So MindManager 11 is now available for macOS, after dropping out for quite a while following a less than enthusiastic reception for their first Mac product.

More details: https://www.mindjet.com/mindmanager-mac/?nav=hello#overview

Quite expensive, but then this is MindManager.

Like all MindManager Mac products, v11 is a shadow of the current Windows version (v18).

https://www.mindjet.com/mindmanager-mac/?nav=hello#overview

All the features missing from the Mac v11 version are the useful features in the Windows version that make the purchase worthwhile, in my opinion. I don't get the point for why Corel even bothers with the Mac version.

I can only assume that they leverage the "integration" with MS Office and others to market it to corporate buyers.

Compared to any of the mind-mapping competition, it's ludicrously expensive and doesn't offer anything useful over the likes of MindNode and iThoughts.

I took a chance and upgraded my license primarily because of the stagnation and subscription paradigm of Novamind. I have a feeling that I'm going to continue to be unimpressed by MindManager on the Mac.

NickG wrote:

Compared to any of the mind-mapping competition, it's ludicrously
expensive and doesn't offer anything useful over the likes of MindNode
and iThoughts.

I will agree on the expensive bit, but believe that it does offer some really useful features compared to most of the competition.

Nevertheless, I decided this year to spare some of my company's hard earned cash and go for Mindomo instead, which I find much more worthwhile for online collaboration, while also providing offline clients.

A major reason was the info that I received for Mindjet's support that a new version would be announced around autumn; as I understand this would probably again be priced in a 'friendly' manner. One may of course opt to pay additionally for upgrade security for a year.

P.S. I should have mentioned that I was referring to the Windows version.

I enjoyed working with several versions of Mind Manager for Windows when I worked in a corporation (they could afford the licensing). However, I was always sad how weak the Mac version was in comparison to the Windows version. I was hoping that this new release would reach feature parity with Windows. If this is not true then its iThoughts for me!

This is where Filemaker Pro has it right, i.e., that the Mac and Windows versions are essentially identical twins.

It is pretty bizarre if they have completely different code bases for the Windows and Mac versions. I use a framework (Qt) that lets me compile a single set of C++source to create both Windows and Mac versions of my product. This means it has an identical feature set on both Windows and Mac. This approach does result in some compromises in the UI, but not much.

--

Andy Brice
https://www.hyperplan.com

Andy, your work is the exception, not the rule. There are very few dual platform apps that I own that are equivalent in features, and close in UI, between Windows and macOS. I don't think it's from lack of technical factors, I think it's that developers probably invest where they know their core market is. Obviously, that theory doesn't explain why a deep pockets developer favors one platform over another.

They've had company melodrama & takeovers IIRC. Sort of standard Mindmap features, but i prefer a few others, in this heavy class, like Xmind. They tick many boxes but miss few basics, too corporate, no love, too sluggish. Never clicked right for me.

Hmm .. interesting that XMind and iThoughts are the only mind mapping tools offered on https://setapp.com

Bart, do you use SetApp? I've not warmed to the idea, but it seems to have a following.

Bart Biamonte wrote:

Hmm .. interesting that XMind and iThoughts are the only mind mapping
tools offered on https://setapp.com

SetApp offers very good value for the money. I own so many of these apps already (CleanMyMac, iStatMenus, Bartender, Capto, WallpaperWizard, Gemini, WiFi Explorer, Elmedia Player, Folx, Boxy, Noizio, Cloud Outliner, iThoughtsX, ForkLift, TaskPaper, TestSoap, iFlicks, Marked, Yummy FTP Watcher, Yummy FTP Pro, Sip, Polarr, and I have a Ulysses subscription) so it's not for me, but because I recognize the high quality of the assembled, curated apps I really recommend it to other Mac users.

Hell, a Ulysses subscription by itself is $39.99/year, 2Do & iThoughtsX each sell for $49.99, GoodTask and NotePlan go for $19.99 apiece, CleanMyMac for $39.99, Bartender for $15.

SetApp is an interesting idea. I wonder how much of that monthly fee goes to the developers? Do they pay the developers according to how much their software used, or a flat fee?

That sort of people never pay anybody unless forced by the courts, they get paid.

Andy Brice wrote:

SetApp is an interesting idea. I wonder how much of that monthly fee
goes to the developers? Do they pay the developers according to how much
their software used, or a flat fee?

Devs get paid monthly.

https://setapp.com/developers

https://insights.dice.com/2018/01/31/setapp-proves-worth-developers/

https://insights.dice.com/2018/01/31/setapp-proves-worth-developers/

"It’s a good business model for MacPaw, but the payout model for developers is still a bit murky."

Indeed!

Anyway I get the impression that only 'famous' apps are offered - Indie devs need not apply.

--

Andy Brice
https://www.hyperplan.com

Not sure what 'indie' apps are to you but those are virtually all independent, small developers and the apps are pretty much all well-selected: well-reviewed, supported apps from developers who are less likely to disappear than new, unproven ones.

Customers paying $108/year want the selection to be well-chosen and containing up-to-date, proven apps. And whomever is running Setapp was smart to make deals with such apps' developers, not offer a dog's breakfast of poorly curated (or duplicative) apps most people don't know.

