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'Flying Logic' versus 'Rationale'
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Posted by Stephen R. Diamond
Nov 16, 2007 at 01:13 AM
Does anyone have experience with both of these argument mapping applications? If so, I would find interest in any comparative observations.
Does anyone have an opinion on which has the better name?
Posted by Hugh Pile
Nov 16, 2007 at 12:25 PM
Stephen
I’ve used Flying Logic. I haven’t used Rationale, but I’ve scanned its website and watched its video.
I won’t comment on the names!
They have different pricing models; for the outliner/mind-map genres, both are mid- to high-end.
Flying Logic has an operations-management ancestry and its documentation has a heavy focus on the ops-management Theory of Constraints; Rationale’s biases are pure argument, education and presentation.
This is how I see their functionality.
I like Flying Logic’s UI; it’s easy to use. In particular I like its animations. Some might not, and might not also like the fact that it’s written in Java. Rationale’s UI also looks very good.
Flying Logic is cross-platform. Rationale is Windows-only.
Flying Logic is new; Rationale has been developed somewhat longer. Flying Logic still lacks several important functions that I believe Rationale posesses: for example, hyperlinks, the ability to turn a map into an exportable text outline, and printing beyond the basic. (Flying Logic’s developer has promised to add these functions, and others.)
Flying Logic’s nodes can embody statistical and logical operators that inter-act throughout the map; Rationale’s (I believe) cannot.
Flying Logic’s nodes can be customised (in its most expensive verson); can Rationale’s? I’m not certain.
Flying Logic’s nodes can be linked by more complex relationships (A directly to B, and simultaneously A to B via C,D and E…); as far as I can see Rationale’s links are more limited (only A directly to B, C and D…)
Parts of Flying Logic’s maps can be nested and collapsed: the groupings themselves act as higher-level nodes. (This is useful if your maps are extensive, as mine are). I’m not sure that Rationale has this capability.
I and some others see Flying Logic having significant potential for fiction-plotting (partly because it can handle very large maps, partly because its nodes can be customised, and partly because it can create multiple links between nodes); I don’t see the same potential in Rationale at the moment.
Do these comments accord with other people’s observations?
H
Posted by john oconnor
Jun 1, 2008 at 06:26 PM
Bump