MaxThink

Posted by Zman
Aug 3, 2011 at 03:46 AM

I’ve been a MaxThink user since 85/86 and it was a mature program at that point - I’m thinking version 2 or 3. Brainstorm did not come close to Maxthink in usefulness at the time. MaxThink was not just software - it was a philosophy - the book (not manual) that came with the program was essential reading to get the most out of the software. I loved Houdini as well (though it was hard to actually use to produce anything, the concept was cool) and Transtext was one of my all time most useful programs. Neil was ahead of his time and was trying to build on Ted Nelson’s vision of Xanadu in early hypertext days. Agenda came out and then GrandView, but MaxThink was more of a pure idea processor. I would put the DOS version on my computer now if I had a floppy drive available - I’m not a fan of the windows version. Ecco Pro was the program than finally pulled me away from MaxThink.

As far as the other stuff around back then - Sidekick was essential, then Desqview came out and Infoselect. Unfortunately, software Crimping was a more expensive habit back then - though shareware did feed the beast with stuff like Black Magic, etc - as long as you were willing to write short software reviews.

All that being said - today’s software is much more useful and I don’t waste hours and days configuring and troubleshooting the system all the time (unless I get linux fever - happens less and less).