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Mindsystems Pty Ltd All Deals Productivity Software PIM Software

Mindsystems Amode

A Perfectly Balanced Productivity Tool

$200

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Platforms: Windows XP, Vista (32, 64 Bit)

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Mindsystems Amode, PIM Software Screenshot

Mindsystems Amode, Productivity Software Screenshot

PIM Software, Mindsystems Amode Screenshot

Productivity Software, Mindsystems Amode Screenshot

Productivity Software, PIM Software Screenshot

Mindsystems Amode, Productivity Software, PIM Software Screenshot

Let's talk about information management for a moment. You've tried apps that present your data "visually" as a mind map, but when you try to incorporate some measure of detail into them, you find that it's all just pretty colors and bars. Then you went the other way and tried linear information management systems, but found that you were overwhelmed with details without the benefit of a "big picture" button.

Mindsystems Amode is a productivity tool that hits that sweet spot, balancing the benefits of both visual and linear information management. Four unique modes present your task and project information in a way that makes sense, is visually compelling, yet highly manageable when it comes to seeing and understanding the details.

You'll be amazed at Mindsystems Amode's ability to achieve synergy between visual planning, information handling, project management, and multi-task management! Tree Mode is a drag-and-drop visual presentation of the most important topics - it informs without overwhelming. Calendar Mode organizes your tasks and alarms in a familiar context that anyone can instantly understand. Gantt Mode will instantly become a comfort zone for folks used to tracking multi-task projects using Gantt charts, progress, priority, resources, milestones and relationships. Finally, Briefcase Mode enables you to gain insight into cross project issues by presenting multiple projects side-by-side.

With the ability to import and export information to a wide variety of formats such as Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, MindManager, KnowledgeLink, PDF, and HTML, you won't need to jump through any unnecessary hoops to start using Mindsystems Amode. Even better, all of your information for multiple projects is stored in a single file, and the visually intuitive tabbed interface keeps everything nice and tidy in a single application window!

Please note: because Mindsystems Amode is available only in AUD (Australian dollar), the USD (US dollar) price listed above is approximate and will vary slightly depending on the day.

Review Written by Derek Lee

The Conversation

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Julie G will this version work under Windows 7? If not, will the upgrade be part of this offer?

Many thanks!

Jul 1 2009 at 4:03am Copy Link

Mr. Yoop Amode is a great tool to plan projects following a "linear" mind mapping approach. This enables you to really _plan_ projects more visually as just putting in start dates, end dates and relations for activities. Instead, you can start with the focus on what is to do. Then, you can bring all identified these activities in the right order, build up the activities hierachy and grouping them in different projects if required. Last but not least, you can also add the typical project management information like resources, priorities, start/end dates, relationships etc...

Nevertheless, the well defined GUI enables a very intuitive start and let you als get down in the details of a project. With the commonly known GANTT diagrams you get also a detailed and management "conform" view on your project. Thus, you cover all aspects: An initial planning approach, a detailed project schedule, a resource management, a tracking and monitoring mechanism - and much more innovative features like e.g. storing additional documents for each activity.

All these features makes Amode to my preferred project planning and tracking tool. Compared to the more "traditional" programs, Amode is really a big step forward towards a more intuitive project management!

@Julie: I have used the trial version of Amode on Windows 7 Beta for test purposes: It works without any problems.

Jul 1 2009 at 6:32am Copy Link

Derek Cater I paid full price for this programme about a month ago and have not regretted it one jot.

Amode does an awful lot, but in a very user-friendly way. On the one hand it is a two-pane outliner with a tree and a notes pane. So an item in the tree could be, say, the name of a recipe or a task you want to complete. The corresponding note pane for each item in the tree could list the ingredients and the instructions of the recipe or the task details. You can link any number of files on your computer to each item in the tree or you can embed the external files in the Amode 'Solution File', ideal if you want to share the Amode Solution File with others. If you link or embed the file, it will be opened by its native programme.

For each item in the tree, you can assign a start and finish date and a person who will do the task. You can set up calendars which tell Amode what hours on which days these people work and their hourly rate, if you wish (but you don't have to). You can then choose to dispay any of these items in in Amode's calendar or Gantt chart view. And in the Gantt chart view you can set up all the standard project management dependencies, so you can tell Amode that one task cannot start until another has finished or that they must both start or finish at the same time, etc. And if you have entered hourly rates for staff, Amode can generate a cost quotation for a project, if you so wish.

The above might suggest that Amode is a difficult programme to use, but that is far from the case. Anyone who has used a two-pane outliner, a computer-based calendar and a Gantt chart-producing project management programme would grasp all of the essential functions of Amode in 30 minutes or less.

