I came across what is possibly the most useful use of the Windows Presentation Foundation I have seen so far. Thoughtex is a fantastic new free mind mapping tool that uses WPF to draw its maps.


It feels very intuitive to use even though it's still in beta. The whole look-and-feel is very reminiscent of windows media centre.

Thoughtex supports images, links, and rich text inside the mind map boxes/nodes.

Yahoo search is integrated into the application, giving a slick selection of relevant information as you type.

To put the icing on the cake, a spellchecker is also included which highlights you typos in Microsoft office style.

It's a refreshing change to see such a beautiful, well thought out application. I for one will be replacing Freemind now as I have a native alternative. Thoughtex is definitely one of those must have tools. If the software is this good now, and development is still in beta - I can't wait to see what the finished product offers.