Blue Knight Sojourn of the Mind

A software comes around once in a while that wen originally viewed is looked at as nothing more then a toy, but when fully used and utilized after some time becomes the best software ever.

The Brain Personal (http://www.thebrain.com) is just that kind of software. I have been using it for at least 6 years now and have gone through the whole evolution of the software. While looking like a fancy toy this software lets you create links and thoughts for the way you think and work. No it is not a gimmick if you actually take the time to learn the software that is exactly what it does (A little more on that later).

While the software has been around on the Windows platform for ages now and has evolved through out its life, it is now available cross platform due to the company porting it to java. The 4.0 version of the software is available for download at this time for the Linux, Mac, and Windows versions. Although since it runs on standard SUN Java it can be adapted to multiple platforms. The software is free for the basic version, but the advance version which gives you a ton of exporting options and other things does cost money although it is definately worth it. Now more on some examples to make you understand, and some of the uses that I find for the software.

1. Link Manager - The software provides the ability to create links for various categories and interlink them together as needed. If you look at standard link managers or at the browsers bookmarks they are linear, meaning that for each “category” it can only exist in one. The Brain does not suffer with this limitation giving you the ability to link Yahoo to Finance, Search Engine, Blog, News, etc,. So that you can find this page from multiple locations when you are looking for something particular.If your browser is defined properly in the operating system it will start up the browser when clicked on the link. It also provides notes so besides having a link you can write up important things about a web sites, services, etc. The software is also capable of multiple attachments, of which Web just happens to be one.
2. Address Book - I use Linked-In Software and other to keep my extensive work and home contacts in place. But once again, Outlook, Evolution and other contact managers only keep a linear thought process (although with Outlook categories, you can assign multiple categories). But this software by using multicolored links (Known as Link Types) lets you truly link the categories together so if Bob is a Friend of Jim, but is the brother of Samantha you can see it visually within seconds. Using it with Linked-In also provides the ability to keep track of the linking process with my business associates as well.
3. File System Information - At work having to deal with multiple clients at the same time I sometimes have to have a number of files, that I need to keep track at some time or another. This can include version numbers, customer information, etc. Having a liner directory based system was hurting me a bit because as I was using Soft Links from multiple locations to keep track ov some information I was not able to take down notes and other things associated with the files. The Brain solved this problem immediately, not only can you keep track of the files you can also take notes and search through them at will. As before a single file can have various links and relations as well.
4. Installed Software Versioning - Having multiple systems around the house I needed to keep track of the software that was installed on my Linux, Windows, Mac, etc . From one location. This allows me to check for software updates when I get around to it. Once again, it is easy to accomplish.
5. MindMaps - If you like to create mindmaps for brainstorming purposes, you can do so with this program at ease. In fact it can give you some options that other software can not due to the extensive linking capabilities.

I also use it on the Mac and my Linux System at the same time. While the new licensing is a bit prohibitive, because you are only allowed to install the full license on two computers. You do not have to install the commercial version for vieweing only, and you can transfer things at will between system using the new archiving utility that is built in.

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