TheBrain / Personal Brain

[Perry Mowbray]

Hi All:

I'm talking to some people at work this week about other ways to map our information/knowledge, looking specifically at visual mapping.

Has anyone  used Personal Brain or the enterprise version BrainEKP?

...or even other suggestions for enterprise knowledge management?

[PPLandry]

It has been extensively discussed over at outlinersoftware.com:

http://www.outlinersoftware.com/search/index/brain

[Perry Mowbray]

It has been extensively discussed over at outlinersoftware.com:

http://www.outlinersoftware.com/search/index/brain

Thank you: of course -- I never was considering it as an outliner 

[J-Mac]

I tried it for a while Perry, but the free version is very limited and the full version is (IMO) very expensive. So after a short time and not being able to do simple things like printing, I lost it for good.

Jim

[Perry Mowbray]

I tried it for a while Perry, but the free version is very limited and the full version is (IMO) very expensive. So after a short time and not being able to do simple things like printing, I lost it for good.

I agree: very expensive, but that seems to be the way, especially when there is not a lot of competition. And theBrain seems to be cutting edge.

I'll probably look at the feasibility of doing something with Ontopia, but for the enterprise it's got to work.

Mind you: Enterprises can make odd decisions sometimes. We just purchased a PDF converter/reader/writer to work with our document management system for many thousands of dollars, when really a much cheaper option would be to use a good PDF editor (X-Change was my favourite). Oh, well 

[SKesselman]

It has been extensively discussed over at outlinersoftware.com:

http://www.outlinersoftware.com/search/index/brain

Thank you: of course -- I never was considering it as an outliner 

That forum isn't strictly about outliners, it really covers a lot more ground than one would guess from the name.
As with DC,    you also have some truly experienced and intelligent users there.
They've been discussing outlining, mindmapping & pims at great length for years, and in great detail.
I found a pros/cons list on the Brain for you here, written by a participant on this forum.

Considerations such as printing (!!!) are nothing to play around with, though.
Have you been to the Brain's web site? You might want to trial it.
I've watched them for quite a while & it seems that they're consistently working on improving their software.
Good luck    !

[Perry Mowbray]

That forum isn't strictly about outliners, it really covers a lot more ground than one would guess from the name.
As with DC,    you also have some truly experienced and intelligent users there.

Yes, I remembered being there before once I renewed my aquaintance 

They've been discussing outlining, mindmapping & pims at great length for years, and in great detail.
I found a pros/cons list on the Brain for you here, written by a participant on this forum.

That's a great post, thanks

Considerations such as printing (!!!) are nothing to play around with, though.
Have you been to the Brain's web site? You might want to trial it.
I've watched them for quite a while & it seems that they're consistently working on improving their software.

Yes, been to the website: it's very good. The BrainEKP site is based on a Brain export I think, the little Topic Map navigator at the top of the page is a great example!

Discussion today to see if we want to pursue. Next step would be to trial PersonalBrain (acknowledging all the limitations), then if there is to be a further step we'd trial EKP on the network. Slow process here: I first discussed Topic Maps some time ago...

[PPLandry]

That forum isn't strictly about outliners (...)

And ouliners and mindmaps share a common point: the need to represent 1-to-many and many-to-many relationships, in a flexible, visual way.

[SKesselman]

Perry,
Bits du Jour is offering 3D Topicscape Pro for half off today (about $55 USD).
I saw their comparison chart to the Brain, & it looks pretty impressive. 

[Perry Mowbray]

Bits du Jour is offering 3D Topicscape Pro for half off today (about $55 USD).
I saw their comparison chart to the Brain, & it looks pretty impressive. 

Thanks for the thought, I don't know if it's just me, but I found it difficult to get past all the 3D cones in the interface: didn't like it at all  (try as I might)

We're also looking for something for the whole enterprise (I think).

[sabot7726]

For little projects I've been using MindMeister and it works pretty well.

[eschen]

Maybe the standard mind mapping tools with a bit navigation can help here, too. Not as cool in presentation, but useful anyway. Xmind and FreeMind are free desktop tools.

[joiwind]

I've been using PersonalBrain for 2 - 3 years now and I'm really happy with it (the basic version, can't afford the full version though I'd like to). I've tried nearly all other mindmapping and outlining apps to try to find the one that suited my needs best and I've always come back to PB.

Pros : intuitive, no "central" thought, nearly unlimited possibilities... PersonalBrain is constantly being improved, see the PB forum.

Cons : java based (like many mindmapping apps), so can be slow and resource consuming.

Here is an interesting and nearly complete list of this type of app : MindMapping