Mind mapping for IT pros

Let’s clear up a couple of things to start with. The term mind mapping doesn’t come from a Spooks plot line. It isn’t about poking around in people’s noggins to extract secrets or reconfigure their brain. Nor is it some esoteric practice used solely by intellectuals enjoying the luxury of sitting around and thinking a lot. …

[Anonymous Coward]

what about frremind

Freemind should have been on your list

Opensource and runs on things other than MACS!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

cheap and cheerful

Freemind is another tool that's worth a try. It's free and written in Java. It's not without its faults but it's a good way to give the whole MM thang a try.

[Fred Flintstone]

Absolutely agree - Freemind MUST be added to that list!

I have been using Freemind for years, on Windows, Linux and Mac. Works, and heaps of export options.

Article update?

[Anonymous Coward]

Freemind

I concur. Freemind is a must have install.

Useful when writing test cases by error guessing (usually due to lack of requirements).

Only problems are no multi-central nodes that I can see, and no 2 way linking of nodes.

[s. pam]

Visio dropped Mind-Mapping you idiots

Office 2007 and onwards MSFT neutered Visio and dropped Mind Mapping.

This was a -11 suckage factor. Epic Fail on their part. Me suspected they'd be money mapping us for more dosh, but not yet.

[taxman]

Go back in time to

Visio Standard 2003 - when it's called Brainstorming. Same same.

[Anonymous Coward]

Free ?

Aside from a free trial, I can't see that any of those listed are free. It could just have been a very long week....

[R.Moore]

where are the free links?

You mentioned free.....none of the links are related to free software!

[Greencat]

Another vote for....

...Freemind. iThoughtsHD on an iPad is rather nice too.

[Raff]

GreenCat IThoughts?

I'd definitely give FreeMind a go; bin using it to collect projects ideas for years...

...and IThoughts is great as a pay-for-job, I'd probably give it 4 out of 5 stars.

[Anonymous Coward]

iThoughts HD

iThoughts HD is brilliant on the iPad. You can export your MindMap as a PDF, image or in many of the desktop package formats via email. I use it all the time in meetings and for recording information from seminars.

[Mike Street]

And on Linux...

Kdissert (which I haven't used) and Vym (which I have).

Both free as in both beer and speech.

[countd]

kdissert is deprecated

It's been replaced by semantic which is nice but feature incomplete and a little buggy. But when it's working it does great latex exports.

[Anonymous Coward]

Xmind

I use Xmind, http://www.xmind.net/. works well cheap and supported on linux, windows and mac.

nice article.

[Anonymous Coward]

xmind has performance problems

hi , i use mindmaps a lot. xmind is slow. freemind is good but looks a bit shitty. the good thing about it, besides copying mindmanager shortcuts, is the fact that it runs from a stick. That will not help you if the customer doesn't have java on the computer. it also exports to mindjet and xmind so it's another plus.

at the moment i use mindmanager plus catalyst, to be able to reach my maps from any computer.

[JackStraw]

A few more ...

Mindomo?

LovelyCharts?

MindMeister?

[TC1]

Another good one...

The Brain - I've been using this one for since 98 (featured in Byte magazine!) and it's pretty good and easy to use. It's come a long way since then in terms of functionality and there are a couple of different versions available from personal to enterprise level, and also cross platform.

[Fred Flintstone]

Agree - on both PC and Mac

It's almost too powerful - you have to approach it with some care. It actually combines mind mapping with file storage and note taking, but the most significant aspect is the ability to link leaves and nodes other than in the root/branch way. Brilliant..

[Anonymous Coward]

mindmaps

And for anyone who doesn't know what a mindmap is .... ask and 8 year-old ... they use them a lot in primary schools nowadays

[Sam 5]

Mind mapping on the iPhone/iPad

Try idea sketch on the iPhone / iPad, its free and works well if you want a simple mind map. It also converts the mind map into a list (where it can) for those who don't do mind maps.

[George Kapotto]

Freeplane

Freeplane is a fork of Freemind created by one of the original authors and is still file compatible. Apparently Freemind development was in the doldrums (by his opinion).

[Tankut Erinc]

Droid

Thinking Space and Mind Map Memo are two tools that are available free on Android. Both of them compatible with Freemind.

[jwerner]

Don't forget Concept Maps

Let's not forget Mind-mappings cousin -- Concept Mapping. Where mind-mapping forces pure hierarchies (one path to a node), concept mapping allows multiple paths to nodes. The Brain is one tool for that. I prefer IHMC CMapTools (which is free).

[John R. Macdonald]

Concept maps and beyond

Another neat program in that category of mind tools is Axon Idea Processor.

Very powerful but only runs on Windows 2000/NT/XP/Vista and Windows 7.

[Stupidscript]

Seconding Several

Freemind, Semantik, CMap ... all free and worth a look.

[hendersj]

Another vote for vym

Outstanding tool, though I'd like to see an updated Windows version (I use the Linux version myself, but I have coworkers who use Windows).

[keithpeter]

Tinderbox

Mac only, and costs money, but for capturing a lot of information and ordering it, I used to use Tinderbox (Eastgate Systems) a lot.

Does a LOT more than mind mapping. Can be used to manage large static web sites.

[John R. Macdonald]

One more

Another neat program in the mind tool category is Axon Idea Processor. Very powerful. Only runs on Windows 2000/NT/XP/Vista and Windows 7 though.

[vicgee]

A gallery of mind mapping software

I have a gallery of mind mapping and other information management software here: http://www.mind-mapping.org/VicsPicks/category/all-software/

Using the categories drop-down you can select by OS, map type, price, browser-based and other attributes to narrow your search for software.

Vic

[Dale Vile, Freeform Dynamics]

Free tools

Some people were asking about free tools - Vicgee lists some of those in his gallery (see comment from him with link above)

Have had a root around that resource, and it looks very comprehensive for anyone interesting in mind-mapping.

Cheers

Dale