I released MindNode 1.0 (the free version) exactly two years ago and at that time I never expected MindNode to become my sole income only two years later. The past two years were amazing and I’d like to thank all of you for making it happen. Thank you!

Three small tidbits I’d like to share with you:

• Volker sent me, all the way from Germany, a chocolate cake modeled after the MindNode (touch) icon.
  
• Merlin Mann picked MindNode (touch) and MindNode Pro on last weeks episode of MacBreak Weekly.
• After more than two years working from home and working at a local Starbucks, I rented a space in a coworking space here in Vienna. This is how it looked like after my trip to IKEA.

MindNode (touch) 1.2 is now available in the AppStore. As previously announced, I also reduced the price by $2 to $5.99. The new price will be valid for at least the next two months. With this reduction I’m also ending the MindNode Pro cross promotion. This should make the price structure a lot easier to understand.

Release Notes

MindNode (touch) 1.2 is a major rewrite of the core codebase to better handle large mind maps. In previous releases huge mind map often caused memory warnings that almost always led to crashes. This is resolved in this version.

Other noteable changes:
- Better overall performance, especially when starting dragging a node.
- Remember location and scaling when leaving a mind map.
- Exporting a text outline will no longer place the outline into the message body. It will now add a tab-inserted list as an attachment. This change will make it a lot easier to import outlines into other applications.
- Cross connections created on the mac will persist when transferring them back to the mac. This also includes branch attributes like thickness.
- Updated visualization when dragging a branch
- Resolves FreeMind encoding issues when using non english characters.
- Disabled automatic updating of mind map titles.
- Fixes two memory leaks related to sharing.
- Fixes documentation errros and updates credits.

In the second part of my status report I’d like to talk about the iPhone/iPod touch version of MindNode. As you can imagine the announcement of the iPad required me to shift my plans a bit. My current plan is to release a new version of MindNode (touch) – version 1.2 – at the end of the month. This release will be a very limited release on the feature side, but will bring some major improvement under the hood.

Memory Issues
I was finally able to find a solution for the memory/performance issues MindNode suffered when using it with larger mind maps. MindNode (touch) 1.2 will now officially support mind maps with up to 1000 nodes and in my tests it was able to handle maps with 2500+ nodes just fine. This change will resolve about 90% of crashes users experienced. Those crashes were related to the operating system quitting the application due to high memory usage.

State
MindNode will know remember the position and the zoom factor of a mind map and restore it upon loading. It will also restore the location when finishing editing a node title. However in this case the application won’t zoom back to the original zoom factor – I found that I didn’t like it when it zoomed back.

File Format
The rewrite of the application to require a lower memory footprint allowed me to remove some of the restrictions I had to add to my application. When using MindNode Pro 1.4.5 to transfer a mind map to the iPhone, MindNode (touch) will now retain the included cross connections. In detail this means that cross connections won’t show up on the iPhone, but will be restored when transferring the document back to the Macac.
This change is part of my plan to unify the mac and touch file formats to allow lossless Mac-iPhone sharing. This implies that with MindNode (Mac) 1.5, the file format will change slightly.

Pricing
When I released the touch version I promised to not change the price for the next two months. I also ran a promotion that allowed MindNode (touch) customers to purchase MindNode Pro at a 20% discount via a coupon code found inside the application (this promotion is still active). This move disappointed existing Pro customers and is still causing confusion with customers as they need to purchase the iPhone version first.

To make things easier, I will remove the promotion code in MindNode (touch) 1.2 and I’ll reduce the price from USD 7.99 to USD 5.99.

I’m aware that this change won’t please everybody, but I hope it will resolve confusion the current solution has caused in the past.

Beta Testing
MindNode (touch) 1.2 is a major code rewrite and I want to make sure that most bugs get caught before submitting this version to Apple. If you want to help me improve the quality and stability of the application, please consider signing up for the private beta test. I’m currently looking into adding new people into my pool of beta testers. You can sign up here:
Edit (02/18/10): Removed the Link.

