It stands to reason that Tony Buzan would eventually produce a mind mapping tool as a software package. Indeed, after he worked so diligently in the latter decades of last century to almost single-handedly resurrect the skills for making mind maps as learning and organizing tools, it was almost inevitable. A few other software developers took off ahead of him and produced their own types of mindmap software, both as freeware or as proprietary software, but while Buzan endorsed some of them, you knew that sooner or later he’d want his own version that was tailored to his particular methods.
When a software developer named Chris Griffiths wanted to create this mind mapping tool, Buzan was very happy to work with him. Griffiths, like Buzan, hoped to see computer technologies help to improve people’s thinking rather than diminish it. So he developed a program that would reproduce on the computer screen the same sort of visual map of concepts and words that had previously been created on sheets of paper. Finally, in 2006, the initial version of the “iMindMap” software was released.
Early reviews of the program were positive. What most people remarked upon was the “organic” nature of this mind mapping tool. It really seemed to leave behind the boxes and straight lines of other programs, and reproduced the flow and even colors people used when creating their own mind maps on whiteboards or note paper. Command buttons were clear, tabs allowed users to switch to editor, presentation and the more traditional outline views, and a drop-and-drag method of creating new branches from a central topic seemed to mimic the method of making a visual map by hand drawing.
With the latest beta release of “iMindMap” version 3, the mind mapping tool appears to keep getting better and better. Whereas business people had complained that the original bright colors and free flowing branches appeared too “cartoon-like” to use in meetings, now they can change to a more traditional flow chart style. Buzan and Griffiths have added other enhancements and options in response to the needs of users as well. Rather than fall in love with this mindmap software for its own sake, they continue tweaking it so it serves its real purpose, which is to help users understand information in a more organic way.
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