Forum ??

[NigelH]

hi all, I am currently evaluating NM5 as well as many other mind mapping SW( both free and paid). I really like NM5 the best so far.

My only 2 concerns are:

1) lack of forum posts, replies etc - does NovaMind not have a lot of users, is it lacking in support?

2) the amount of memory NM5 uses on both my XP and Win 7 machines (this is not specific to NM5, Imindmap, Mindmanager etc all use about the same).

I am hoping NM is popular and well backed and supported as I am very much leaning towards this product.

thanks,

Nigel.

[olaf_gy]

Hi Nigel,

I'm new to NM as well, use it now about 3 month, switched from Mindmanager after using that for about 10 years first on Win later on Mac (the actual Mac version disappointed me to much).

re 1) Lack in support? Don't see it, I had some questions in forum and got answers fast. I addressed some requests and suggestions to service, response was in acceptable time frame and good qualified (and I can really compare it to MM, where I opened some requests this year). Maybe there not so much entries in the forum, as the users don't have a lot of problems? Have you found http://www.novamind.com/connect/, there seems to be an active community as well. The only topic at the moment it's not adapted for NM5 yet.

re 2) Didn't experience this in any negative way. I have some bigger maps without any negative impact. I prepared those in the VM in NM5 for Win as presentation, it works very well. The other SW, I used, supports presentation with the actual version, needed for the same map about 15-20 seconds to switch from 1 slide to another (reply from service ... nothing qualified).

So I like NM and so far I'm happy with the change. Now I'm waiting the Mac version comes over the time delay and we Mac users get the missing functionality from Windows version (and I have not to use the VM any more).

I think Gideon and team did a fine job and I like that the responsible persons of the company are reacting in the forum.

Regards,
Olaf

[NigelH]

Olaf, thanks for the reply.

so far with my testing, NM5 is out ahead and I am 99% sure I will buy towards the end of the trial period.

Thanks again for helping alleviation any concerns.

It is a great product and so far a product I could fully endorse and recommend to others.

thanks again

Nigel.

[WindyCity]

NigelH:

In my experience, NovaMind support answers technical questions quickly and reliably. The Mac forum is helpful, fun, and stimulating. NovaMind 5.0 is a great program and will only get better as time goes by. Are you a Windows or Mac user?

[Patrick]

Hi Nigel,

1) lack of forum posts, replies etc - does NovaMind not have a lot of users, is it lacking in support?

We don't normally use the forum for support. If you need any help or support from our staff please write to support@novamind.com and you should get a reply soon. If you encounter an error you can also use the built-in error reporter. We look at every single report and reply to most of them too.

2) the amount of memory NM5 uses on both my XP and Win 7 machines (this is not specific to NM5, Imindmap, Mindmanager etc all use about the same).

The memory consumption reported by Task Manager (on Windows) is unfortunately misleading. The short explanation is that the technology we use causes the task manager to show much more memory as being used than is actually the case. When other applications request memory the memory usage usually goes down. Unless you are running out of free memory I wouldn't worry about the reported value but if you see any problems then please report them to support@novamind.com and we will investigate.

Patrick

[NigelH]

WindyCity - thanks for the reply. (I am a windows user)

Patrick - thanks again for the reply, that helps a lot as well.

Nigel.

[WindyCity]

NigelH:

Ah, Windows user. I don't go there. There be dragons.

[schroeding]

Dear Nova Mind People

I like the look and feel of nova mind, and the light tone and music of the tutorials, with the voiceovers (I presume that is Gideon speaking?)

(I sincerely hope that no one deletes or otherwise censors this message!)

But I am baffled and put off by the constant insistence here that technical issues are verbodden in the forum.

What precisely IS permitted here?

Discussions of the price of tea in China?

What precisely is the use of any of these forums?

I don't think I remember any company being so strict as to demand such a prohibition, in my experience.

I really don't think there is danger that someone will follow advice offered here in a forum and then turn around and blame Gideon  or any company tech staff if said advice fails to work...

I dare say that Novamind's forum policy will take it behind the curve of today's world in which so many software companies base their success on flexibility and openness rather than limiting attitudes of caution, which hurt far more than they help...

Again, I  hope that no one deletes or otherwise censors this message, but rather offers an honest and reasonable discussion.

Doug

I have to complete the three step verification with *every* posting, even though I already did so at registration?

As the man said "REALLY, Novamind? Are you serious?"

[olaf_gy]

Hi Doug,

from my point of view as user I don't see that technical discussion is forbidden, but Novamind has defined channels for support. So if a user expect technical response from support, he should use these channels. Same is recommended for wishes for future features.

Nevertheless I haven't seen in the 4-5 month I'm using NM and the forum any forum entry deleted for the reason it was a wish for future releases or a entry on negative technical experience.

So it depends on your expectation assuming a technical defect you should challenge support in the right way (and I made very good experience there, believe me a made others with a competitive product of NM). In case you assume handling problems or you want to discuss aspects before going to support, I think the Novamind people will not limit such discussion.

Regards,
Olaf (only user and customer of NM)

PS:

I have to complete the three step verification with *every* posting, even though I already did so at registration?

I don't have to do verification with every posting, but I remember I had to do it for the first 5-10 postings. There are some spam and advertising entries in the forum. I think the verification is for new users to reduce this. After a user is active for some time and following the rules the verification with each entry is gone.

[Patrick]

Hi Doug,

(I sincerely hope that no one deletes or otherwise censors this message!)

We don't delete any messages unless they are spam.

But I am baffled and put off by the constant insistence here that technical issues are verbodden in the forum.

What precisely IS permitted here?

As Olaf already said, you can of course discuss anything relating to NovaMind on this forum, even technical issues but if you need support from the NovaMind support staff you should contact our support either via the built-in 'Send  Feedback' option (preferred) or by writing an email to support@novamind.com. This is why we advise everyone to contact support when they post a technical problem on the forum.

What precisely is the use of any of these forums?

Community interaction. We don't like it when companies don't provide any way for customers to communicate with each other. The forum is meant to be for just that.

Hope this clarifies things.

Patrick