cope with producing documentation?
I have been using MindJet for over a year and really like it but for everyone to be able to collaborate they needed to buy a copy. I was just introduced to FreeMind earlier this month. I have not really gone deep but for simple collaborative mapping it rocks.
I tried different ones and finally settled on IHMC Cmap. I am pretty happy with it. The fact that you can save the maps as XML so that you can process it other applications was one of the more appealing features. This also means you can write programs to generate mindmaps which can be used as visual navigation aids.
http://cmap.ihmc.us/
Here is one I created for my “thinking about thinking” talk:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15439732@N00/87035160/
Phil, Sorry, I just saw your Jan 8th comment. Topicscape can produce many forms of document, as well as its 3D view. It can produce a full html page with all its internal links hyperlinked to the files in Topicscape, it can produce a pure text document indented to show the structure of the topicscape, with cross references and the paths to files in the topicscape shown. It can make a structured text file that can be used to rebuild a topicscape. It can produce an OPML document that can be viewed in a browser and has collapsable branches. And finally it can make a FreeMind map.
The Freemind mind map and structured text options allow a round trip (export – edit – import again, for example).
So there are many document options and several import-export options not mentioned above, like XSLT to read other suitable XML formats, OML import, The Brain import, and we’re working on Mind Manager import.