Which tools used people before DenkWerkZeug? How do they compare to DWZ?

From the answers people gave use on the early access sign-up form, the following tools were mentioned in "Which tools did you use until before DenkWerkZeug?" We list them here, so that you have the choice.

• Instiki - math-enabled wiki
• DenkWerkZeug is inspired from wikis.
• Freemind - an open-source mind-map tool
• DenkWerkZeug is not a visual tool. It might have read-only visualizations to explore connections in search results.
• Freeplane - a fork in 2009 from Freemind, supports plug-ins to extend functionality
• Plug-ins are a great idea.
• iMapping - an infinite zoomable pin board which supports visual linking, too
• A fantastic tool for the visual user. Scalable, intuitive.
• Yojimbo - information organizer for Mac OS X
• DenkWerkZeug focuses more on handling complex models than on handling tons of simple, unconnected notes.
• Evernote - very easy to take notes on all devices: text, voice, photos; organization by tags only
• See Yojimbo. Maybe DenkWerkZeug should be able to import or connect to Evernote.
• Trello - a list of cards; collaborative
• A very simple model. 
• Journler for Mac OS, discontinued after version for OSX 10.7 - very text oriented
• DenkWerkZeug is not meant for writing documents. Should it?
• editorially.com - collaborative writing; application no longer available;
• See Journler.
• iAWriter on iPad - writing texts with a MarkDown-like syntax; distraction free mode
• See Journler.
• draftin.com - version control; collaboration for writers
• See Journler.
• yEd Graph Editor - to visualize any kind of graph
• Could be used to prototype visualizing the content of a DenkWerkZeug model
• Goalscape - Visual Goal Management Software
• DenkWerkZeug is not a special tool for managing goals or tasks. But it will be able to handle tasks as well. Every tool is mis-used to handle tasks anyway, so we better plan for it.
• Citavi - reference management, knowledge organization, and task planning; roots in reference management
• We have to check out this tool further.
• Microsoft OneNote - a personal journal with great integration into all Microsoft products; collection of copy & paste office snippets
• We will never achieve this level of Office integration. But we aim to be able to structure concepts and data better.
• TheBrain - network of concepts; each can hold a note;
• Very similar to DenkWerkZeug. DWZ will allow queries rendered as tables.