News and thoughts from CS Odessa, maker of the ConceptDraw product line: ConceptDraw PRO, ConceptDraw PROJECT and ConceptDraw MINDMAP.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Ten Years Hence

I started in the mind-mapping industry about ten years ago. Back then, we continually asked ourselves what market we were in. Was in knowledge management? Business Intelligence? Collaboration? Maybe business graphics? It was hard to figure out where mind mapping fit in because there were only a half-dozen applications on the market.

Fast forward to today and we have, what, 60 mind-mapping applications available? At one end of the spectrum, you have established, stable companies providing solutions and support--for a price. Some of the originals are still around: ConceptDraw MINDMAP, MindManager, iMindMap, MindGenius.

At the other end... apps that are like mayflies: They appear one warm summer afternoon, only to disappear by night.

As my 6-year-old niece has been heard to say: "Good times, my friends. Good times." All this activity is proof that there is a demand for mind mapping apps. And there's nothing better for a market than lots of new competitors, right? What do you make of the interplay between the more established vendors and all those upstarts and their cool ideas?

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