Beyond 1.2
I’m aware that folding, editable outline view, syncing,… are highly recommended features. Please understand that I’m unable to talk about possible future features at the moment.

I released a small maintenance update for the mac versions today. This update fixes minor issues, enhances the MindNode (touch) export file format used by the upcoming MindNode (touch) 1.2 release and does some housekeeping in preparation for MN/MNP 1.5. I’m providing more indeepth release notes for this release. If you care, let me know if you prefer “to the point” or “more detailed” release notes.

Release Notes

• Fixed an issue that resulted in setting a stroke width to zero, which in turn caused a crash during selecting.
• Added a new user default to automatically inherit the style when reconnecting (MindNode Pro) or copying (MindNode and MindNode Pro). This key is hidden in this release and will be exposed in 1.5. Adding this key in this release will enable a graceful transition for existing users.
• Correctly reports an error when trying to load a document created with a newer version of the application. This change is also in preparation for 1.5.
• Fixes a problem with plain text export. Exported plain text documents will now load correctly in TextEdit.
• Significant performance improvement when saving large mind maps. Previously saving a large mind map could result in “beachballing”.
• Updated MindNode (touch) export format in preparation of the upcoming MindNode (touch) 1.2 update.
• Fixes errors in the documentation.

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The ongoing delay of MindNode Pro 1.5 and the recent iPad announcement considerable increased the volume of questions from users. Starting with todays blog post I’ll try to give you an overview of that current state of my application on the Mac, iPhone and iPad.

I’m currently developing the next major revision of MindNode for the mac. Originally my plan for release 1.5 was to only add image support however as development went on I also focused on other areas of the application. MindNode 1.5 will add the following features and enhancements:

• Image and file link support (MindNode Pro only): I was hoping to combine both features and I’m very happy with the result.
• Document-wide spellchecking: I know a lot of people are waiting for this and I’m very happy to finally support it. Due to a bug in the framework I’m sadly unable to provide grammar checking in the initial release.
• Redesigned node constraining: I always disliked how node constraining was visualized in the inspector. In 1.5 I completely redesigned this part of the inspector. The redesign also required to drop one feature: Starting with 1.5 it’s no longer possible to create unconstrained nodes.
• Refreshed designs for on canvas tools like “node creation well” and folding tool.
• Text alignment: The text alignment control will now also work when not in edit mode.
• (No 64-bit support: Theoretically MindNode now fully supports running in 64 bit. However a bug in the Apple framework currently prevents me to release a 64bit binary.)

I’m pretty happy how this release turns out, however I don’t have a release date for you at the moment.

I pushed out a new MindNode and MindNode Pro release today. 1.4.4 fixes a few minor annoying bugs and you can find a detailed list at the end of this blog entry.

However there is one item missing in my official release notes: In this release I added support for a new license key system which will replace my current system for new licenses in the near future. The reason for this change is that my current keys are much too long which caused problems with my payment provider and with some customers. The new, much shorter, and much more readable license keys will make sure that registration emails are delivered within seconds of the purchase and they will be much more convenient to handle by customer.

This new system will not replace old license keys and old license keys will continue to work!

Improvements and Fixes:

• Fixed an issue with incorrect inheriting of font attributes.
• Fixed an issue with overlapping branches when using smart layout.
• Now retaining node orientation when reconnecting
• The application will now strip unsupported paragraph attributes (e.g. first line heading) when pasting.
• Correct printing of header and footer.

Update 12/10: I had to rerelease MindNode Pro 1.4.4. The first release contained a minor bug that prevented correct editing of node titles with smart layout enabled.

I released MindNode 1.4.3 and MindNode Pro 1.4.3 today. This release fixes several annoying issues and hopefully also a crash a few users experienced when using iPhone sharing. “Hopefully” because I’m still unable to reproduce this crash and I think I might have found the reason for it. If you still encounter a crash during iPhone sharing, please get in touch!

