Looks very interesting!

http://www.mindsystems.com.au/products/amode/index.php

BTW, are MindManager and bCisive being developed by the same company now - or are they just a reseller?

Yeah, this looks pretty impressive. 2-pane outliner. Looks like you can link between topics, and you can view the same information as a gannt chart or calendar. The best part of the product, though, is the wacky robot character they've chosen as their marketing mascot.
I'll definitely try the trial. But $192? Seriously - you can't charge more than Outlook for a single-user information manager.

@ first blush I'm very impressed w the ability to move data around into different contexts, i.e. gantt, calendar, outline, etc. The GUI, shortcuts & other user amenities seem well thought out & easy to learn. It has a polished look. Love the ease of use & calendar / data integration. However, all the bells & whistles aside, how to get data into the program from other sources & how to find something in all that data is left to be explored.

--
Jan Rifkinson
Ridgefield CT USA

Frederick, thanks for the heads up. It looks impressive, though at the moment I am cautious about all-in-one solutions and more leaning towards interconnectivity and integration of separate tools.

I was however immediately drawn to another of Mindsystems' products, namely ThemeReader:
http://www.mindsystems.com.au/products/themereader/index.php

If it can do what it says even to a small extent --scan documents and produce a summary file of all the concepts and themes- it could become a great tool to handle information overload.

Regarding your question on MindManager and bCisive, I think that it is MindJet's policy to encourage reselling and cross-selling by developers of MindManager add-ons such as ThemeReader.

@Dan: I think that they have integrated the cost of developing the wacky robot in the product price :-)

Wow Themereader looks very impressive. It is based on this product, which I'm downloading instead: http://www.cirilab.com/Eval_Download.htm

dan7000 wrote:

Wow Themereader looks very impressive. It is based on this product, which I'm
downloading instead: http://www.cirilab.com/Eval_Download.htm

Dan7000,

Please let us know what you think of the Cirilab products. Thanks!

Amode is certainly an impressive and visually refreshing piece of work, although it doesn't seem to do any particular task better than software I already use.

I recently got the 60-day trial of Microsoft Project, and although it takes some learning, I found it quite useful for mapping out my schedule and planning some projects I'm working on (it's not really designed for personal use, but I just made myself the "resource" and tinkered with some other variables to make it work). Anyway, I tried migrating my Project data into Amode, and although the migration was easy and quick, it soon became apparent that Amode can't split and level tasks the way Project can (unless I'm missing something). For me the jump from regular task management to project management isn't really worthwhile without task splitting and leveling (which allows for more realistic planning of tasks constrained by a schedule that includes fixed repeating tasks).

In general, it seems that each of Amode's functions is well implemented, and the combination of functions is relatively unique, but, based on my limited observations, none of the individual functions seems to be cutting edge.

I downloaded the trial version of ThemeReader. On using the program (with MindManager 8) I received an error message "invalid server response". I see that this is a relatively common issue. I tried solving the problem, as per MindSystems instructions, but to no avail.

As I do not have the time for more tweaking, I have uninstalled the program.

Jack

I downloaded Amode and Themereader and MindManager.

First the download saga:
I originally planned just to download CiriLab's knowledge engine on which Themereader is based, but I discovered that CiriLab requires MindManager. The documentation says you can use ThemeReader without MindManager -- just using Amode. So first I downloaded Amode and ThemeReader. Themereader kept asking me where MindManager was. So finally I downloaded Mindmanager too.

Now the reviews:
Themereader is a big disappointment. I was excited because what it claims to do is so impressive and difficult: to accurately read and summarize documents. Unfortunately, it doesn't deliver. It appears to merely pick out the most common words, and put them at the top of a MindReader hierarchy, with slightly less common words organized underneath in a tree structure, linked to each other based on proximity of words in the original document. So it has nothing to do with the meaning of the document - it's just a word counter. It has a summary function too, that generates a shorter "summary" of the document. This works about as well as MS Word's summarize function.
I tested this with a number of legal documents, where it failed miserably. Then I downloaded some stories from CNN.com and tried it. The MindReader tree that it generated was useless in all cases. The summary was quite good for some of the CNN stories, but was about half as long as the original story. In the time it took to generate it and read the summary, I could have easily read the entire CNN story. Indeed, it makes me realize that 'skimming' a story yourself is basically the same thing as what ThemeReader is attempting to do -- except that your brain is a lot better at skimming a story for keywords and concepts than the computer is. Still. Maybe next year.

