Icon MindManager 6 Mac Icon

By Dale Farris, Reviews Coordinator
Golden Triangle PC Club
June 2006

General Overview

The Mindjet Corporation, the leading provider of productivity software for visualizing and managing information, has now released Mindjet MindManager 6 Mac for Apple’s Mac OS X. MindManager 6 Mac enables individuals and teams to visually connect and synthesize ideas. The new application extends the power and creativity of visual "mapping” to Mac users, including everyone from marketing professionals to media content providers to students, faculty and administrators in all levels of education. Built using Apple’s Xcode development environment and Cocoa frameworks, MindManager 6 Mac is a universal version that runs natively on Intel-based Macintosh computers for increased performance.

Mindjet's main goal with this first release for the Mac was to create a truly Mac product, not merely a Windows port. So, they started from scratch, brought in a highly skilled Quartz expert, Scott Thompson, who could really create some very strong graphics (zoom all the way in on the screen and see how nice the lines are), and created a bonafide winning Mac product.

The Mindjet goal is to engage in some very aggressive development based on their commitment to listen to customer feedback. The company's Windows version of MindManager has long been the best mapping solution on the market, and now with this new release of the Mac version of MindManager, Mindjet continues to solidify their dominance of this special software application.

"One of the biggest challenges companies face is finding better ways to stimulate and harness innovative thinking,” said Mindjet CEO Robert Gordon. "The problem is that most technology is so relentlessly linear and text-driven that it actually hinders creative thinking. Mindjet, like Apple, offers users another way of working that supports the visual, nonlinear way people actually think. MindManager 6 Mac sparks new ideas—and helps quickly turn those ideas into blueprints for action.”

"We're thrilled that Mindjet has brought its powerful mind mapping software to the Mac," said Ron Okamoto, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "MindManager 6 Mac takes advantage of Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ innovations such as Spotlight to organize new ideas quickly and harness the creativity of the Mac community."

According to recent Gartner PC-shipment figures for the U.S. market, Apple saw Mac adoption growth of 32 percent last year. Combined with Mindjet’s own 68 percent quarter-to-quarter growth over last year, including 86 percent growth in the education market (a key Mac demographic sector), MindManager 6 Mac is the next step in Mindjet’s rapid expansion plans. With this new release, Mindjet extends to Mac users the opportunity to join a rapidly growing community of more than 750,000 customers currently using MindManager software for Windows. Whether they are in business, government or higher education, Mac users will now be able to capture and implement ideas and plans faster, collaborate more intuitively, and share information more efficiently.

"The Mac development community is a very creative bunch turning out lots of great products,” said Steve Rubel, senior vice president in Edelman’s in-house global marketing lab, me2revolution group. "Unfortunately, there is one product category that has been lacking a killer app and that's mind mapping. Mac users were jealous of our PC-using friends because they had access to MindManager — the best product on the market for creative brainstorming. Now that MindManager has found a home on the Mac it will be more accessible to creative types, which is a terrific boon to the Mac faithful in the entertainment community, design, education and advertising."

MindManager users jumpstart new projects or plans by first capturing the interaction of brainstorming sessions. They can then further develop their thinking by attaching or linking to a wide range of information types, including web sites, email addresses, documents and audio, video or image files.

The real power of MindManager comes into play when it is time to put those ideas into action. The map interface enables users to create assignments and due dates to quickly implement those ideas – all in a single, clearly understood and easily organized visual document. With a cross-platform file format, anything mapped out in MindManager 6 Mac—from project plans and marketing campaigns to lecture notes and research reports—can be shared with co-workers or classmates using either Mac or Windows.

Mac users will also enjoy the integration with Mac OS X’s powerful Spotlight search technology allowing them to quickly find content contained within their maps. With a clean, intuitive user interface that is similar to Apple’s iWork applications, Keynote and Pages, MindManager 6 Mac users will find it easy to get started and become more productive in organizing information and planning.