Amode is a remarkably rounded programme, given that it was released only a month or two ago. It is also remarkably easy to use, but has so much power 'under the hood' for when you need it.

Amode is being marketed to businesses as a complement to mind-mapping software and is generating some buzz in those quarters, which means that it is likely to prosper. Consequently it can be counted on being developed well into the future.

In conclusion, if you ever need to list information, apply some fancy formatting to your notes, attached files on your hard disc to these notes, put some of this task info onto your calendar and possibly onto a Gantt chart, and if you want a very gentle learning curve while you are getting there, Amode is for you and is a steal at this price.

I'm in no way linked to Mindsystems (they're in Australia, while I'm in the UK) , just a very satisfied customer.

Jul 1 2009 at 8:49am Copy Link

John England Amode with certainly be compatable with Windows 7.

Mindsystems Pty Ltd - Jul 1 2009 at 12:23pm Copy Link

Harald Vogel Hello,

I would like to know what your upgrade policy will be (for a private user). I would be interested in your software but can't affort / don't want to pay every year a 50% upgrade price (like this offer will be and many software producers do charge) to get the latest version. This would be a killer argument for me thinking about buying a clearly outstanding software product for a expensive but well deserved price.

Do you plan to release a feature reduced Lite / Home / Privat version for a for more effortable price?

Jul 1 2009 at 10:26pm Copy Link

Julie G Greetings, again,
At about 4:30 in the video on your website, the audio got muted somehow. At 5:20 it came back in then went out again.

Amode does look quite nifty.

Jul 2 2009 at 9:50am Copy Link

Julie G Another Windows 7 licensing question: If I get Amode for my 32 bit Vista system and later replace that machine with a 64 bit Windows 7, will I be able to delete Amode from the old machine and install it on the 64 bit new one?

Jul 2 2009 at 10:21am Copy Link

John England Hi Julie

Not sure about the video ... will check that.
If you look at the License/Support Ribbon menu and select License Management you will see there is an option to transfer licenses. So you will have absolutly no problem.

Mindsystems Pty Ltd - Jul 2 2009 at 11:15am Copy Link

John England Harald

Amode is a very new piece of software and in any event it will be some time before there is a major new release. In the mean time you would be using a great piece of software and naturally all service updates are free.

Mindsystems Pty Ltd - Jul 2 2009 at 11:29am Copy Link

Peter pereh Is there any change that we will find Mind Reader here as well?
In your video to Amode/Mind Reader an inconvience is mentioned concerning the underlying hyperlinks of found keywords and that these will not work. Will this be fixed?

Jul 2 2009 at 9:00pm Copy Link

John England Hi Peter

When you mention "Mindreader" I am making the assumption (I know how dangerous assumtion are!) that you mean "Themreader". We are not completely happy with the performance of ThemeReader and are currently looking at ways of redeveloping it. Tthese issues will be fixed but I am not exactly sure of a date at this point.

Mindsystems Pty Ltd - Jul 2 2009 at 9:13pm Copy Link

Peter pereh Hello John,

sorry, of course I meant 'Themereader'.

Jul 2 2009 at 11:38pm Copy Link

Bob S This may sound like a trivial question, but it isn't... Can one change the default appearance of the "topic headings" in the left-hand pane? All the screenshots show the topic headings in boxes, which take up a lot of room. The outliners I use take up only one line, so I can scroll up or down through the tree very quickly.

If this is possible, do you have a screenshot of the treeview w/ topic headings shown on individual lines (e.g., a more compressed view)?

Thank you.

Bob S.

Jul 7 2009 at 4:03pm Copy Link

John England Hi Bob

I understand you point and the predecessor to Amode had what you describe. However please understand this is much more than an outliner and this format was developed after considerable customer research. Having said that we plan to make the more "skeletal" view available in a future update.

Mindsystems Pty Ltd - Jul 7 2009 at 5:03pm Copy Link

Bob S Thank you, John. I may be among the minority, but the "skeletal" view is much more efficient in terms of viewing, navigating, moving nodes within the tree, etc.

When do you expect to reintroduce the skeletal view, and will that option be available without an upgrade to those who purchase via the BDJ offer?

Bob S.

Jul 7 2009 at 5:29pm Copy Link

Sheila C I second the request for a "skeletal" view (which the user could easily toggle from boxed to skeletal); this would be critical for my use. The view I would prefer is similar to viewing XML trees in Oxygen or Stylus Studio.

