I totally agree with you there.
MindManager is a brillant bit of software, but the lack of quality documentation for de marcos is a major let down. Maybe the developers are working on a new powerful API capable of easy scripting, and therefore aren't wasting resources writing documentation for something that will change. I am hoping anyway.
I hope they are developing an API which is capable of database connectivity and has its own event model. It would be like programming Visual Basic controls and forms and linking ti database records. In fact Macromedia/Adobe Flash started out just like that. An animation program turned interface tool. Then they put in a decent API and gave it a full "scripting" language called Actronscript 3.0. Now you can virtually program anything into it and have it run across your web browser, phone, pda. Flash and Actionscript and the Flash API gave developers the ability to program many types of applications. With Flash Remoting and its new variations, you have unlimited abilities to connect to databases and build applications, leaving the Visual Basic forms and controls a bit "linear".
If the MindManager developers can write an API easy to script like Visual Basic, Javascript and the like, with its own easy to use event model, other developers can use MindManager to write applications with its unique tree branching and formatting abilities and connections to databases and common windows controls. The API would also give developers the ability to export to various formats and to be able to read in database records EASILY. Whether that database connection is via ODBC or MDAC or ADO, ADO.NET or whatever.
The only problem I see is distribution of these applications. MindManager has its own viewer, like Adobe Acrobat. But unlike Acrobat or Flash, the MindManager Viewer does not have wide coverage on computers. However if they can tap into one of these resources, say Flash Player, they could write Flash/Actionscript code and create MindManager in Flash. Basically, Flash controls with MindManager branching logic and event model. Or they could even write .NET controls and cover their other market that way. (I noticed on the Mindjet job page, they are seeking Actionscript Programmers, preferably Actionscript 3.0. So I'm hoping they're busy working on something really good and not just fancy marketing Flash movies).
As a developer myself, if I could have the powerful abilities of MindManager combined with an easy API either in the native MindManager application or in Flash, I could build new types of applications with the ability to THINK VISUALLY rather than linearly. The days of flat linear windows, controls, grids and applications are going. Flash has opened up new possibilities. 3D games are big money makers. Movies use 3D applications like Maya to create magic. For me as a developer, MindManager visual thinking is next step for application development. Aggregated data and the ability to view information in different perspectives is already changing the world.
I'm not saying any particular bit of technology is the be all and end all, technology shouldn't the ends in itself. But the way we use computers has changed. 3D applications like 3ds Max and Maya give us amazing abilities for creative visualization from architecture to movies to medical. The ability to think outside the square means being about to see from a different perspective.
Ever heard of Counter-Strike? Well, its a 3D first person shoot em up networked game. Apparently, the US army use it to train their soldiers. Imagine that, a computer game teaching you how to kill the opponent. Or it can teach you how to work together as a team. Or it can teach you how to work together as a team to kill the opponents. :-)
Anyway, enough of my ranting. MindManager rocks!!!! Keep up the good work Mindjet!!!
P.S. Hey guys, can you put LAYERS into MindManager? Like Photoshop/Illustrator/Flash Layers.... ;-)
By the way, I don't work for either Mindjet or Adobe.