"It always takes longer than you think, even when you take Hofstadter's Law into account."
Douglas Hofstadter (Hofstadter's Law)
"It always takes longer than you think, even when you take Hofstadter's Law into account."
Douglas Hofstadter (Hofstadter's Law)
FreeMind – Mind Mapping Additionally, it is easier to start building a graph, rather than preparing a text document – it can help get over the “blank page” writing block that most people suffer from occasionally, and it is easier to add, delete, or move elements around. Finally, it provides a succinct overview, which can be more easily absorbed by colleagues. FreeMind is an open source implementation, which has been well received by users and industry critics alike.
Here is a quick reminder of what a mind map can look like:
 This article will limit itself to explaining how to install and uninstall the program. The guide also provides its own pragmatic tutorial, Using FreeMind, which explains using the program, and also gives links to other sources of information.
Alternative Mind Mapping SoftwareFreeMind may not be your favourite choice of mind mapping software. Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives. The guide lists a few here, but makes no judgements, as it is impossible to analyse all of them in depth.
The Wikipedia provides a list of mind mapping software. The Innovation Tools web site also provides another list of mind mapping software.
Before You Install FreeMindFreeMind, as for any other Java application, absolutely requires the Java Runtime Environment to work. The guide explains installing the Java Runtime Environment in this article.
Installing the ProgramThe FreeMind Wiki, http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page, provides a download and install article. Apart from installing the Java Runtime Environment, which this guide also explains, the article also provides links to installable binary files for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
I chose the Windows “maximum” version. Clicking on the link takes you to the SourceForge web site download page, where the download should start automatically. This page also provides a “direct link” if the automatic download is not successful.
As for all downloads in the guide, I saved this file in my downloads folder, creating a freemind.sourceforge.net sub folder. Use Explorer to open this sub folder, then double click on the FreeMind-Windows-Installer-0_8_0-max.exe file and you will see the following dialog:
 Click on Next >.
 Click on the “I accept...” radio button, then click on Next >.
 If you have followed this guide, then you will already have installed the Java Runtime Environment, so click on Next >.
 The default setup folder is perfectly satisfactory (at least for me), so click on Next >.
 Again, the start menu folder is satisfactory, so once more, click on Next >.
 Choose if you want any or all of the additional icons. If you are not using MindManager, then you can also associate the .mm extension to FreeMind. Note that although both programs use the same extension, the file formats are quite different, and incompatible.
Don't Associate .mmAfter careful consideration, I have decided that it is better not to associate this extension with FreeMind, the tutorial explains why.
Now click on Next >.
 This is your last chance to make any changes to the installation parameters. If you are happy with the values (as I am), then click on Install.
 This shows history information for the version of FreeMind being installed. Click on Next > to start the installation process.
 Click on Finish to terminate the installation process. If you check the “Launch FreeMind” box, FreeMind will be started for you.
Next StepsUninstalling the ProgramFreeMind uses the standard Windows uninstall mechanism. From the desktop, double click on My Computer, then from the left hand pane select Add or Remove programs thus:
 Select the FreeMind program, then click on Remove. The following dialog will then appear:
 Click on Yes. The program will now be uninstalled. On completion, the following is displayed:
 Click on OK to terminate the uninstall process.
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