Nothing is so bad as Illustrator.

[kaluk]

I started using FH with version 2.0.2.

Without any question - FreeHand was and is (unfortunately) still the best vector program ever. At the other site - Illustrator is so bad, that my english is too poor to express how it is bad. I am not old-fashioned. Believe me - I really honestly tried to switch to Illustrator, I even spent really big money to buy it. I know good this application with all its abilities, I have 7 Macs and 7 designers. But the only reason why we all must always have the newest Illustrators, are the customers they give us their AI documents and we have to work with them.

There are hundreds things I could say against AI. Enough is to say that:
The newest AI is still much worse than 9 year old FreeHand.

A message for Adobe: Guys, as good is your InDesign and Acrobat family, as not bad is your Photoshop - as tragic is your Illustrator. I am absolutely sure that you know that. So please - continue on FH - quiet hidden. The name is absolutely not important. We all - with pleasure - will call that product Adobe Illustrator. Today's AI is only your big shame.

[FFH Mark]

FreeHand is a gem in Adobe's hands and yet it has been ignored, refused and neglected for all it has to offer users. Imagine if this had been a different scenario in 2005-2007 and the best of FreeHand had been combined with the best of Illustrator!
But instead it was killed and a backward Illustrator lumbers on as our substitute. It's craziness and why we are in the position we are in.

—Mark

[vinnygi]

This is a perfect example of why competition is necessary. Adobe announced a sneak peek of Illustrator CS6 and its killer new feature seems to be the ability to create tiled patterns. Wow! Another feature that FreeHand already has.

[Monika Gause]

You could design patterns as early as Illustrator 88 (as can be seen in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3TDmvZma84 ). What's new is *how* you do it.