Tuesday, August 23, 2005

MindJet, .Net and the Mac

I'm not given to conspiracy theory, but I know that well-known companies sometimes have big secrets. Like me, you probably like to guess those secrets, and sometimes get them right.

You're about to read my latest wild guess.

First, though, I need to set the scene. For years I've used a program called MindManager to create Mind Maps on my computer. (Thanks to Rachel Davies for the latter link). Mind Manager is not the only Mind Mapping Software, but it's probably the most widely used. It's well integrated with Windows, but is currently only available on that platform.

A few days ago a message on the MindManager Yahoo Group mentioned that MindJet, the makers of MindManager, were recruiting developers with Mac experience.

I can only see two plausible explanations for this,and one of them is mindblowing.

The boring one is that MindJet are really worried about NovaMind, which is a Mind Mapping program that runs on the Mac and will soon be available for Windows. The folks at MindJet might be willing to create a second codebase for their product, but I doubt it. I don't think they are that dumb.

The second explanation is that they know something that we don't. That's not unlikely, as MindJet have a very close relationship with Microsoft.

When the Mac makes its move to Intel hardware, is it possible that we'll also see .Net for the Mac OS?

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