Agree with satis here - setapp was set up specifically for small devs, and I correspond with several of them directly (Manuscript, Timer, Findings et al). There are a couple of more significant companies there (e.g. Ulysses, maybe Agenda - although I think they're a 2-man band), but they're not exactly enormous. So it might be worth looking at for HyperPlan, too.

Cheers,
Bill

Not currently. I think its an appealing idea. It appears to me that more and more software is going to a subscription model which can become very pricey really quickly. Setapp kills two birds with one stone, it keeps subscription costs low and developers get paid.

I'm all for subscription pricing, for a number of reasons. And Setapp lets small devs successfully get into subscriptions.

For devs, subscriptions usually mean less pirating, and no need to hold off on update features on the old sales model (where they're stockpiling new features so as to sell upgrades). With subscriptions devs can roll out updates to users regularly and add support new standards and features outside of the confines of a standard product cycle, and by doing so they'll know they're bringing all their users with them, which reduces support costs otherwise spent on old versions.

The subscription model can fund more r&d with a predictable and constant revenue stream. (And that revenue stream can grow as pirates start to buy subscriptions: in areas like Poland where piracy is historically extremely high, Adobe has found that the percentage of Creative Cloud subscribers is significantly higher than average. Why? Because offering a monthly plan makes it easier for individuals to buy products that they may have not been able to afford with an up-front perpetual license.)

Ultimately for devs successful subscriptions result in a steadier, less volatile income stream so they can better plan projects and updates while having a good idea of what can be budgeted based on predicted income streams. And ultimately that's all good for customers, who get more regular updates/bugfixes of their apps, and less of a chance the dev will stop supporting the app.

What Setapp does is make subscriptions more palatable to users while avoiding the problem of the rise of individual subscription costs causing multiple bites at customers (to the extent that some people balk at it).

There's nothing inherently wrong with monthly fees. We don't bat an eye when we write checks for cable TV, Internet, phone, gas, electric, magazines, mortgage, and so on. We don't even object to paying monthly fees for digital services. Netflix, after all, has 44 million people worldwide paying monthly, and Spotify/Apple_Music have 100 million subscribers between them.

I'm just a little surprised that Apple didn't look at Adobe's (and Microsoft's) success and consider offering similar app bundles/tiers for set monthly charges. Maybe they still will....

Great post!

Touching on your last sentence regarding Adobe & Microsoft - MS is enjoying a lot of success with Office 365. I think they are aiming to move their apps fully into the cloud and eliminating their standalone desktop apps. I have been using MS OneNote since Day One but I think the handwriting is on the wall (the future is the cloud, along with monthly subscription fees).

So, I feel its time to move on. I am migrating all my OneNote data to Devon Think Pro. I love OneNote and have had a lot of success using it in my corporate worklife. But when maintaining a personal knowledge base, I prefer to have my app AND data files local to my desktop.

After many years of using DevonNote, then DevonThink and then DevonThink Pro, I migrated away from it (before they revised the iOS app so it finally was usable), in part because of a clunky UI. It's a very useful and powerful app but I wasn't using all its features, and I found a number of things about it frustrating to use. (A small example: for years and only until recently, when updating, the app would override your preferences if you'd turned off the drawer/clipper and turn it back on. Devs ignored my radar about this for 3+ years.)

I migrated all my DTP notes over to EagleFiler, which I find to be fast and elegant. No dedicated cross-platform solution this way, though I believe one could put the files in Dropbox and access them on iOS. (I just haven't felt the need to try so far.) One project I'm going to do this year is taking 50,000+ emails and try archiving them in EagleFiler. It's supposed to Just Work. We'll see....

Online, big packages are going the free direction, DropBox Paper, Google Docs etc with others joining in. Will be the same for other areas unless specialized, then even they will lose to Data.

Offline, numerous Office suites for all platforms of varying sizes, prices etc all opening up docs, xls, ppt, DBs etc. Or free open-source wares. In office arena alone, OpenOffice or the migrating devs/users to even better LibreOffice. Not to mention numerous PortableApps which can fit on a tiny usb stick.

The big money will be online, made by the giants, by giving away the wares and getting the metrics and data. The users becomes the product via their data. And also the powerbase to be tapped as the Facebook/Russia saga just showed today. FB lost tens of billions of dollars in shares value today. Due to Data, it's future's control of, as threatened by legislation. For every loser, there will be new winners.

For niche software, most secure and promising area is not general productivity genres.They either have to sell out early or be beaten by the same richer companies sooner or later. Best bet is to go into very niche areas: finance, engineering, manufacture, infrastructure, science, transport etc etc. But needs expertise knowledge or partnering. The general productivity software arena has few top winners and no long term security.

However if you can get into the data game, then you are looking at even bigger bucks. The FB data on the usb stick that Russian linked professor sold to Cambridge Analytica, looked at by lawyers investigating undeclared campaign finance violations is being approximately valued at $100m. That's the golden-egg, if you can create a golden-egg laying chicken, you are looking at billion$. Which makes the rest look like chicken feed. Data.