Chuck, I agree with the ‘four somethings’, but not four ‘generations’. I think it refects reality much better to consider it “the four forks of mind mapping”. All four uses still have their place in different circumstances:
- My eight-year old is making handrawn mind maps of natural phenomena in his inquiry class. It’s not necessary to push him to a computer keyboard for that. In fact I think it would inhibit him and his classmates on the same table.
- I use a desktop mind mapping program when planning articles where no collaboration is needed. I don’t need a web connection for that.
- I used 2D mind maps for managing projects and information and now I’m using 3D ones for the same thing.
- And when I’m working with clients who are sypmathetic to mind maps, we use a collaborative platform. That’s always with the limitation that we’re not working on confidential material that they don’t trust on someone else’s server.

To me, ‘generations’ implies that we’ve moved on and left earlier uses behind. Although we’ve moved on, in the sense that things have become possible that previously were not, it’s been an _expansion_ of possible uses, not “Let’s abandon that because now we can do this.”

Argey
project manager http://www.topicscape.com/