Brilliant! This is more than just an essay, more like an ode to FreeHand. It has a wealth of information and specifics not to mention your personal history of use. The FreeHand panel shots are great.
Good to see your features request for a resurrected FreeHand:
-Proper PDF engine, with an ability to import and export PDFs
-Adobe type engine, with support for OpenType, UniCode, font grouping, optical kerning etc
-Support for SVG
-A history panel would be great.
I encourage other members to read this. The article deserves a mention in our next newsletter.