As it turned out, Netscape’s promises turned out to be grander than their ability to deliver the technology. Meanwhile, their announcement had the effect of tapping the tiger on the nose; Microsoft mobilized, and a titanic battle ensued that came to be known as the browser wars. It ended when the Department of Justice intervened on a previously unseen scale, but not before Netscape was essentially reduced to a smoldering hole in the ground.

Now Google has announced that their open source Web browser, Chrome, will form the basis of a new web-based OS to be released in the second half of 2010. TechCrunch, never known to shy away from hyperbole, says that Google has dropped a nuclear bomb on Microsoft:

But let’s be clear on what this really is. This is Google dropping the mother of bombs on its chief rival, Microsoft. It even says as much in the first paragraph of its post, “However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web.” Yeah, who do you think they mean by that? [...]

Google notes that any app developed for Google Chrome OS will work in any standards-compliant browser on any OS.

What Google is doing is not recreating a new kind of OS, they’re creating the best way to not need one at all. [...]

A lot of people are still wary about running web apps for when their computer isn’t connected to the web. But HTML 5 has the potential to change that, as you’ll be able to work in the browser even when not connected, and upload when you are again.

As that last paragraph implies, the main difference between Google’s effort, and Netscape’s a decade ago, is that the state of the art is now significantly more advanced. The technology of the web-based thin client has finally caught up to its promises. And Google, as a company, is both significantly more mature and well-financed than was Netscape.

This latest iteration of the browser wars should be interesting…

It’s been five or six years since I last tried using mindmapping software; at the time, I was distinctly underwhelmed. I usually found myself spending more time battling the interface than actually accomplishing anything.¹ I eventually went back to the trusty old technology of pen-and-paper.

I recently decided to give mindmapping software another try, and couldn’t be happier with the results. I was pleased to find that the state of the art has significantly improved. These are the mindmapping tools I evaluated, any of which I’d feel good about recommending:

• Mindjet MindManager – $349 w/30 day free trial; available for Windows or Mac ($319 from Amazon). Easily the most powerful and easiest to use — see my comments below.
• XMind- Free, open-source; available for Windows, Mac, or Linux. XMind Pro with extra features is $49/yr. Not as slick as Mindjet, but fairly strong on features — and the price is right.
• MindMeister – Free, Web-based; no software download or install. Premium account with extra features available. Limited features and not the greatest interface, but it’s more than sufficient for quick-and-dirty tasks.

Mindjet MindManager was by far my favorite. It’s an absolute dream to use, with a slick and intuitive interface and lots of powerful options under the hood. I’m downright giddy with how much it’s helped me accomplish in just the last week. Unfortunately, it’s (relatively) expensive; I almost certainly wouldn’t have bothered evaluating it if a kind patron hadn’t offered me one of his company’s extra licenses.

There’s also FreeMind, a Java-based app, which is why I have a (perhaps unfair) bias against it. Java apps have tend to have a clunky, sluggish user interface, and a few minutes with FreeMind seemed to confirm this. Java’s write-once, run-anywhere client apps remain better in theory than in practice.

Finally, Personal Brain is a neat mindmap-like tool with a much larger ambition: to organize all of your digital information. The interface is slick, but not especially well-suited to basic brainstorming; it’s more of a long-term investment.

Have you tried any of these tools? Did I miss any? Let me know what you think!

1. The same was true of early editions of pre-Microsoft Visio, wherein even the most basic network diagrams could become an epic battle of wills between me and the software. (I usually lost.)

While its basic function as a blogging tool is well-known, WordPress is actually a powerful website content management system (CMS), too. With its rich text content editor, site navigation tools, and thousands of third party plug-ins, it’s a perfect fit for a small businesses looking to establish an inexpensive but professional Web presence.¹

In this recent USA Today profile, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg noted:

People might start with LiveJournal or Blogger, but if they get serious, they’ll graduate to WordPress. We try to cater to the more powerful users.

This is certainly true. I’m a big fan of Google’s Blogger, and I use it for a variety of personal projects. But when it came time to choose the software platform for Bits & Bytes 2.0, I knew I wanted something more powerful, polished, and professional, so I chose WordPress.

An entrepreneur looking to set up a basic Web site with WordPress has two options:

1. WordPress.com — It’s free to sign up for a Website in the format (YOURNAME).WordPress.com, which includes an impressive amount of basic features.
2. Your Domain (.com) — The WordPress server software is open source, which among other things means that it’s free to download and use. As well as offering this as a premium feature at WordPress.com, many Web hosting providers are happy to support WordPress, too, and make the setup process very simple.

As ever, hosting your own Website or blog is the more professional option, but has relatively minor upfront and ongoing costs.² There’s no reason to take the plunge sight unseen, though—since WordPress.com blogs are free, why not head over and set one up to see what you think? In less than two minutes, you can set up a new blog and start poking around under the hood.

If/when you decide you’re ready to host your own WordPress website or blog, and don’t already have a Web host, check out this earlier rave review for my own hosting provider, Dreamhost—and be sure to use this exclusive coupon to save some money. Happy blogging!

1. In many contexts, “website” and “blog” are largely interchangeable terms. Technically speaking, a blog is a subset of the more general website classification; all blogs are websites, but not all websites are blogs. The technical differences between the two are trivial, but a blog is usually organized around regular content updates listed in reverse-chronological order.
2. Costs will include domain name registration ($15) and monthly Web hosting (from $5.95/mo to $10.95/mo at Dreamhost, for example. If you already have a Web host, and they support WordPress, then there’s no additional fee for the WordPress software.).