If you are using Snow Leopard I highly recommend you update to version 10.6.2. In this release Apple finally fixed an issue with the save panel that caused a crash when saving.

Release Notes
(MN, MNP) Fixes a random freeze when working with Thai language (this bug probably also affected other languages).
(MNP) Correctly sets the insertion marker when clicking on a link on Snow Leopard.
(MNP) Fixes smart layout when editing a title and resizing a node.
(MN, MNP) Triple clicking on a node no longer exits edit-mode and correctly selects the entire text.
(MNP) Changed the line connection points of filled nodes. This change is necessary, to avoid covering of nodes, but may change the look of your maps – sorry for this inconvenience.
(MNP) When reconnecting or creating new nodes the filled and constraining style will inherit.
(MN, MNP) Fixes wrong descriptions in export dialog of german and japanese localization.
(MNP) Toggling Smart Layout is now registering undo actions.
(MNP) Find now unfolds found nodes. This fixes a bug where under certain conditions a found node wasn’t correctly displayed.
(MNP) Unfolding a node now selects the entire subbranch. This will make it easier to reposition a newly unfolded subbranch.
(MNP) Fixed the “Choose File…” button of the link inspector
(MNP) Fixed an issue where the header and footer were cut off when printing. The fix made it necessary to increase the printing margins when printing a header and footer.
(MNP) Fixes a crash when using iPhone sharing.

Update 11/26: I was made aware that printing a header and footer is still broken.

I released MindNode 1.4.2 and MindNode Pro 1.4.2 today. This release adds plain text export and also solves some issues with RTF export. 1.4.2 also fixes a rather serious bug that could cause incorrect loading of connections. I’m extremely sorry for any problems this bug might have caused!

Last friday I submitted the first major MindNode (touch) update. Release 1.1 adds drag and drop reconnecting, autoscrolling, web browser import and custom colors support. The update should be approved by the end of next week.

MindNode (Pro) 1.5.2 Release Notes
(MN, MNP) New “string outline” export format.
(MN, MNP) Full support for copying outlines into plain text documents.
(MN, MNP) Improvements to RTF export .
(MNP) Fixes a persistency issue with connections when they are connected to a copied node.
(MN) MindNode now supports connections during printing and image export. This also influences QuickLook preview.
(MNP) The “Reorganize Nodes” menu item is now disabled when smart layout is enabled.
(MN, MNP) Correctly imports MindNode (touch) 1.1 documents.
(MNP) Fixes an issue with incorrect branch thickness when undoing detach.
(MNP) Correctly disabled smart link detection on Leopard (Mac Os 10.5).
(MN,MNP) Consistent format descriptions in the export dialog.

I released MindNode Pro 1.4.1 and MindNode 1.4.1 today. This is only a minor release which fixes several annoying issues

Improvements and Fixes
(MN) (MNP) Removed margins when printing a document.
(MN) (MNP) Fixed RTF export. The outline is now correctly recognized as a list by TextEdit and Pages.
(MN) (MNP) The “Insert New Parent Node” menu item now correctly creates a new parent node.
(MNP) Fixed the “Create Connection” menu item. It’s now only active if a valid selection exists.
(MNP) Small improvement to the registration dialog.

Download
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Update 9/7:
As announced last month, I increased the price of MindNode Pro to USD 19.95 with yesterdays update. Thank you for your understanding.
I also decided to continue the MindNode (touch) MindNode Pro promotion. The -20% coupon code will stay on the AppStore page of MindNode (touch) until 1.0.2 is approved. MindNode (touch) 1.0.2 will have a new -20% coupon code for MindNode Pro embedded in the application (Help View > MindNode Pro Coupon). Due to the restrictions of the AppStore I’m sadly unable to give a discount to people who already purchased MindNode Pro. Sorry!

Apple approved MindNode (touch) 1.0.1 and it’s now available in the AppStore. This is a minor update that fixes a crash when importing mind node documents via email and improves WiFi sharing.

I’m currently working on a second minor update that will fix issues when exporting documents via email.