ADOBE MEDIATION RESULT

[vaa]

I will not sign the agreement, for several reasons:
– I think forefeiting any of the things Adobe wants forfeited is onerous;
– I think the rebate is ridiculous, inappropriate and insulting, both in amount (the Adobe litigation funds allow a lot more than that; this rebate is practicallly meaningless and does not cover a lifetime of work; probably not even a free lifetime license for the whole package would!) and in intention (to buy silence and agreement);
– I think the negotiations were inappropriate; but before you point the finger at the three FFF-initiators, ask yourselves what can be done with ca 8000 US$ donated by… 6500 members… What did we do? I am sorry…
However, I urge everybody to reject this settlement and to thank the three FFF negotiators for their efforts.
Also, if this is at all feasible without disproportionate penalties, I ask them to denounce any nondisclosure agreement. I think publication of the terms of the agreement is the only appropriate reaction to the abuse of power and the unfair competition behaviour of Adobe. I think the press will be a lot less disarmed than our negotiators…

[ThePixelDoc]

[ThePixelDoc]

Due to my above posts sticking up for the FFH Team, I think I do have to make public ONE BIG complaint I have in the way this was handled.

That is, that our email addresses we use here, were handed over to Adobe so that they could send us the (admittedly!) sorry-ass "Discount Documents".

While I don't have much faith in Adobe's abilities to engineer their software, I would not put it past them to link up our email addresses here with our addresses we use on the forums, or as in my case, my Adobe ID. If that's done, I can see them, being the children they are, being biased about future participation in Lab Betas (as I do) or on the boards. I now feel it necessary to recreate an ID at Adobe (for business reasons), so as not to run into "potential problems or discrimination" in the future.

The releasing of email addresses SHOULD have been out-right refused, due to normally needing a court order to get them.

There SHOULD HAVE BEEN an email from FFH, with only a button-link to opt-in to the "Discount Agreement" if a member so desired. I personally can't see too many members here doing that, so now we're just known as "trouble makers".

Sorry guys... but this needed to be said.

[cedeberlin]

That FreeHand really will not be "free", I am very very sad. The offer by Adobe is ridiculous (and I agree with ThePixelDoc: our e-mail addresses should not have been passed on to Adobe!).

Nevertheless, thanks to the FFH team for the work and time.


If Illustrator should really be improved, here are my wishes:

First: a knife function like in Freehand for straight cuts through all the elements. Elements, they were opened in this case, must be closed automatically

Second: If items from different layers are grouped, they must be after the ungrouping to its original layer.



Meine Wünsche nochmal auf deutsch:

1. Eine Messerfunktion wie in FreeHand, mit der gerade Schnitte durch alle ausgewählten Elemente möglich sind, und die hierbei geöffneten Pfade automatisch schließt

2. Wenn Elemente aus verschiedenen Ebenen miteinander gruppiert werden, müssen sie nach dem Ungruppieren wieder auf ihren ursprünglichen Ebenen liegen

[cyclopsdx]

Obviously a disappointing outcome for all of us on this board, but I can't lay any blame on the FFH group. They've done an admirable job in being the voice that has represented us for these past few years. Now we know Adobe's position on this and the level of insult they choose to throw at us by offering a discount on the most current version of the software we hate (and which doesn't solve the issue of the millions of files that can't be opened on the latest version!), we need to move on.

We need to find solutions to our problems - that's what we, as creators do. We've all been prepared to go this far, so there is no reason why we shouldn't continue looking for alternative routes. And I welcome the proposals and directions FFH want to put to us.

I, for one, have declined their offer and refused to sign the agreement. It will do me no good whatsoever to purchase Ai CS6. It's crap and I hate it and will only buy under duress when my clients absolutely insist I use it. I'll get by on Snow Leopard, FHMx and Ai CS5 on a back-up machine if I have to.

I noticed that, by signing the offer, I agree to not be involved in any further litigations against Adobe. I can't guarantee that will happen, so that gives me another reason not to sign it.

Onwards and upwards. Let's see where we can truly take this vision of a simple, hassle-free, streamlined drawing app.

Looking forward to hearing what's next.

[saschabierl]

I agree 100% with ThePixelDoc: I absolutely don´t understand why our email adresses were given to Adobe. What else do they know now? Did they get our serial numbers too? This is absolutely not acceptable! I missed a lot of transparency during the whole thing.

[Art of Pendleton]

I wanted to join the chorus here who have declined the "offer" from Adobe. The text of my refusal is as follows:

I believe your "settlement" with FreeFreeHand to be unjust and as such will not sign this insulting, petty document. When Adobe acquired FreeHand it had an ethical obligation to keep the twenty years of artwork I've created still viable, as my livelihood and passion is dependent upon such body of data. The admonition to just "switch to Illustrator" was never an acceptable alternative. Just make better software, Adobe! And I HAVE the CS6 version, and it's worse than ever. Do you just not care about providing a decent illustration application?
Sincerely,
-- John Pendleton

... and I mean that.

[Art of Pendleton]

I'd like to state that I'd be willing to invest from $20 to $100 US dollars in any Kickstarted venture to create a new vector application replacing FreeHand and opening our legacy files.
I am a rare Windows user, and so far Windows 7 has run both FreeHand 10 and MX with no problems -- much smoother than the new CS6 Sickustrator.
As long as the new app will be developed for Windows as well as the Apple platform, I'm in.

[dpidan]

Wow. I agree with so many of the previous replies. I cannot believe that FreeFreehand.org has given in to Adobe! Freehand must be released. There has been no competitor on the Mac since they bought Macromedia and killed FH. This is Monopolistic and must be challenged!

FreeFreehand.org, please, if it's not too late, don't give in. Tell them that this weak response is not an acceptable compromise. Did you run out of money? Please help us to understand why it ended like this!

Illustrator is just barely getting to where Freehand was almost 10 years ago. Improving Illustrator was not the intent of FreeFreehand.org - releasing it was. Why now are you accepting this weak compromise?

Obviously I'm baffled as to this outcome. Is there no other recourse?

Thank you FreeFreehand.org. We appreciate all the work you've put in to this.

[vaa]

Not (only) to Adobe, but the company which administers the signing. I wish I could send these replyes directly to the Adobe people (not possible as reply to this „discount” eMail.