I’ve been a mind mapper for a long time. I’ve done them by hand and with software. For a long time, the software of choice was MindManager from MindJet. It’s a truly great piece of software…it does many things and allows for truly amazing levels of integration with Microsoft products and the web. They just released version 8.0. It offers some interesting stuff, but it’s starting to remind me of the “Integrated Office” packages that were around in the early ’80s. And, frankly, it’s getting kind of expensive. The upgrade is $129, new is $349.
So, I went looking to see what else is out there. There is FreeMind, an open source product that’s perty nice…and free. There is iMindMap which has this incredible organic look to it…it’s really amazing, but it’s expensive too.
The other issue I have is that I use a bunch of different computers. It’s a hassle keeping everything available on all the machines, network storage isn’t good because I’m not always on the same network. Sometimes, I’m not on a network at all.
Then I came across MindMeister. Sound familiar? Sounds awfully like MindManager to me. Anyway, this is a web-based mind mapping tool that supports Google Gears. It has a good, fully usable, user interface and does the things I need. Below is an example map that comes with your account. You should notice that this isn’t an image, it’s an interactive map. You can zoom, pan, expand and contract nodes…couldn’t do this with MindManager.
This map shows basic colors and icons, you can attach notes to topics, all the basic features. From there it starts getting really cool.
As I mentioned, they support Google Gears. This allows me to store my maps locally and edit them without an Internet connection. When I get a connection I can sync my changes and I’m back online. It’s a really great solution.
And, finally, MindMeister gives me a good cross-platform product. I can use it on Windows or Ubuntu, I understand that there may even be support for the G1 in the future.
They have a free, limited version. The Premium version is $48/year, the Business version is $72/user/year, and the Academic version is $15/year (same functionality as Premium)