See: http://ponder.mindsystems.com/mindsystems-amode-is-undergoing-a-major-redevelopment-in-2013/#.UP_ppR0qbxg

LM7 wrote:

See:
http://ponder.mindsystems.com/mindsystems-amode-is-undergoing-a-major-redevelopment-in-2013/#.UP_ppR0qbxg

Thanks for that, that is great news! I do hope they will retain the project management capabilities (tree+Gantt+calendar integration), as that is pretty much the only thing I use it for and I haven't found another PM software that has it integrated to the same extent.

The academic pricing is very reasonable, especially if you're buying it from outside of Australia, in which case you don't need to pay the tax:

https://portal.mindsystems.com.au/index.php#amode

Dr Andus wrote:

I do hope they will retain the
project management capabilities (tree+Gantt+calendar integration), as
that is pretty much the only thing I use it for and I haven't found
another PM software that has it integrated to the same extent.

Although the term "project management" doesn't feature in the description, which is a bit disconcerting (to me). I didn't think its " information management and list building capabilities" were its major strengths.

Dr Andus wrote:

LM7 wrote:
See:
>http://ponder.mindsystems.com/mindsystems-amode-is-undergoing-a-major-redevelopment-in-2013/#.UP_ppR0qbxg

Thanks for that, that is great news! I do hope they will retain the
project management capabilities (tree+Gantt+calendar integration), as
that is pretty much the only thing I use it for and I haven't found
another PM software that has it integrated to the same extent.

Mindsystems got back to me today and confirmed that "the multi-view will be a strong feature of the new design." Glad to hear they're preserving that feature.

I must say that their post does nothing to illuminate us on the 'clear' direction of the program. "Information management and list building capabilities" is not a direction by any means, unless it is associated with a specific operational method/framework such as GTD or Mission Control. Yet Mindsystems has repeatedly said that Amode (at least previous versions of it) is 'method neutral'.

The apparent fuzziness is supported by the highlighted features in the post: from over 300+ features they have chosen several that are ontologically mismatched, such as 'allocate resources to tasks', 'set alarms and reminders' and 'export to Word, Excel & more' (the latter actually listed twice in case we miss it).

I believe that in another thread we more or less agreed that Amode is a very good personal project management tool, positioned as a general information manager, in which duty it doesn't seem to offer any particular advantage. Now Mindsystems seems to want to (re)develop it as an information manager, and I am very much afraid that they are going down the same rabbit hole--or a parallel one at best.

The blog mentions that Amode has become "extremely popular with people needing to organise and keep track of information". This seems really very odd to me. If it is extremely popular, why has it seen so little development in the past years? Why hasn't it been featured more in mind mapping and information management blogs? Why hasn't it been discussed more previously in Mindsystems' own blog?

Seriously, these days who doesn't want to "organise and keep track of information"? Is this a real description of a target group?

Sorry for the rant; maybe I am just doing it because I secretly want Mindsystems to visit this forum, be flabbergasted by the brilliance of my insights and hire me as a consultant at a generous fee...

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Sorry for the rant; maybe I am just doing it because I secretly want
Mindsystems to visit this forum, be flabbergasted by the brilliance of
my insights and hire me as a consultant at a generous fee...

Alexander, you do have my endorsement, so I hope you do get the job! :) It would be sure interesting to hear what they found out from that user survey. I'm really curious as to what people are mostly using Amode for (for me it's a project management software). Though then you'd probably be bound by a confidentiality clause and won't be able to comment on Amode here ever again... :)

Here is what Alex from Mindystems posted on their blog:

"The front end design aspects are still in consideration. If you have suggestions feel free to post here or send to us at support@mindsystems.com.au"

I did suggest to them to set up a user forum. Then we could actually find out what people are using Amode for and they could use user feedback for innovation.

For those who do not speak the language of Desperation, we offer this translation of their website:

'Sales have dropped to virtually zero because our competitors offer *so* much more for *so* much less. What we're doing is trying to hold on to what's left of our user base with promises. We're not ready now (if ever) to actually *deliver* on those promises, mind you, we just gotta keep hope alive'.

Sorry if my translation is a little rusty, it's been awhile since I spoke Desperation but I kinda think that's what it says. You, of course, are free to draw your own conclusions.

Does their approach resonate with anyone? Not with me, it doesn't. In fact, do you recall the last time this approach was used by a software vendor not slinging an OS? (that's OK, I'll wait while you think). Give up? Ever hear of WordStar? Long before MS Word, WordPerfect, Total Word (remember *that* one?) or even Nota Bene (still around, btw, who knew?) ... long before Windows 1.0, in fact, there was WordStar; the Numero Uno most wonderfulest product in all the land for writing on this new-fangled thing called the personal computer. Numero Uno, that is, until they announced an upcoming revision promising great new stuff. Only problem was, WordStar was built with (ahem) not great programming practices. In fact, the spaghetti code was so unintelligible that they *couldn't* update it and there *wasn't* a new WordStar until a new one could be built from the ground up (and that took a long long time). Oops. The other problem? Nobody bought the current WordStar because, why buy something that's gonna be obsolete in a month (or 12, 24, 36)? In (further) fact, it dragged on *so* long that folks not only stopped buying WordStar, they flocked to things like WordPerfect and MS Word and Ability. (Hey, that last one's a blast from the past, isn't it?)

Since that time, marketing departments across the software world wizened up and stopped announcing upcoming versions that aren't ready for primetime (or even beta time). Mother MicroSoft's OS group excepted, of course, because whadda users gonna do, buy a Mac? Hardeeharhar.

So, good luck to these dudes. They're gonna need it. ;) History lesson (and possibly off-topic irrelevancy), out