There’s a slew of next generation web-based mind mapping tools coming. “TheBrain is working on a java/ajax/html combination solution that performs as well as their admirable native version while adding new features. Harlan Hugh and his crew deserve kudos for their Windows interface solution that intrigued so many folks. This interface has some really nice features but also some significant limitations in terms of what you can map out, and it requires Java, which is a negative by requiring users to deal with Java downloads. The original interface is a variant of the Hyperbolic Browser in which both are mimicing the psychology of attention. The main idea there is that our minds focus on a central area while things in the periphery provide influence. Similarly these products present information with a central focus and a limited view of the connected items. It’s all very exciting to see this happen. But the interfaces remain abstract, complex, and, difficult.
But there are other contenders that are working to extend the idea of thought diagramming in ways that consumers may be able to appreciate. One is Kayuda, that allows for public and sharable mind maps. While this product marries mind maps with social networks, it is rather primitive, and I doubt there’s any IP to protect. They are also rolling out features in an incremental fashion. This is an example of when not do incremental rollout: when you lead the market. Instead they ought to do some usability testing and spare us their learning curve.
Notably, so far though, there’s no public map on Kayuda worth looking at. I suspect that like TheBrain, the interface issues make it too tough.
A number of others use Flash technology to get around the bleeding edge of web/ajax solutions. Besides fluid and high performing graphics Flash also makes it possible to do some things like voice chat. If you look at Thinkature you can see a web/ajax/flash hybrid. And there are a bunch of pure Flash solutions out there as well.
This looks to me like a solution looking for an audience. Mind maps are more of a feature than a product is my feeling.
The innovation in this area will be in developing interfaces that don’t reduce the complexity and understandability of the thing you want to represent. UML is not the way to go, plainly. And more importantly it’s where you choose to use mind maps that will count most So there’s no obvious winner yet and there’s unlikely to be one in this space. I await to see this as a feature in other apps instead.
The interesting thing from these is to see what happens as folks learn how to do more full-blown graphics on the web without using Flash or Java. It’s important from the perspective that solutions that mix technologies are prone to problems, all of which add nothing the primary problem of building a great app. Flash is great, but proprietary, and Java is not the best way to deliver interfaces to users. An opensource browser/ajax/html solution would be better, but it doesn’t cover everything.