Amode seems to be a pretty great 2-pane outliner information manager. As a former ADM devotee, I have been longing for something that lets you create multi-line topics in the outline tree, add properties to the topics, store multiple attached files with each topic, and associate a rich text note with each topic. Amode does all of the above really well and really simply.
Yes, I know IQ does the above too, but every time I've used it I feel like there is too much set up to get the layout and functionality I am looking for, and too much complexity that obscures simply entering my topics, my files, and my rich text.
In Amode, I did not see a web page clipper, which it definitely needs. Also, I have recently become a huge fan of tags and am a little less into outlines. I didn't see tagging in Amode, which would be a big plus.
I tried viewing my data as calendar and gannt chart, which worked like a charm. It's a good idea, but at the same time, I am not sure that I would ever want to see the same data in all these views: why not have different data sets for each view? This is one of the things that I can't get past with IQ, either: it seems like the same data is appearing in different views, and it only makes sense in one view. You can set properties to say what types of views an item should appear in - but that is a complex extra step that you have to take every time you enter data. I want to enter data in one place, and see it there and only there, exactly as I entered it, the next time I come into the program.
Finally, I did not see a way to link topics to each other in Amode. That was surprising, but maybe I missed it.
Overall, the price, and my current infatuation with EverNote, will keep me away from Amode, but it has a lot to offer.

Hi Dan007,

My name is Alex from Mindsystems. I was pointed toward OutlinerSoftware.com by some members that have also been communicating with us about the newly released Amode.

I am not going to get into the game of shameless self-promotion :-) or offer subjective opinions. Of course we think it is great, but as any new product we are building and working hard to improve it (our responsiveness helps that process allot).

It is important that people realize Amode is much more than it appears to be at first glance. There are actually 4 separate apps merged into one here, and over 12 months of stability testing on that integration. We've done stress testing on files as large as 55Gig!! Not that anyone should EVER build a single file that big!!!

As a matter of interest, the feedback so far is extremely positive in terms of usability and overall appeal... but the message is clear, people miss the depth of functionality up front, and therefore we as a company run the risk of people dismissing the product for something it is not.

So for us, this means one thing ? we need to quickly improve the customer message and enhance accessibility.

We think we can handle this by producing a pack of tutorial videos taking people through usage, but also building some real world usage scenarios to see how Amode could apply to them.

So we are going to that ASAP and let people know when we do.

We are not trying to re-invent the wheel with this project. We have been in the info management arena for 16+ years, all we are doing here is answering a strong call to combine common tools, and we have done it using our expertise on what works for most people.

Thanks everyone!

Alex

Thanks Alex, for taking the time to respond and welcome to the forum.

I don't think you'll find a more attentive and experienced customer base for this type of software - and if our comments are given the proper consideration, I'm sure you'll be able to hone yours into some of the sharpest tools on the market.

You're already off to a good start.

In my experience - most people, especially casual users, will lose interest fairly quickly if the software doesn't fit intuitively into their workflow. Nobody wants to read a manual to get started. Then after the first rush of enthusiasm, a well thought out manual can be a very useful reference into the more subtle features.

There should also be no compromise on reliability or adaptability. Nothing kills a manic period of inspiration more than frustration.

My experience with Amode so far has been very encouraging regarding all of these aspects and I look forward to its further development.

Frederick

Here's a new review that may shed some more light:
http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/amode-review/

Hi

I just purchased Amode. It was a bit of an uphill struggle to make the decision, only because their previous product KnowledgeLink was such a disappointment (to me anyway).

There's one key feature I'd like to see added to Amode, which is the unique Timeline view of Matchware Mindview V3: see http://www.matchware.com/en/products/mindview/features.htm#Timeline The timeline structure is a superb addition to a map, outline, calendar, or Gantt view.

One odd thing I've found is that there's no right click menu in the rtf Notes Editor - would like to see that. Would also be great if in due course they could include a simple on board web browser (also useful for viewing pdf,s and office docs internally), like MindManager 8 now has.

Overall I agree with everyone's sentiments - its shaping up to be a truly innovative product - combining information management, planning & GTD in an enjoyably novel way.

Ian Goldsmid

Ian,

The timeline view you suggest is indeed excellent and the main reason I would have bought Matchware's program a long time ago if I hadn't managed to control my CRIMP tendencies.

Another interesting approach to putting data on a timeline that has been discussed here is Noah / Stratovista. Again, this was the main reason for my testing that software.

Alexander

I purchased Amode last weekend. It fits my personal needs pretty well. I emailed Alex with a number of ideas and he responded very quickly, which is very encouraging.

From the pure outline perspective, I suggested adding hoisting and an ability to resize the items in the tree, along with an ability to vary the distance between items.

While time will tell, it seems that Mindsystems is eager to turn this into a strong package. I support the idea of a timeline view, as well.

