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Beta of TheBrain 7.0 released
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Posted by Dominik Holenstein
Oct 4, 2011 at 06:33 AM
@Steve Z.,
You perfectly describe how I am using TheBrain and where the weak points are.
I have been using TheBrain since 1999 (version: 1.73) . That was a great discovery then for me because I had serious problems with the strict hierarchical approach of the Windows Explorer. Then, after version 3 I stopped using TheBrain because the company focused on companies and stopped the development of the desktop edition. ADM was its follower of choice and I still miss it… you know the story. After the vanishing of ADM in China, I switched to UltraRecall because I wanted to continue with a free form hierarchical database (I don’t consider UR as an outliner while ADM was the perfect outlining tool). Then, suddenly and without forewarning, PersonalBrain 4.0 appeared back on the market. What a surprise and what a disappointment: They ported the app from C++ to Java what is basically not a bad idea because now TheBrain runs on Win, MacOSX and Linux. But it was slow. To make the story shorter: I waited up to version 6 until I switched back from UR and crimping around to TheBrain and I am fully satisfied now. Version 7 now feels like the version 1.73 back in 1999.
My tool journey looks like this: TheBrain (1999) -> ADM -> [CRIMPING] -> UR -> [CRIMPING] -> TheBrain (2011)
Yes, the notes editor is not state of the art and has never been. But is good enough for jotting notes and logs. When I need more I just attach a Word file to a thought and I have the editor available I most familiar with.
What I am missing:
Export of selected thoughts to a structured Word document including the thought titles and the associated notes. It is available but not useful.
Dominik
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Oct 4, 2011 at 01:27 PM
One more comment on TheBrain. The developer refers to the individual nodes as “thoughts.” I think this belies the actual functionality of the application (as expressed in my previous comment), because it gives the impression that you should use nodes for single notes. Thought = note. I think the term “idea” would be more accurate, especially if one thinks of “idea” in the Platonic way. Idea = concept/perfect form. An idea seems more like a cradle for information relating to the concept expressed in the idea.
For example: If I have a heading called “The Right Stuff” in an outliner, I might have a bunch of notes relating to the book of that title by Tom Wolfe. These notes could be written in the note pane for the main heading, or broken down as separate notes as sub-topics of “The Right Stuff.”
Whereas, a “thought” in TheBrain called “The Right Stuff” could have parent items for “Mercury Space Program” and “Tom Wolfe.” It could have child items for “Gus Grisson,” “Alan Shepard,” and “John Glenn.” It could have a jump thought to the movie of the same name. Attached to the “thought” could be a link to the wikipedia entry on the book, and a PDF of a review. A picture of the Mercury Seven astronauts could be used as the thought icon.
So, in TheBrain “The Right Stuff” is not simply a thought. It’s the center of a mini-solar system of data relating to the idea of “The Right Stuff.”
(Yes, I do know that in an application like UR you can achieve the same functionality using links and clones, etc… To me, the visual approach to this of TheBrain is more effective.)
Anyway, just a little more fodder for the discussion of TheBrain.
Steve Z.
Posted by Dominik Holenstein
Oct 4, 2011 at 02:26 PM
“(Yes, I do know that in an application like UR you can achieve the same functionality using links and clones, etc? To me, the visual approach to this of TheBrain is more effective.)”
That’s the main reason or why I am using TheBrain and not UR or any other outliner.
Dominik