One of my neighbors is a cat murderer.

In my last post I wrote about Pineau, my cat that was found drowned in a pool near my house.

In the same pool, we found 2 more cats and parts of some more cats. The cats didn’t drown but were poisoned.

Pineau

Today is a sad day. Today I found Pineau my cat drowned in a pool near my house.
She would have been 2 years old in April.
She will be missed.

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Chasing the dream...

I'm a Software developer.
I love software development.
I'm doing this since I was 12 years old (about 23 years ago).

For years now, I have a dream about being able to make a living by selling software I have created myself. I want to be a mISV

And now it is time to be serious about it. I have decided to go full time on this and I am going to sell my house to invest in it.

This is a big step that most people won’t risk, but it is for me at the moment a necessary step I have to take if I want to further develop my current mISV project to accomplish my dream.

So what is my plan?

I’m going to sell my house and with the profits:

Work for a year full time on BrainStreamer
Hire someone to redo my web-site
Hire someone to write my help-files
Invest in better marketing.

Why do I believe it will Work?

In March 2007 I have release the first version of my BrainStreamer software.

This version was a first attempt and did sell more than I thought it would (but not nearly enough to live from it). This version also provided me with feedback that assured me that I can provide a solution for a problem others have besides me.

I am sure BrainStreamer is an excellent idea and it is something that a lot of people will find useful.

What can you do with BrainStreamer?

Let me explain the problem BrainStreamer will solve...

For the last 10 years I have been using mind-mapping software. I love mind-maps. It helps me think, it is for me the ideal way to organize information about something/anything. I have used it to learn, write, document, organize and think.

But I have a few problems with the mind-mapping applications currently on the market.

First, mind-mapping software is currently document based.

This means all your mind-maps are stored in files. This is not how I see it. I want my mind-maps and information stored in 1 central place. I want the possibility to mix parts of one mind-map with parts of another. In essence, I want just one big mind-map.

For example, adding a person (Joe) to a mind-map about for example a new project .

Joe being the guy that worked in a previous project is already defined in another mind-map with his e-mail addresses, phone numbers,…

With the current document centered way of working, the only option I have is to reenter Joe’s info or copy it from another mind-map. In both cases you would have duplicated information.

I don’t know if it is the fact that I’m a software developer, but duplicated information is something I hate. If Joe changes his e-mail address or moves or whatever information I keep about Joe is changed, I have to update it in 2 places now. Most likely, I just update the last mind-map I was working on and forget the first.

Another example.

I have a mind-map about software development in general.

It contains interesting articles found on the Internet, ideas, reference information,…

Next, I have a mind-map with everything about my BrainStreamer project. If there is information in my software development mind-map that I could use in my BrainStreamer mind-map, then why do I need to copy it. I don’t want to copy it, I just want to link to it.

Second, mind-maps are currently not multi-user

As an example of the way I have seen mind-maps used in businesses today:

a. Boss tells you they need a document about what is needed on a new project.

b. You start your mind-mapping software and create a new mind-map.

c. You talk to Jane and Joe about there requirements / needs

d. You update your mind-map

e. You send an e-mail to Jane and Joe with your mind-map attached to it.

f. Jane adds / changes things. Joe adds/ changes things. And they both send it back to you.

g. You now have three different mind-maps and you merge the changes from the two you received into your mind-map

h. You send the merged mind-map back to Jane and Joe.

This is not the way I want it to work. I want to be able to work simultaneous with Jane and Joe on the same document. I never want to have different versions of my mind-map.

What I really need is a central mind-mapping server where Jane, Joe and myself can work on the same data from different locations.

The BrainStreamer Idea

1. No duplicated information

For me, BrainStreamer should make it possible to create mind-maps without duplicated information in it.

2. Working remote

I should be able to use my mind-maps over the Internet. This again helps against having duplicated information by allows different people to work on the same data

3. More types of information

I want it to be able to contain different type of information: persons, thoughts, companies, links, events,…

So, how does BrainStreamer work?

A World of Data

BrainStreamer 2.0 uses the concept of 1 World of data

This World is one big mind-map database containing everything.

All your information is contained in it and everything in it is connected by links between them.

A View on your World

Because interests change all the time (for example you are working on a new project, or when at home are thinking about how to redecorate your house) BrainStreamer has the concept of views.

A view lets you focus on one part of your World.

You could see a view as a mind-map document but with the difference that all the changes you do in a view will automatically change your world and that you can link items from other views or from your world.

So, this is the way I see it. This is the way I want my mind-mapping application to work.

Regards,

Peter

BrainStreamer 2.0 Current status

Work on BrainStreamer 2.0 is really going well.
I'm using the development version of BrainStreamer 2.0 full time now and I think
it is a real improvement compared to the 1.2 version.

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BrainStreamer 2.0

A screenshot of a development version for the next BrainStreamer release

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The BrainStreamer way

One of my neighbors is a cat murderer.

Pineau

Chasing the dream...

BrainStreamer 2.0 Current status

BrainStreamer 2.0