"Mindjet’s innovative productivity solutions give Ingram Micro’s customer’s access to incremental revenue streams on this new software,” said Jodi Honore, vice president, vendor management, software, Ingram Micro Inc. "With this new release, Mindjet provides a key multiplatform solution for organizations with both Macs and PCs.”

"In the classroom, Mindjet MindManager allows me to deliver interactive lectures, incorporate student questions and feedback in real time, and provide an enhanced learning environment,” said Dava J. Newman, Professor of Aeronautics, Astronautics and Engineering Systems, Harvard-MIT Health, Sciences, and Technology. "The natural, visual communication aspect of mind mapping provides for almost perfect recollection of ideas and important points, which greatly enhances my research projects in advanced human exploration systems. We're literally mapping our way to Mars."

Key Features

Capture ideas and notes directly into your map

Drag 'n Drop - Rearrange your maps by dragging and dropping Topics

Hyperlinks to websites or files - Link to any website, map, or file, including graphics, spreadsheets, documents, PDFs and more. Keep all your important information in a map for easy retrieval.

Insert Attachments - Attach multiple files to a Topic

Search Using Spotlight - Find the information you are looking for fast! Topics within your maps are indexed by Mac OS X Tiger's built-in search utility, Spotlight.

Layout Formats - Choose from several Layout Format Styles to organize your information in to organizational charts, "Right" or "Tree" style maps and more.

Topic Numbering - Easily keep track of Topics and Subtopics. The numbering format updates as Topics are added, deleted and moved.

Map Markers - Communicate information with markers that can be re-named to apply to your specific map. Markers make your maps more visually rich and easier to understand.

Relationship lines - Draw connections between two Topics using colorful lines and arrows.

Floating and Callout Topics - Annotate information on your map using Floating and Callout Topics.

Boundaries - Visually group related Topics or information for emphasis.

PDF Export - Publish maps as PDFs for platform independent distribution.

Image Export - Export maps in JPG, PNG or TIFF formats then paste into other programs.

Key Benefits

Quickly capture ideas - MindManager software is easy-to- use with a simple graphical user interface designed for rapid documentation of your ideas.

Easily organize information - Drag-and-drop capabilities allow you to easily move map content around to quickly organize your ideas and build better plans - faster.

Enhance maps with data - Add data in maps to build context around your ideas. Attach multiple files to topics or insert hyperlinks to the web or your local network for easy file management and map distribution.

Create visually rich maps - Draw relationships between ideas, add callouts and color to highlight important information, group similar ideas with boundaries and insert icons and images to help you and others to see the big picture.

Find information fast - Use Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger's powerful Spotlight search to quickly locate information within your maps.

Easily share maps - A cross-platform file format makes working in teams easy. Exchange maps with anyone using MindManager 6 on Mac or Windows platforms. A free Mindjet MindManager Viewer is available to anyone who does not own Mindjet MindManager 6 software. Maps can also be converted to PDFs, bitmap images, and text files and shared.

Program Functionality

The program uses visuals and text not only to speed the writing process, but also to help folks work on and retain a large quantity of information in a short time frame.

Many Fortune-listed companies will now be able to capture both structured and unstructured data, and then use the flexibility of the program's mapping interface to quickly develop strategies and assign tasks, and then immediately put both these decisions into play.

MindManager enables business professionals and teams to build clear visual representations that combine information and data with ideas, insights, tasks, and assignments that emerge from such information. Benefits include more efficient meetings, the ability to quickly plan and implement business projects, and an improved ability to view and understand complex ideas, information and processes.

For any agency, department, or consultant that serves business clients, a major part of the interaction is constant information exchange. Be it a creative agency working on a marketing campaign, an internal department scoping project requirements, an expert consultant working with a government bureau, or any similar specialist-client relationship, the information loop must be managed effectively. As a project progresses from kick-off through research, ideas, concepts, budgets, timelines, drafts, feedback, and revisions, glitches in the smooth exchange of information can derail it at any point.

