MindManager 2022: point release vs major release

Thanks for replying Ary. I've been too busy to properly reply to this but will be doing so tomorrow.

Thanks for replying Ary. For transparency, I think it helpful to be clear on our relationships with MindManager.

I am a 20+ year MindManager Windows customer. On the Community pages, you have been designated a MindManager Expert, but from LinkedIn, we can also see that you are a MindManager Business Partner of some 20+ years. I wonder if our different relationships with MindManager is coloured by any differing in access to product features we perhaps have?

Tl;dr: As a MindManager Mac or Web customer, I might be content with MindManger 2022 being described as a major release, but as a MindManager Windows user, I am not. MindManager 2022 for Windows is a point release with little new functionality.

Let me elaborate. Users, such as I, who have maintained access to the full product and any new versions via paid MSA (MindManager Service Agreement) or UPP (Upgrade Protection Plan) subscriptions have recently found that, without warning, we no longer have access to the full product and are locked out of cloud features such as co-editing. Ary - are you an MSA or UPP customer, or do you still enjoy full access (how?) to the whole product set?

Treating long-standing, loyal customers in such a fashion, if not an accident, is a disgrace. How could the company have introduced a new "Professional" subscription that just looks like a rebrand of the old UPP subscription at a more expensive £166.80/year price point – compare that to access to the full Microsoft Office suite, which I use all the time, can be had for £96/year. It looks increasingly like the company has done this, without discussion with affected companies and users, because it thinks it can get away with such poor treatment of customers. I don't know this to be definite but the failure of the company to engage with users in the community pages (1 example link below) and also in emails, in my case, on this subject is indicative. Ary - are you able to provide any clarity as to why loyal, subscription-paying customers are being treated thus?

https://community.mindmanager.com/topic/753-if-i-have-a-msa-or-upp-what-features-exactly-am-i-getting-and-not-getting#comment-2027

Now, let's have a look at what you describe as "a lot of extra and improvements", 02:09 in:

https://www.mindmanager.com/en/resources/webinars/whats-new-mindmanager-2021/ (Note: the link currently refers to 2021 not 2022)

New: Cross Platform Native Co-editing. I have been locked out of using this #1 new feature. Although in MM21 I have all the user controls for it (no longer present in MM22), I get the following message when trying to use them: "You don't have a license to use this product". However, according to 17.20 in, "All MindManger platforms have been equipped with both native cross-platform Co-Editing and Snap Share"

New: Snap Share. Yes, I can add map parts to my Snap Queue, but for what purpose? Perhaps this is useful for Co-Editing, but I don't have access to that. As pointed out later, there is already a repository for Map Parts, so Snap Share using a different repository is repeated functionality rather than new.

New Status Overlay. This is not new. Status Overlay was already present in MM21. It's been enhanced with new icons.

New Spell Checker. Not new. I already have spell-checking capability in MM21. The release notes mark this as Improved.

Enhancement: Performance. At least, the presenter is honest about the difficulty of measuring enhanced performance. For me, any chat of performance enhancements needs to be backed-up by significantly noticeable improvements. I've seen none. Especially given my recent performance issue with SmartRules in both MM21 & MM22. (https://community.mindmanager.com/topic/824-smartrule-performance-limits#comment-2136)

Enhancement: Map Parts. Flow charts and diagrams now being saveable as map parts is good. I could make a case that this is a defect fix given the prior ability to save most every other thing in MindManager as a map part but would happily settle for it to have been marked as an enhancement even though the release notes has no mention of it.

I'm happy for others to convince me I'm wrong and that MindManager 2022 for Windows is not just a point release with little new functionality, however, please be specific and provide examples.

James.

My response to your questions about my relationship and the license type I use.

"we can also see that you are a MindManager Business Partner of some 20+ years. I wonder if our different relationships with MindManager is coloured by any differing in access to product features we perhaps have?"

I started out being a user just as yourself. But after a while my customers requested to provide MindManager training and so I did. That is the main part of my business relationship. Yes, there are customers who let me handle their subscriptions as well.

"are you an MSA or UPP customer, or do you still enjoy full access (how?) to the whole product set?"

I have a full subscription since the yearly amount for that is a lot less than the saved hours (at a rate)

Ary

Do you mean you have the new "Professional" subscription that just looks like a rebrand of the old UPP subscription at a more expensive £166.80/year price point?

I don't understand what you mean by "the yearly amount for that is a lot less than the saved hours (at a rate)"? What saved hours?

Thank you

James.

Ofcourse I have the most complete subscription. It seems that British pound prices are less than we pay in Euro.

I save about an hour a day since over 20 years now.

And my time has a value that my customers are happy to pay. At my current rate, MindManager costs about the value of 2 saved hours. So the price is a no-brainer.

By the way... I don't think it is important to know about my / or your relationship with MindManager.

It is the quality of the product and support from the supplier that counts.

I am called an expert in this community, probably because I tend to respond to many questions that come up.

Just as Alex and Nick and, and.

Sometimes I know the answer, sometimes I have to investigate, but in that case I learn myself.

And often I can learn from other users and experts.

Afternoon Ary

My sole interest in your relationship was to see if it provided you with a different subscription and user experience.

If you "have the most complete subscription" then I think that means you have an Enterprise subscription.

https://www.mindmanager.com/en/pricing/

The problem is the matrix above seems to have, at best, forgotten about the existence of MSA & UPP subscribers; or, worse, deliberately ignored them.

Regards

James.