Andrew Shuttleworth Web HQ

The 30 Most Important IT Trends for 2007

One of the fun things about this time of the year is that we get to see the round-up of trends from the last 12 months and predictions for the next, like The 30 Most Important IT Trends for 2007. I'm not going to look through any of the points in detail but it's interesting just to scan the list to get a sense of what's going on.

The most interesting point for me, '30. Dissatisfaction with vendors is on the rise'. If anyone in Japan is dissatisfied with their vendor, please get in touch. At Customers, Vendors, People (www.cvp.jp), my primary goal is to identify the best vendors and connect them with companies who need their services.

MindManager vs Visio

This article on informit.com from a 'non-sensory and non-visual person' gives a great summary of some of the benefits of mind mapping with MindManager. It looks like mind mapping is slowly becoming more and more mainstream. Some of my favorite snippets.

"for one thing this client had seen the tool used by a number of other   executives at a high level conference; that's how he got interested in the   product."

"mind "mapping"   is different from flow charting (Visio) in terms of its rapid response to mental   stimuli."

"it visually represent ideas in a way that   allows you reorganize them later, hold people accountable, and see the "big   picture.""

"a mind map branches out   in an organic way, allowing you to see relationships and work in a less   structured and free form way"

"Mind Manager takes the best of Visio and OneNote (the searching   and tabular versatility) and combines it into a powerful visual brainstorming   and organizational tool."

"If you're a visual thinker who works on tight deadlines with complex   ideas and projects, I suggest you try Mind Manager Pro — you may never use   an outline again."

Google Acquires JotSpot and makes it free

JotSpot is a great service for providing a content collaboration platform for teams.

"JotSpot wikis allow you to go beyond text-only pages and collaborate with rich application pages right in your wiki. You can mix and match text and application page types as needed, from web-based spreadsheets and calendars to photo galleries and email lists. All within a familiar wiki interface." (From the Jot Blog)

My favorite feature is their bug tracking system. It is very simple to use and can be used for managing and tracking any type of requests. For example even if you are a small company with an outside webmaster, it is far more efficient to use such a service for tracking and prioritizing change, update and bug fix requests rather than relying on email archives.

The service did get a bit expensive if you were only using parts of it. The great news is that Google will be providing it for FREE. (Registrations are closed during the migration phase).

Google's suite of online software services are really developing fast. All I need is a guaranteed always-on internet connection or some type of offline sync (like Microsoft's Groove) and I'll no longer need to install software on my computer.

I really hope Google come up with mind mapping tool. That would be amazing.