One of those potential glitches is operating system incompatibility. Many creative agencies, service bureaus, and consultants work on Macs or in a mixed-platform environment. The Mac is often the system of choice for illustration, design, and other visual fields, and many in the creative and consulting communities have embraced the Mac for its innovation and quality. When Mac users deal with corporate or institutional clients on a Windows platform, however, a file-format bottleneck can have impacts ranging from a minor communications hang-up to a major loss of productivity.

Mindjet MindManager 6 Mac is designed to keep that collaborative information exchange flowing smoothly in a Mac or mixed-platform environment. MindManager provides a single interface for all the plans, ideas, documents, and data that pass back and forth from agency to client-an information-organizing structure of unparalleled adaptability. With the introduction of MindManager 6 Mac, collaboration and creativity can flourish-regardless of operating systems.

“Mindjet may have created the most significant revolution in user interfaces in a long time. Mindjet's MindManager is basically a visual tool for developing and managing the relationships between ideas, objects, or people. It's incredibly powerful and, most importantly, it's something new in the interface world that might actually help define the future of how we use software.” – “Information Revolution” by Joshua Greenbaum, Contributing Editor, Managing Automation, October 27, 2005.

Consider the overload of elements that play into the typical agency project. Meetings, brainstorming sessions, emails - action plans, budgets, deadlines - presentations, artwork, spreadsheets - More meetings - More emails. It's a project manager's full-time job just to juggle all these factors and keep every participant up to date, every piece of relevant data accessible to all who need it.

Productivity suffers when workers have to track down information, copy over meeting notes, cut and paste content from one application to another, or hunt through email trails to find an answer. Looking for and retrieving information can waste between 15% to 35% of a knowledge worker's workday.

Compound these inefficiencies with the fact that none of these processes really capture information the way people truly think - in a non-linear fashion. Instead, workers have to mold their thoughts to the way most applications function: in a linear manner. The result? Lost time and creativity, disconnected ideas, and information that is not meaningful or actionable.

What effective projects need is a single bridge between agency and client, worker and data, plan and execution. Project managers, account executives, and team members should be able to:
• Capture ideas and information-quickly and efficiently
• Organize ideas and information in a way that makes sense for the project and is easily understood by all involved
• Share these ideas and information regardless of operating system and organization type.

Like all Mindjet products, Mindjet MindManager 6 Mac provides these capabilities. At the same time, it ensures that Mac users can effortlessly interact with Windows-based clients and collaborators.

Mindjet MindManager 6 Mac provides a visual “map” that captures every element of a project into a single shared interface. From the first brainstorming session to the final iteration, every idea, topic, action item, email, supporting document, comment, edit, and revision can be amassed within this map and accessed by every project participant
• Text-based data
• Images and artwork
• Action items, tasks, resources, milestones, red flags, due dates, etc.
• Ideas, thoughts, and comments
• Live hyperlinks to relevant content on web pages or other documents
• Embedded files that can be conveniently accessed from within the map

Business and institutional clients hire creative agencies and consultants for their special skills and expertise-and every project is a unique interplay of talents, needs, and objectives. Mindjet MindManager brings a free form, adaptable context to that interplay, allowing project leaders and team members to capture, organize, and share information the way that best serves each project's needs.

Capture: In a project's earliest stages, exploring ideas, gathering information, and assembling a team can be like filling a shoebox with the data points that will eventually cohere into a finished product. With MindManager, project leaders can easily gather a project's raw material without being constrained by a rigid structure or a linear process. Picture the classic white-board brainstorming session: any idea can be freely voiced, and thinking without boundaries can yield productive leads towards more developed ideas. MindManager lets project leaders capture this kind of spontaneous creativity along with essential nuts-and-bolts data. As the project evolves, users can add more information at any time.

Organize: With MindManager, users can rapidly transform that raw material into an actionable project plan. It's simple to establish relationships and hierarchies between topics. Associating tasks, resources, timelines, and deliverables with ideas becomes easy and straightforward. Background information can be linked. By amassing all these interrelated topics and tasks within a single visual interface, the map becomes a “dashboard” that lets team members see both the big picture-the entire project and its ultimate goals-and the details within.

