Mindmanager torn to ribbons

But new Office 2007 interface makes ideas processor easier to use, says developer

The ideas processor Mindmanager has been given a new Office 2007-style ribbon interface to make its more obscure features easier to find and use.

"We had a similar problem to the one Microsoft had," said Lisa Arthur, chief marketing manager of developer Mindjet. "People love out product but most of them use of a small proportion of the features."

The new look appears in Mindmanager 7.0, which should be available at the end of this month. The product enables a more-or-less freeform arrangement of ideas, links, RSS feeds and other information for brainstorming almost any kind of project, from a major construction to a family a holiday.

You can import or export content to or from Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Project or Outlook. Free for the first month is a pack of templates and white papers called a Jetpack.

Some organisations have looked askance at Microsoft Office's new ribbon interface because, although it is supposed to be easier, they fear staff used to the old one might need retraining.

But Arthur said that feedback from beta testers has been overwhelmingly positive. and views for better navigation, new map styles and galleries for faster formatting, and enhanced ScreenTips, just to name a few.

A free trial of Mindmanager 6.0 is available here. Watch out for a review soon in PCW.