I find being able to scan a skeletal tree without surrounding "eye candy" of colors, lines, etc. gives me clearer impression of the content and organization "at a glance". I suspect the brain is able to glean additional insight into the overall content and organization in such a "Blink" view (ref. to M. Gladwell) that one might not consciously realize is being osmosed.

Minimalist views ties in so nicely with the philosophy of Amode being the "zen of information handling" approach.

Jul 7 2009 at 6:24pm Copy Link

John England Hi Bob

It would be very easy to say "of course it will" but if done it will be in the next big release which will be about 7 months time. A purchase now would qualify for a paid upgrade. In the mean time all service upgrades are free.

Mindsystems Pty Ltd - Jul 7 2009 at 6:27pm Copy Link

Bob S Sheila makes a good point - actually, different users are likely to have different preferences, so it's important to give the user options to configure, rather than locking them in to a particular format.

Personally, I want an option that allows me to selectively change the format of a heading (e.g., bolding, background color, etc.) - especially helpful if I'm working on a particular topic and want to be able to pick it out and return to it quickly.

Bob S.

Jul 7 2009 at 6:32pm Copy Link

John England Hi Sheila
Thanks for your comments and I think you points are very valid. Please see my comments to Nick. The trick is striking a balance between harnessing left/right brain activity and simplicity. With the current interface we have tried to do this and generally it is very well accepted. However I aknowledge there is a real need for the "lean and mean" view as a selectable option.

Mindsystems Pty Ltd - Jul 7 2009 at 6:33pm Copy Link

John England Bob

The colour, font bold etc is already available. Please experiment with the "Styles" menu. You may even select multiple branches using CTRL Click and change atributes on all at the same time. Going to Options menu will allow you to change defaults so that all Parent branches are a certain way, sub-branches and so on.

Mindsystems Pty Ltd - Jul 7 2009 at 6:43pm Copy Link

Alexander Deliyannis What is the licensing policy? Is it per PC or per user? I am a freelancer and need to be able to install any software I use in at least two PCs (office and laptop) and ideally three (+home).

Jul 7 2009 at 9:46pm Copy Link

John England Hi Alexander
The activation process allows for a PC and a laptop instalation. We feel that this is the normal way most people operate these days.

Mindsystems Pty Ltd - Jul 7 2009 at 9:53pm Copy Link

Clive B. I think more and more the group of people I know have 3 machines. Desktop, Laptop for overnight travels and a Netbook for use around town on a daily basis. Can I uninstall from netbook and transfer to Laptop? and then back again.

How is syncing handled between 2 machine?

Thanks

Jul 8 2009 at 3:45am Copy Link

Vanessa N I'll add to Clive B's comment (not just for this software but in general in terms of licensing issues); yes, three is a more likely needed number for many people these days. I wouldn' t install this on a netbook, as I think performance would/may suffer (?), but people not only have a desktop at home, but a laptop, and their machine at work (of course, I speak as one of the privileged few who's allowed to install whatever I want at one job (being an IT geek), and just about the same at the other (even though that one's locked down).

So for me, I have 4 machines (due to 2 jobs), and I don't own a netbook yet but will.... In any event, people are often interested in installing good productivity software on their work machines (assuming they don't want to bring their laptop with them all the time), and for the lightly resourced apps, their desktop, laptop, and netbook indeed.

Jul 8 2009 at 8:10am Copy Link

John England Clive, Vanessa
The answer really is that you have to draw the line somewhere. For example do Microsoft allow you to register 4 machines under a single user license? We feel it is reasonable to say that most people have an office machine and a laptop. The reality is that development has to be paid for and we are only a small company. For example developing our original product (KnowledgeLink V5) to Amode took in excess of 6000hrs of development time ... that is just developers without counting management and other support costs. We have alread given approval for a similar amount of work for the phase 2 Amode development. This can only be funder by reasonable sales.

To the specific questions:
- Please look at the Ribbon menu: Support/License and License Management and you will see there is an option to transfer licenses.
- At this point Amode will happily work in a network environment but is not a true network application i.e. there is not a cerntal server, just each stand alone application. If to people are working on the same file on a network there is a warning if the other file is changed ... however this is not syncronisation as I think you mean it.

Mindsystems Pty Ltd - Jul 8 2009 at 12:25pm Copy Link

Charles Beauchamp I purchased this but gather it is kaput, nicht Wahr?

Aug 15 2016 at 7:08pm Copy Link

Constantin Florea @Charles Beauchamp, We don't currently have a deal for this product. The last time we had a deal for it was in 2009. I see their site still works and you could contact them at:
https://www.mindsystems.com/support

BitsDuJour Admin - Aug 16 2016 at 1:29am Copy Link