Share: As the project progresses through phases and revisions, and the MindManager map continues to evolve, it serves as a communications bridge between agency and client, project leaders, and contributors. Rather than emailing spreadsheets and task lists to everyone involved in a project, participants can share a single, comprehensive map that's constantly updated. And the introduction of MindManager 6 Mac ensures that file-format incompatibility doesn't obstruct this ongoing, interactive dialogue.

When agencies and consultants work with corporate and institutional clients, at times the two sides seem to speak different languages-with a project manager as a reluctant translator and go-between. MindManager 6 Mac's powerfully intuitive visual interface helps all project participants grasp the project's scope, objective, and development. With all project elements “on the map,” it's easy for team members to stay updated and informed. Even with a large, complex project with many participants, users never lose track of what they're trying to accomplish.

Mindjet MindManager 6 Mac is designed to enable at-a-glance understanding of how topics, tasks, and plans are organized. The basic hierarchy of cascading main topics and subtopics creates the foundation. Visual cues such as color-coded flags, relationship boundaries, and style-codes give more detail. Users can add icons and images for emphasis or explanation. These intuitive visual tools let users understand relationships and dependencies between tasks and topics, and see clearly which tasks are completed vs. still in progress. By tracking progress against clear objectives in this way, leaders can more effectively manage resources and priorities. However, team members don't always want to look at the big picture, so the MindManager interface makes it easy for users to drill down to relevant details. It can filter out topics and subtopics that aren't essential to the task at hand, and bookmarks can help individual users home in on their own topics and responsibilities.

A free MindManager Viewer is available for both Mac and Windows, so everyone who needs to follow the progress of a project can access a read-only version of a MindManager map. Only those team members with the full licensed MindManager application, however, can make and save changes. Therefore, map “owners” on both the agency and client sides can control how the project evolves, while still sharing access to all information across company and operating-system boundaries.

Mindjet MindManager 6 Mac fully integrates with Mindjet's Windows-based MindManager products. In a mixed platform environment, licensed users on both platforms can read, revise, and exchange the same MindManager map freely. Regardless of its platform of origin, any document or data attached or linked to a MindManager map can be opened and edited by either Mac or Windows users. A project leader can protect the integrity of a map by adding a password, so only those licensed users who know the password are able to make and save changes. Furthermore, the free MindManager Viewer enables team members to see every part of the map and use every capability-except for editing and saving changes. Readers can expand and collapse subtopics and comments, download attached documents, and follow hyperlinks.

The agency and the client can interact on as many-or as few-points of contact as the project demands. For example, if an agency graphic artist were working with a client content expert to create graphics for the project, the two would be able to add content to the map and make other changes-as long as they both used the full MindManager program for their respective operating systems, and were given the map password by the project leaders. Another kind of project might demand a tighter configuration, where only one project leader on each side controlled changes to the map. By funneling all information through these map owners, the project's evolution could be closely monitored. The way the map is used to exchange information is completely adaptable to the nature and needs of the project.

Mindjet MindManager 6 Mac is a versatile, powerful, and adaptable interface between business clients and the agencies and consultants who serve them. MindManager captures and organizes every aspect of a project, from the big-picture goals and plans to the finest details and timelines. It fosters both freewheeling creativity and disciplined management. It streamlines communication and enhances collaboration-and does it all on a Mac platform that freely interacts with Windows.

“Before we started using Mindjet MindManager, it would have taken me one week to put notes into some kind of organized form, another week to decipher the opportunity in an intelligible format, then one more week for us to digest everything and come to a decision. Mindjet MindManager allowed us to accomplish in four days what used to take three weeks.” – Ed Sullivan, President, IBC Corporate Headquarters.

What is a MindManager Map?

At their simplest, Mindjet MindManager maps function like street maps. They represent complex information in an organized, easy-to-understand visual format. And they enable you to easily grasp connections, obstacles, and paths so you can quickly choose the best course of action. But instead of facilitating travel, MindManager maps improve processes, projects, and planning. Another difference: you build your own.

