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Brainstorm for Windows
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Posted by Franz Grieser
May 27, 2019 at 09:22 PM
Hi,
Is anyone here still using Brainstorm? Or anyone willing to share his or her experience with the software?
It is still available, I just downloaded it and got it running (it’s the first time in years that my anti-virus software does not ring an alarm). It’s the 2008 version 3.6. In the past, I never managed to run the software, now it does.
Thanks, Franz (still looking for a decent outliner in Windows)
Posted by Dr Andus
May 28, 2019 at 11:15 PM
I got a licence a while ago but never got into using it, as for me WorkFlowy and Dynalist’s zooming feature obviated the need for Brainstorm.
But from my research I remember that it had a number of neat features, so I’m sure if one is willing to learn all the shortcuts etc., then it could be a rewarding experience.
I was too lazy to do it… WorkFlowy/Dynalist are just too easy to use.
Posted by Marcos D.
May 29, 2019 at 07:07 PM
Have it installed on a MacBook under Crossover and I start it sometimes just to remember how good a piece of sofware can be; and it has plenty of good documentation; for me its original developers were ahead of their time.
Marcos D. Alves
Posted by Franz Grieser
May 29, 2019 at 08:38 PM
Thanks Marcos.
What is it you like about Brainstorm? Where should I look first?
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
May 29, 2019 at 10:05 PM
I concur with Marcos. I recently needed to write a very complex report based on a multitude of textual inputs, including my own notes and ideas occurring along the way. I put everything in Brainstorm and started organising it, easily creating cross-references where needed. Slowly but surely, the end result was fully carved.
Some time ago I had spoken to the new owner and noted that, as much as I like Brainstorm, it is unlikely that I can keep using it given its limitations—e.g. non-Unicode, non-rich text etc—and the other tools available out there. But I was wrong. I haven’t managed to find anything with which I can work so efficiently and effectively on complex texts.
To summarise its unique selling point, I believe that Brainstorm is the most seamless combination of an information collector and an information processor in respect to plain text. There are better offerings in both of those categories, but none IMHO which combine the two.
From modern offerings discussed here, I believe that Hyperplan and InfoQube offer similarly powerful combined toolboxes. A key common feature are ‘clones’, or multi-parent items, which work across hierarchies like transverse beams in a pyramid.
I appreciate the power of these excellent offerings, but when working on texts, I just want to see words. Brainstorm’s DOS-like interface is a place of calm focus for my textual thoughts.
Marcos D. wrote:
>Have it installed on a MacBook under Crossover and I start it sometimes
>just to remember how good a piece of sofware can be; and it has plenty
>of good documentation; for me its original developers were ahead of
>their time.