first of all, MindNode (whether intentionally or not), fits users that are more visually-geared. i mean by being able to easily manipulate the visual location, color, and position of a group of nodes with the child nodes, all with little effort and thinking makes this app very appealing to me. there was a lot in that sentence.
there are like 2 keyboard shortcuts for you to know, then you can drag and place: a single node, a group of nodes either fellow sibling nodes and/or its child nodes and organize them in a way that makes the most sense for you.
im really surprised this app doesn't get infinite downloads a week. but i tried a look at the other apps (like MyMind, MindJet, NovaMind & FreeMind) to see what the reasons might be that they are so much popular.
first i notice they are much more text based. i mean that you write an outline, then it shows you a visual representation of a mind map. now you can move around the nodes in the mind map and they pretty just change the order of topics in the outline. now, this is good because it keeps your outline updated. there are set of rules in order to make that happen, so you cant really put the nodes any-gosh-darn-where you freely choose.
now i guess that's good because it keeps your outline updated, but what if you don't give a fuck about an outline just yet? you, being a visual thinker, just want to put your ideas somewhere and arrange them visually. after some rearranging you will pretty much have a better idea of which are the main(est) ideas, separated into topics, subtopics, facts and analysis.
so in short, this is the best mind mapping software for visually-based thinkers. while the others help you focus on writing the outline/paper while a mind map helps you visualize.
obviously no software is perfect, which is why i gave 4 out of 5 stars under value. so developers, please perfect it. sorry to leave you hanging, but i don't feel like getting to much into it right now.
im tired.