Easy to start: Capture
With its intuitive, highly interactive interface, a MindManager map is a snap to begin. Click anywhere and type a central topic. From there, the map welcomes as much creative thinking as you and your team can generate. It even pulls in external information from websites, databases, spreadsheets, blogs, and more. Customizable wizards and templates, and a one-stop task pane, streamline and standardize map creation.

Easy to take action: Organize
MindManager maps show you the “big picture” through cascading connections between related topics and sub-topics, plus quick-glance highlighting, icons, formats, and pictures. Soon you’re making better decisions in less time. And that’s only the start. Maps are also blueprints for action, enabling you to assign and manage tasks, resources, timelines, and deliverables.

Easy to extend information enterprise-wide: Share
The free Mindjet MindManager Viewer puts everyone in your organization on the same map with search, navigate, print, and publish capabilities. For enterprise-wide impact you can save maps as bitmaps, Adobe PDFs, and web pages, and export map content to Microsoft Office and other enterprise applications. MindManager maps are even pen-enabled for tablet PCs, so they travel anywhere you do.

Importance in the Business Community

MindManager is an interesting program that corresponds to the current interest in business and organizations in finding ways to maximize the creativity and innovation of members of the company. MindManager is also based on the many solid published works of creativity gurus Tony Buzan, including "The BrainSmart Leader," "The Mind Map Book," "Make the Most of Your Mind," and "Use Both Sides of Your Brain," and Rita Carter and Christopher Frith's "Mapping The Mind" and "Mind Mapping."

With this release, the MindJet company provides a specialized adaptation of their superb mind mapping tool, Mind Manager, for use in business and especially for use across a company's multiple worksites.

Product Benefits

Using MindManager as an alternative to note-pads, flip charts and white boards provides significant time-savings and demonstrable return on investment. In addition to time-savings from the electronic capture of information, MindManager's visual format facilitates communication, group consensus, and decision-making in much shorter periods of time.

Faster decision-making
Less time spent on preparation
Less time spent in meetings
Increased productivity

Business professionals, managers, project leaders and their teams all can benefit from using MindManager. The average business professional attends from 40 to 60 meetings a month which, in addition to requisite pre- and post-meeting activities, consume an enormous amount of time - much of it often unproductive. Mindjet calls these people "Meeting Warriors," and MindManager will prove to be of great value to these "Meeting Warriors."

According to data retrieved by Mindjet from their customers, the program can help Increase the number of new ideas generated during brainstorming by at least 20%. In addition, it can help increase project success rates by at least 20%, reduce time spent transcribing and distributing notes by at least 30%, move projects from brainstorming & planning phases into implementation 20% faster, reach consensus and make group decisions 20% faster, and reduce time spent preparing for meetings by 20%.

Operation Information

MindManager is really quite simple and easy to use, and is an excellent example of how computer software can be designed to allow anyone to personally activate cutting-edge research and training, in this case, the field of mind research many think was originated by Mr. Buzan. Across the country, this conceptualization of ideas into diagrams and symbols has been successfully integrated in business, non profit organizations, and especially schools. There is now an entire genre of book publishing specializing in creativity and innovation tools designed for use by teachers in all levels of education.

The basic idea is to help users achieve their potential by allowing them to display their ideas and concepts in a graphical pattern that both sides of the brain can quickly grasp. This is based on the work of researchers working in this field, finding out how different parts of the brain are responsible for different thought and other functions of the body. The left side, responsible for logical thought, and the right side, used for visual and creative thought, work together while using this program to increase memory retention and productivity.

In the past, trying to implement these findings meant dependence on pen or multi-colored markers and paper, and the ability of folks to draw diagrams and shapes to represent their ideas and concepts. With the advent of such software as MindManager, now you can draw upon the power of this program to vastly improve this process with groups of employees, and the results are greatly enhanced.

