Recently, in a meeting with some of my collegues I realized that there are many way to take notes, add priorities and relations etc. etc. One of them used the mindmapping technique and the commercial tool MindManager to achieve this. I was quite impressed. Although the result is a rather simple ‘image’, it’s another way to look at information which can be quite refreshing and informative.
I found an open source equivalent, FreeMind, with the same functionality. It’s written in java and runs on many platforms; it can export to multiple formats like png, (X)HTML, pdf etc. and it can even import Mindmapper maps. I guess it will become part my standard toolset.
Check out the screenshots on the FreeMind site. By the way, I just discovered that FreeMind can run as an applet, thus providing a good mechanism for sharing your mindmaps.
Mind Mapping
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About The Author
Aino Andriessen
Aino Andriessen is principal consultant and expertise lead 'Continuous Delivery'. His focus is on Oracle Fusion Middleware ADF and SOA development, Continuous Delivery, architecture, improving the software development proces and quality management. He is a frequent presenter at Oracle Open World, ODTUG Kaleidoscope, UKOUG Technology Conference and OUGN Vårseminar. He writes articles and publishes at the AMIS technology blog (http://technology.amis.nl/blog/).
As a MindManager adept, I tend to look at Freeware software with a lot of scepsis.
And this time I am right. FreeMind has little or no own creativity in its design nor in its functionality. It is limeted in options and that is the reason that is faster in some occasions. Software needs space.
What is the date when the AMIS software suite becomes freeware?
I updated the post with a link to some screenshots. NB The navigation bar on the left site on the FreeMind site contains two links to screenshot. The upper one contains a few rather uninteresting images, while the lower one gives a much better impression of the capabilities.
Can you show a screenshot of what this tool can do for you?