Austhink - switch and bait.

Posted by Frederick Wahl
Feb 29, 2016 at 03:36 PM

Some may remember a couple of mind-mapping programs from this company, Rationale and bCisive - different flavors of the same program, geared for ‘argument’ and ‘decision’ mapping respectively. I owned both programs and would have continued to do so (probably), until they switched to a subscription based model. I can understand why they might want to do that, but I didn’t feel like paying a subscription for what would most likely amount to only cosmetic changes to the same functionality over the years.

I only bring this up because I recently tried to run the copy of the older versions of these programs, and they didn’t work. During of an email exchange I had with Timo ter Berg of Austhink (which I will provide copies of to anyone interested) trying to resolve this problem - his only solution was to offer me a 1-year license key for the perpetual license versions of the programs I already own.

To anyone interested in this type of software - I would suggest a better alternative: Flying Logic Pro. Their management is savvy enough to still use the ‘perpetual license’ model, and their program offers the same if not better functionality (their mind-map balloons auto-arrange, etc.).

My two-cents.