One of the seldom-discussed feature of MindManager X5 Pro is the ability to read and write XML files.   XML is a text-based self-defining data format that MindManager X5 is built upon.  In MindManager, this XML-reading and writing feature is called Transformations and registered transformations appear as file types in the File Open and File Save-As dialog boxes.  Transformations are XSL files that define how one XML file is programatically mapped to another.  Writing these XSL files is a software development task that Mindjet Developer Support can help you with.

Examples of XML formats that transforms can be written for include:

• Microsoft Office 2003
• Outline Processor Markup Language (OPML)
• FreeMind
• RSS

We have written inbound transformations for FreeMind and OPML to see how transformations can be built.  Give it a try!  If you build something cool, share it with us and we will post it in here and in our DevZone!

Michael S. Scherotter
Business Solutions Architect
Mindjet Corporation

Mindjet was fortunate to be invited to present at Gnomedex 5 this week in Seattle. Gnomedex is an event that brings together (in a very entertaining, "un-conference" environment) people who are thinking about, writing about and writing blogs and creating podcasts (blogs that are comprised of audio–radio shows that you can listen to on, say, your iPod–hence the name) and other forms of media.

The message I take away from the conference is that blogs and RSS have the very realizeable potential to really fundamentally change the way people (in the most generic sense of the word) communicate. They will do this because they virtually eliminate the barriers to posting content to the Internet. Without blogging, people need to figure out how to post and manage content to a web site.  Not many people are up for that. But blogging tools enable a great many more people to write whatever is on their minds (about the state of the world, their state, their city, town, block, dog, garden…), add photos, music and maybe video-and release that to the entire world. Pretty cool. People used to say that the this was what the Internet was meant to do. That’s debatable. But anyway, that’s what it can do now.

What the conference teaches me is that we as a company can do more to use blogging and RSS to listen to customers, to create a community of our own, to tell people who are interesting in mapping about how other people are using MindManager–and in their own words.

Great conference, and I’ve gotten a lot of good comments on the software–and even some on the presentation. Here I am, preaching the gospel:

Thanks very much to Jeffrey Luke, a Seattle photographer, for the shot. 

Participate in the Mindjet Beta Test Program!

We are seeking Beta testers for upcoming releases of MindManager software and would like you to participate.

As a Beta tester, you get first access to our products and the ability to influence product development. Beta testers receive free technical support on all Beta products.

To apply to be a beta tester, go to this web page.

Scott Quinn, Senior Product Manager