Part 5: Ideal Computing setup and Mind Mapping (the comparison)

Screw it, I have been trying to remember to save an html version (here is someone else's example) of what I did and bring it to work (no home net access [yes a piece of me is dying daily]) but I keep forgetting, whatever.

Anyway, I tried brainstorming using mind mapping software FreeMind. The learning curve wasn’t too bad but having to right click for everything (or memorize hotkeys [which I love if I use the app all the time]) was kind of annoying, hopefully they will be adding some menu customization so you can put buttons on the menu instead of awkward right clicks and convoluted right click menu navigation.

Anywho, other than the right clicking (and yes, I did use hot keys for the most common functions, mainly add a node) it was pretty nifty. It did take more time for me to come up with a mindmap than it did to just write it down but then again that was the first time I had ever used the software. I liked the bubble? (looked like a cloud to me, if you want an idea you can go to the java applet example, but it will take some serious bandwidth) option to group stuff together, quite nice. I would have liked a better way to attach larger chunks of text because in this situation for some of the hardware stuff I listed I forget why I wanted it (dumb-a*s I know) so I want to make a note as to why I wanted the feature in the first place (the whole “if you can’t remember it then it couldn’t have been that important” is just not true).

Well, considering its free, I have to give it a thumbs up, its nothing like Mind Manager (they have a demo available) which has tons of features but perhaps more than you need.