FreeHand answers to Adobe Illustrator arguments

[nocturnal YL]

Read through this post, basically waht Adobe was thinking is that it couldn't maintain an age-old, foreign codebase with the original development team disbanded.

http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2007/05/fr ... illus.html

...This does not justify the EOL of other products like GoLive and Authorware (although its demise was a completely different story), which had their teams still working at the time of acquisition. It is actually quite likely that even if the FreeHand team was still there, FreeHand would end anyway.


Quick reply to the questions:

- FreeHand is outdated
So is a lot of things, like the fact that most of CS5 is still 32-bit. Being outdated doesn't mean it is bad. Take Flash for example. Flash CS5 is newer than Flash 8, but can CS5 import PDF and FH and export to WMF/EMF? And industry standard? If I use other programs to output AI files, then it's just the same thing.

- Adobe won't spread resources over two apps
Oh, right. Then we have no need for Flash Catalyst. Just ask Fireworks to do the job! There are a lot of other "overlapping but targeted at different people" examples (Au/Sb, Fl/(FB+FC), even Ps/pse to some extent). Adobe is just using a double standard here. If function overlapping is truly the sole reason, then there won't be so many drawing tools out there. (Ps/Ai/pse/Fl/Fw/AE all deal with graphics somehow, so let's merge!)

- Is FH really faster than Ai?
Search on YouTube. See for yourself.

- FH ended before the merger?
And? Macromedia abandoned its users, and as acquirer, it's now Adobe's responsibility to take care of them. Not with those FH to AI guides, but more realistic solutions to deal with the fact that Ai does not cover all FH functions and is not as fast.

- AI is the correct way
Whoa, we're getting political here. Ever had a thought that not every single piece of vector graphic is going to be thrown into a printer or plotter? And no, just because that isn't their main use, it doesn't mean we can't use FH or Ai to make screen graphics.

- Why multiple pages?
That's just not how it works, you know. If we have to be strict on what does what, then Ps won't save as PNG32 or slices, Ai won't save as PSD, ID won't allow text editing and you'll have to buy IC separatelty for that. This is extreme, but that's what your question was toned like.

- FH doesn't fit in the Adobe workflow
FH could work with Ps since around FH 7 and Ai since around FH 9 with import/export functionality. And if Adobe seriously consider FH, they could make it work just as well. By "workflow" it's just the ability to read files, clipboard data and roundtrip to/from each other, so it's not an impossible task to do.

- Ai has all important features FH does
That solves some problems of Ai, not all. Ai is still not as fast.

[FFH Mark]

The statement I originally posted about Illustrator having all of FreeHand features or its being the market leader (and/or whatever other AI vs. FH bullshit arguments are thrown at us) really misses the point of FFH's protest towards Adobe. Case in point, I was listening to this archived 2007 podcast of DesignTools Weekly about the end of FreeHand. http://www.design-tools.com/podcast/dtw_20070723.mp3 In all of the host's lament of its end and having to migrate, nowhere is it considered that perhaps Adobe overstepped its bounds by acquiring the competition. And doesn't that seem a common ignorance by so many designers and Illustrators who have migrated too? Instead they argue about how many more AI features there are or that somehow fate was involved with FreeHand's demise. "Just get over it" and embrace AI.

Listen to this 2009 podcast about FreeHand from the Tech Night Owl show and how Gene Steinberg handles his interview with Bez Palmer. http://www.freefreehand.org/images/FFH_ ... ghtowl.mp3 He actually states the anti-trust aspect during his show.

I have argued that Apple/Mac users have 10% of the computing market against Windows/PC's 90% and yet is there any justification that Macs should be removed from existence because they are a small market-share minority? This scenario is no different than FreeHand. After all, Windows now does many things that Mac OS X does just as Illustrator now does many things that FreeHand does (for obvious reasons.) So why aren't you Mac users migrating to Windows PCs, especially if it has OS X-like features and a huge market share??

– Mark


(I decided to change the title of this thread to be more descriptive and readers will see the excellent answers being written.)

[FFH Mark]

I was sent this comment today from a post about news at the Adobe FreeHand forum: Links to FreeHand news articles?
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/848744?tstart=0

I feel sorry for those that might have wasted their donation at freefreehand.org. The legal complaint seems really, really weak. It must have been very difficult for freefreehand.org to find a lawyer that would take their money.

One cannot successfully pursue an antitrust complaint when the same plaintiff/complainant maintains a forum discussing alternatives.

from an article...
Adobe's bundling of Illustrator with other Adobe products, including Photoshop, Dreamweaver and InDesign, "constitutes a significant entry barrier by limiting the ability of potential rival professional software manufacturers to enter the market without a full array of graphics software," the complaint states.

Adobe's bundling of Illustrator with other Adobe products, including Photoshop, Dreamweaver and InDesign, "constitutes a significant entry barrier by limiting the ability of potential rival professional software manufacturers to enter the market without a full array of graphics software," the complaint states.

I've never bought Freehand as a standalone app. I always had it bundled with other Macromedia apps. Why didn't freefreehand.org file a suit against Macromedia years ago for selling software bundles as they are now arguing against Adobe?

While I like Freehand, there's really no reason to expect something worthwhile out of this. One piece of software is not an island. There are so many patents wrapped up in Freehand and shared in other currently developed programs that it will be impossible for Adobe to divest. And there's even less of a chance that Adobe could be ordered by a court to continue to develop and support Freehand.

Did anyone think this through?