Don’t let a little recession stop you from investing in the productivity-enhancing benefits of mind mapping software. Here are 14 programs you can purchase and download for under US $100.

What strategies have you used successfully to share your maps with others - especially with linear thinkers? What works? Please share your thoughts in the comments section of this blog post.

According to the development team at Buzan Online, version 3.1 of iMindMap will be released this week, which will contain several project management enhancements.

If you’re looking for a mind mapping program that will enable you to do project management – including Gantt charts – there are only four that offer this feature: MindManager Pro 7 (utilizing JCVGantt, which Mindjet recently acquired), OpenMind 2 Business Edition, MindMapper 2008 and iMindMap 3 Ultimate. Here’s a closer look at the functionality of each one of these powerful tools.

MindMeister is without question the most innovative of the web-based mind mapping applications available today. Its developers have taken a truly creative approach to leveraging the capabilities of this Web 2.0 tool to the maximum. Here are 8 cool things you can do with MindMeister’s unique toolset.

Inspiration Software , the developer of the well-respected and widely used mind mapping program Inspiration, has just released the beta of a web-based version of its flagship product. Dubbed Webspiration, it does an admirable job of translating the well-designed Inspiration user interface to the web, while adding collaboration capabilities.

Mind mapping software acts like a prism, separating a major task or challenge into its component parts and enabling you to see the relationships between them, so you can more effectively develop creative solutions to address it.

What are the defining characteristics of an excellent software-produced mind map? Please share your thoughts in this discussion!

iMindMap 3 was recently launched, and includes a number of improvements from the beta version that I recently reviewed. Here’s what’s new.

SmartDraw.com has just launched SmartDraw 2009, a new version of its popular diagramming and mapping software that features a wealth of improvements - including the ability to animate or “sequence” your diagrams when exporting them to PowerPoint, and several new mind mapping enhancements.