Mike

Hi Alexander

I didn't control my CRIMP, and did also buy Mindview 3 Business Edition. For me it now represents the best of all Mind Mapping tools for getting my INITIAL thinking clear around goals, actions, scheduling & priorities - its got a terrific UI - mind maps just seem much more "grokkable" in Mindview than they do in competing products.

And then AMODE is my current contender for managing all the actions and associated info (web pages, documents, notes) over time. Actually, another thought just occurred re AMODE functionality - it would be really great if they enabled drag and drop from Outlook (Email/Calendar/Tasks) - or provided a toolbar button in Outlook to export to AMODE, like MindManager does.

Regarding Stratovista, I bought it and tried it - really great ideas/intentions, very poorly implemented imho, at this point anyway (well, that was several months ago now). Though the developer is very trustworthy and has super integrity. There were some bugs I couldn't live with at the time, and he promptly returned my money.

Cheers, Ian

P.S especially to Alex of Mindsystems:

Is it the case that drag and drop to AMODE won't (ever) be possible?

Clearly at the moment its not possible to drag and drop e.g. a web link to a Node or a Node's note. That's a significant productivity damper. Almost all products of a similar nature enable drag and drop linking.

Hopefully this lack of drag & drop linking is temporary?

Ian

P.S again:

Especially to Alex of Mindsystems

Now that I'm using AMODE intensively today - it just struck me why haven't they implemented assigning text categories to Topics. There's linking Topics, and Topic Icons which is great - but text categories (especially if they can be grouped as in MindManager) are an extremely useful filtering device.

Ian

Hello,

No we don't have text categories, but that does not actually indicate a deficiency, we just do things differently. If you are a MindManager user, you may be conditioned to expect certain functions, this is perfectly ok but it is important to remember this may require some acceptance of alternative logic. There are some overlaps in ideas and methods, but there are also differences which also incidentally why Amode is better suited to some tasks..and conversely MM is better suited to others.

To explain the background, MindManager is something we have chosen to include as a import/export option, but it is not the centre of the Amode universe. Amode is designed to be a free standing application, so as with other import/export candidates we have mapped values found in other applications as best we can to what is found in Amode.

So with text categories in MindManager and not having those in MindManager, the first question we need to ask is ?what are you loosing by not having them or is it just you are used to these options?? Regardless of the answer, we just need to explain the logic that will achieve the same thing in Amode.

To Categorise things in Amode you could use a variety of methods. Colour coding, icons and icon filters, creating multiple projects within same file to house different categories, setting keywords in tickler notes and filtering on those. In Briefcase mode you could use project even stacks to categorize projects on a larger scale. There really are a very wide range of possibilities, it just requires us to think about what we are trying to achieve.

Remember, Mindsystems has actually been closely involved with MindManager since before their company even had a name! In fact our CEO translated the first MM help files from German to English. So as a MM user as well, I know Amode uses a different logic and just requires me to approach without expectation. Once you get into the Amode grove, you will actually see although it handles things a bit differently it can achieve the same results.

The Outlook importing is in the pipeline already. The drag and drop linking is something we can add, I can?t say when but it would be a free update item because it is relatively easy...but to be honest has not been mentioned before so it may be specific to a particular working style.

In relation to adding applications like browsers, there would need to be a ground swell of support for that. As a general statement, our disposition is not to try an duplicate functions already handled well by other applications. It is kind of like the people that first decided to put TV on mobile phones...sounds like a great idea, very impressive, but really..why are you trying to do it when it is already handled well by another technology. I manage the Mindsystems Helpdesk, and I can tell you that when MM8 was released, the browser thing polarized customer?s. Some thought it was impressive, but many more asked the question ?why would I want to view a web page inside another application when I can use Firefox or IE??... others complained about the lack of screen size etc. So all I can say is we are receptive if people want it, but also realistic about what people have said on mass about that type of thing previously.

It is quite late for me here! So I hope all (or at least some of this makes sense). Thanks again everyone, these ideas will help the application and benefit the user base.

The new set of video tutorials will be out on the Mindsystems website this Friday afternoon.

Alex

* PS. There was one older post that gave ThemeReader a review saying it did not export results to KnowledgeLink (and therefore Amode, because Amode reads the .kl format). This is not correct. For anyone that needs to know about this, open Amode and hit F1, then search for the help topic about ThemeReader. This explains it. In terms of the results of Cirilab?s engine, we definitely agree the formatting could be improved and we will try to get to that this year (Amode permitting!), but it is also vital people understand the different between context/thematic results and traditional linear search results.

Thanks (again) all!