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Maeric9 · Dec 17, 2009, 01:47 PM

For those designers/artists who either own or use Adobe FreeHand, or who have migrated to Illustrator and find it lacking, the FreeFreeHand organization is lobbying for updates to FreeHand MX or to have Adobe release it. With almost 4000 members worldwide, the movement has been attracting hundreds of members each month.

Adobe has officially said it has "no plans" to upgrade FreeHand but the demand is very strong and "no plans" does not mean "will not". Because of heavy user demand, FreeHand MX now performs on Snow Leopard due to a recent official update by Adobe: http://kb2.adobe.com...psid_50468.html

Many of us own and use Illustrator CS3-4 but the speed and simplicity of Freehand is still vitally important to our creative workflow. So if you are a Freehand owner, user or switcher to Illustrator CS3-4, visit this website now:
Free FreeHand organization

Competition Breeds Innovation, Monopolies Destroy It

turtle777 · Dec 17, 2009, 02:29 PM

I want a new PPC Mac

-t

Thorzdad · Dec 17, 2009, 02:56 PM

Freehand? Really? What next? Manifestos from the CorelDraw Preservation Society?

andi*pandi · Dec 17, 2009, 03:27 PM

Shhh, you'll wake them. The Ventura Publishers Association also. They get cranky when their naps are disturbed.

Freehand users do have a point, why is Adobe camping on the code.

Thorzdad · Dec 17, 2009, 03:58 PM

Hehe. I'd forgotten about Ventura.

But, really...this sounds a whole lot like a very delayed (and nasty) hangover from those old, heated religious Freehand v. Illustrator debates designers used to have with each other...circa 1998.

design219 · Dec 18, 2009, 08:22 AM

Christ, there is still a guy in our studio who keeps opening up Freehand.

Maeric9 · Dec 18, 2009, 09:36 AM

Since my post went up yesterday, it's getting some noise and a little perspective seems due here. Of course, we all have choices with design and illustration tools. I am as comfortable with FreeHand as many of you are with Illustrator. I prefer InDesign to QuarkXPress. NeoOffice to MS Office. A Mac to a PC, and here is where the real analogy lies. What makes a Mac any less than a Windows PC because Microsoft has 90% of marketshare? What makes FreeHand any less than Illustrator because it has 90% marketshare? The fact is, Adobe acquired the competition and as andi said, "Why is Adobe camping on the code?"

Understand, the aim of this organization is not about who is better in the vector apps field (circa 1998) but rather that Adobe is forcing a migration. Ask yourself why? Even as an Illustrator user ask this. FreeHand is already bringing benefits to AI users (multiple pages, blob brush, ...) so it's not like it's a useless, outdated application. No, the reason they have clamped down is because it's the only real competition in the pro-vector market (and it's a 6 year old app!) This is a game-plan right out of Microsoft.

CorelDraw?! I have to admit I cracked up when I read that one but of course, PC users will object. Inkscape ... ever tried using that in the X11 environment? And I don't believe the hobbyist vector apps like Lineform, Intaglio, EasyDraw, etc. even apply here as competition. The point is, myself and thousands of others have AI and use AI and will keep AI in our arsenal of tools, BUT FreeHandMX is too important because of it's speed, toolset and features that aren't in Illustrator CS4 (or are workarounds at best.) Keep an open mind on this, folks . . . as Mac users you all know what it's like to be marginalized by a 90% marketshare industry.