Typical Uses of MindManager

Prepare for speeches and presentations
Plan and track complex tasks and projects
Share project information with others
Supports Internet conferencing
Create Java-enhanced web sites and site maps
Track progress on projects visually
Organize multiple projects
Take and easily reorganize notes
Link shapes or symbols in MindManager to web sites or other files
Multiple print output capabilities
Pack & deliver - makes multiple maps and Web export easy and flexible
Improved export features - now to MS PowerPoint program
VBA-compatible scripting for customized functionality
Real-time group conferencing
Import bitmaps
Graphic bubbles to show associations
New symbol gallery management - 1,000 new symbols

Wherever there are project teams and wherever there is a need for effective management, collaboration, and communication, there is a use for MindManager. These applications include project management, strategic planning, joint application development, creating and delivering training content live, online brainstorming and meeting sessions, enterprise resource planning, and developing and delivering engaging interactive presentations.

Basic Operation

A mind map starts with an empty shape in the middle of the screen in which you enter text that indicates the central concept of the drawing. You move the mouse outside this central shape and add other ideas by tapping the Insert key on the keyboard and entering text for this supplemental idea. Using the Enter key adds "main" ideas to the central shape, and the Insert key adds additional shapes to these sub-topics. MindManager will automatically draw links to connect the central shape with these other supplemental ideas and any additional ones you wish to add. Cool, huh!

Using the included symbol library, you can easily select other graphics files that might represent the intent of the concept and then add text to the idea, color-code the shapes, as well as add dates to the shapes.

As with most software today, MindManager's help files are accessible online, and there is no supplemental guidebook. However, the tutorials and the help files are well prepared and do provide all the help new users of this software will need to quickly get up and running with MindManager.

Recommendation

MindManager 6 Mac is easily one of the most interesting, creative software programs now on the market, and with its very aggressive price point most all businesses and organizations should give this program serious consideration for use by their teams. This new Mac version has been designed from the ground up as a serious Mac program that genuinely operates as a Mac program and takes advantage of the unique power and features of a Mac machine. Mac users will definitely enjoy working with this already powerful, very important mind mapping application that has now been specifically created to run on Mac machines.

With companies involved in serious competition or heavily committed to an aggressive marketing investment, this program will prove a valuable investment in assisting their employees in stimulating their creativity and productivity.

In this highly specialized genre of "mind mapping" computer software, with the release of this new version, MindJet now takes over first place, ahead of the stiff competition from other similar programs, such as Inspiration.

Price

$229 MindManager 6 Mac

MindManager 6 Mac is available at select Apple retail stores. The software is also available through approved resellers or directly from Mindjet with volume and academic discounts available.

System Configuration Requirements

 Macintosh Computer with PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor 733 Mhz
Recommended: G4 or G5 with 1.25 Mhz or greater processor
Intel Core Duo 1.67 Ghz or greater processor
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger or greater
256MB RAM (512 MB RAM recommended)
70MB free hard disk space
Monitor resolution of 800 X 600 (1024X768 recommended)

About Mindjet Corporation

Mindjet Corporation, the leading provider of software for visualizing and managing information, provides applications for business individuals and teams to think together, plan together, and work together. Mindjet's innovative visual mapping tools improve business productivity by working the way people think.

Mindjet MindManager, the award winning flagship product with more than 600,000 licenses sold worldwide, is productivity software designed for business professionals from the majority of Global 500 companies.

Founded in 1993, Mindjet has headquarters in California and operations throughout the world. Visit www.cancercode.com to access the story behind the founding of Mindjet. In The Cancer Code, Mindjet founders Michael and Bettina Jetter describe how a battle with leukemia led to the development of Mindjet MindManager software and the creation of Mindjet.

Contact

Hobart Swan
Media Relations
Mindjet LLC - Visual Thinking
125 E. Sir Francis Drake Blvd., 3rd Floor
Larkspur, California 94939
415-925-3120
FAX 415-925-3110
info@mindjet.com
www.mindjet.com