I first learned about mind mapping many years ago. My brother was writing his thesis, and he needed a tool to help him organize his research. I don’t know how he was introduced to mind mapping, but the tool he used, and was happy with, is Mindjet’s MindManager.

I have been using mind maps (what a silly name!) for various purposes – but mostly when I am tackling a new subject matter and I need to do some research and keep track of my activities and loose ends. And the tool I’ve been using is, you may have guessed it, MindManager. It is a great tool, I guess, but it never really felt right to me. It is full of features that I would never use, and the functionality I used mostly fell short of what I wanted. I’m not saying it’s a bad tool – it isn’t. And, if you are in the market for a mind mapping tool you should definitely give it a try.

The reason I’m writing all this is because now I have, finally, found a mind mapping tool that works for me. It’s simple, it’s fast, and there’s a free version too. It is called XMind, and you can find it here.

I’m not going to do a feature-by-feature review or anything. I don’t really care that much. But I am really happy with XMind and since I didn’t pay anything for it, I figure it’s worth at least a mention :-)