MindManager Windows to Mac: More Than Just Porting an Application

This article backgrounds the effort taking Mindjet’s MindManager 6 Pro mapping application from Windows to Mac. It’s an interesting read for anyone that’s ever asked:

“Where’s the Mac version of <users favourite Windows application>?”

Differences in platform architecture, tools and user expectations for design & behaviour between the two platforms mean a successful translation not a simple task…

"Mindjet Enhances MindManager 6 Mac: More Than Just Porting an Application"

"Mindjet Enhances MindManager 6 Mac: More Than Just Porting an Application"





"A Mac application is structured differently from a Windows app."

“…the call for a Mac version of MindManager first came from Mindjet customers who were also Mac users.”

“A robust Windows version of MindManager already existed, and the C++ source code was available. This naturally led to a flurry of architectural questions that had to be answered:

• How much of this code can be used?
• Given that the goal is a true Mac application, how much of this code should be used?
• Windows does feature X in a certain way—does this translate faithfully to the Mac, and if not, what alternate mechanism will work?
• Which features absolutely must be included, and which can be left until a later version?
• Since both versions must handle the same file format, how will the Mac version handle Windows-originated data corresponding to features not included in this first implementation?

These questions (and many more) were answered by the team…”







“A robust Windows version of MindManager already existed, and the C++ source code was available. This naturally led to a flurry of architectural questions that had to be answered:















These questions (and many more) were answered by the team…”

Tags:  mac, Mindjet, MindManager+6+Mac