I've mentioned before that I don't like plowing through learning curves with new software. Especially with software that I expect will make things easier on me. That reluctance has kept me from trying out any mindmap software, other than Visio, which I understand thoroughly bites in comparison to software dedicated to the task. I've seen Mindmanager come up in conversations again and again, so I guess I'll eventually get over my block and go try it out. Another similar piece of software that I've been reluctant to try is ActiveWords. I dig Buzz's blogs and I'm certain that's the reason I've seen so many references to ActiveWords lately. I'm pretty sure the software has been around a few years, but it's only since Buzz started blogging that I've really noticed an increase in the favorable mentions. In fact, I can't recall reading or talking to anyone that didn't like it. So I'm super tempted, but again, I'm afraid of spending time on endless tweaking. I probably have a spare moment soon, though and I'll give both MindManager and ActiveWords a try. Especially after reading Buzz's post about how the two can be combined...that gets me all geeky-tingly to try them out. But then I remember my aversion to the endless tweaking thing.
Makes me think I can understand what Pavlov's dogs went through. Tempted, rewarded. Tempted, punished. Over and over.
So here's the tempting part, if ActiveWords gives you back the only thing you can't buy, i.e. time, then trying ActiveWords means you would have more time to slack off! Now how can that be a bad deal?
Comment By: Buzz Bruggeman | 1/13/05 at 12:00 PM Aversion to tweakingBuzz is right Bren. I won't try to snow you... MindManager can, like any rich creative application, completely subsume you. ActiveWords on the other hand, will make you almost immediately more productive even without a lot of tweaking. Oh and you're also right that Visio, good as it is at structured diagrams, bites for mind mapping!
Comment By: Marc Orchant | 1/13/05 at 12:00 PM Aversion to tweakingI am just evaluating MindManager. It is a very powerful application that can do a lot of things. It does everything: from MS Office import/export to web publishing, from project management to web services integration. I am seriously considering buying it when my trial period will be over. But if you need just a mind mapping tool, you should take a look at FreeMind: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page It is free and open source. It rocks too.
Comment By: Roberto Lupi | 1/13/05 at 12:00 PM Aversion to tweaking