I own Tinderbox. I read the book "The Tinderbox Way". I used Tinderbox.

Eventually, I realized it was not a tool for what I do.

It has an outliner. But it is far slower to use than OmniOutliner Pro. You can't brainstorm graphically as quickly as a mind-mapping software like Inspiration or NovaMind. And the graphics are better in these applications for presentation.

It is nice to be able to add attributes to any note. This way, you can organize the information later to find patterns in the information or gain some insight for the information. The problem is that I already do this in my head. Having to manually add attributes slows me down.

Tinderbox essentially turns outlining into adding records into a free-form but limited database with numerous fields. It is useful if you don't have a structure for a database in mind since you can set the attributes the way you want - thus it is more free-style. But once you have the structure for the information, Tinderbox actually slows me down since the interface isn't as nice as a customized database from Filemaker.

You can store data in it. But I think DEVONthink Pro is far better for randomly or categorically storing information.

For writing, it doesn't have the structure that Scrivener has. Scrivener also has an outliner. And you can also store your notes in Scrivener.

Tinderbox is like a database but cannot be used for huge data sets since it is not a database - it will bog down when there is too much data. It doesn't index its information like databases commonly do for rapid retrieval. For random information, DEVONThink Pro is better.

Yes, it has programmability. You can even use it to create websites. But this creates a lot of complexity which isn't useful for the Tinderbox's core function - organizing notes. I prefer doing the programming in a database like Filemaker or 4D if I want something complex.

Yes, it can graphically present the information. But the graphics are PRIMITIVE and not as attractive or polished like Omnigraffle or even the mind-mapping apps. It cannot present like Keynote.

What I think Tinderbox is useful for is data which is unstructured for which you want to find relationships, develop a schema. Thus, all the work to add attributers to each note. If you do not have a schema for your information, Tinderbox allows you to find one.

The problem for me is that I like doing this all in my head. And I already know the data and its structure and its schema. I just want the data in front of me. And for data that already has a structure, Tinderbox is not as useful compared to more specialized software like Omnioutliner, Filemaker, Scrivener, etc.

Yes, it has a difficult learning curve. But the problem is the interface. XCode is far easier and clearer to use than Tinderbox. And XCode and Mac Programming are an order of magnitude more complicated.

Tinderbox's interface is PRIMITIVE and UGLY. It is quirky. It does not act like a modern Mac OS X application. This makes it harder to use off the bat. And it is a turn-off for a long-time Mac User like me, who expects better. After a while, I simply did not like using it. It feels like a Windows 3.0 application or something from the 1990s. On a Mac, I like beautiful and powerful application interfaces that are intuitive to use. Tinderbox is not beautiful. If you are going to use something 24-hours a day, it better be beautiful. Even Photoshop has a more intuitive interface than Tinderbox.

I bought Tinderbox for its potential despite how EXPENSIVE it is. I hope the author continue to improve on it. I applaud it. It is quirky because he is quirky. It is his vision. He is the only programmer working on the application. That is a strength and a weakness.

In case you have not read these, you may want to look at http://www.atpm.com/10.10/atpo.shtml and http://www.diyplanner.com/node/4443

I think that MindNode and OmniGraffle overlap only with a small part of Tinderbox's functionality; making a graphic representation of ideas similar to a mind map. Tinderbox does much more than that (if you want it to). It's been a while since I gave it a try, but it seems to be a very powerful tool for dealing with text. If you want to get into advanced features, it has a steeper learning curve than other software.

I almost bought it once it was on sale for around $90. I think that regular price was $145 back then and I passed. At $229 I no longer consider buying Tinderbox. It may be worth it for some people, but it's hard to justify that expense. I've spent much more than that on other software, but can't justify such an expense for Tinderbox. IIRC, the price includes only 1 year of upgrades, and upgrades are $90 after that.

I liked Tinderbox quite a bit when I used it, I just didn't like the price.

Tinderbox does a tremendous amount of work that the diagramming tools you mention don't attempt.

It's got inheritance, so you can do real knowledge representation and knowledge management. You don't need to use inheritance, but it's there if you need it -- and it's easy to use.

Tinderbox has flexible export templates, letting you use it as a powerful but personal content management assistant. You can easily export to whatever text, HTML, or XML format you need; a journalist in Kandahar just posted an elaborate 40-year timeline exported straight from Tinderbox. You don't need to use templates, but they're there when you want them.

Tinderbox agents are persistent searches, and its rules provide a graceful way to enforce constraints. Again, serious power for representing complex issues. Again, you don't need this if you don't want it.