G4 Out of Retirement as Freehand MX Machine

[AndyDiamond]

I just dragged my 2000 G4 / 400 Sawtooth out of storage to use solely as a Freehand MX machine.

The Mac had been pimped out with a Mercury Extreme 1.4Ghz Processor, 1.25GB RAM and an ATI9000 card so was pretty quick (it is hooked up to an Apple 20" Cinema Display).

Adobe never did anything with Freehand MX when they acquired it and I HATE using Illustrator (like using a blunt knife on a tomato) so I have been using Freehand MX under Rosetta for years.

Now I have to move up to Lion on my Mac Pro for various reasons so I can't run Freehand…. so out comes the G4.
OK it has a noisy fan but hey it is being put to good use and that old G4 tower looks kinda cool.

Please somebody make a Freehand app soon!

So, anyone else using a dedicated machine for Freehand MX?

 

[eyoungren]

I just dragged my 2000 G4 / 400 Sawtooth out of storage to use solely as a Freehand MX machine.

The Mac had been pimped out with a Mercury Extreme 1.4Ghz Processor, 1.25GB RAM and an ATI9000 card so was pretty quick (it is hooked up to an Apple 20" Cinema Display).

Adobe never did anything with Freehand MX when they acquired it and I HATE using Illustrator (like using a blunt knife on a tomato) so I have been using Freehand MX under Rosetta for years.

Now I have to move up to Lion on my Mac Pro for various reasons so I can't run Freehand…. so out comes the G4.
OK it has a noisy fan but hey it is being put to good use and that old G4 tower looks kinda cool.

Please somebody make a Freehand app soon!

So, anyone else using a dedicated machine for Freehand MX?

No, but I do have a couple versions of Freehand on my work and home Macs. Freehand has always been sort of a Swiss Army knife for me. It will open just about anything. Stuff Illy, Acrobat or Photoshop chokes on.

It was and is still superior to Illustrator. Unfortunately for me, I work in an industry where Illy won the war so I end up using it the most.

You may be interested in this though. There are a lot of Freehand users still out there (me included).

 

[AndyDiamond]

Thanks - yes I have seen that.

One would hope that something could be done.

Obviously Adobe want people to use Creative Suite (Illustrator) so selling the or making available the Freehand code they might think is loosing customers. I kind of doubt that these days - those who have grown up using Illustrator probably wouldn't switch. It would give us more freedom.

I've yet to see a convincing vector app in the Mac app store but things are looking promising.

Adobe must see the writing on the wall regarding pricing.
They have to start offering their apps in the App Store at competitive prices and unbundled - we don't want to have to buy these damn suites!

The argument used to be that InDesign was cheaper than QuarkXpress - now that doesn't wash - you have to buy Creative Suite. Quark is still a good app - arguably better and less "busy" that InDesign - and competitively priced.

Photoshop CS 6 in the App Store for $299?
Yes please.

Freehand 2012 - App Store $299?
That would be rad.


Go figure.

 

[eyoungren]

I don't have any proof, but it has always been my impression that when Adobe buys out a competitor or runs them out of business it's vindictive. True, Adobe may want to keep Freehand from competing against Illy, but look at their track record.

They bought Aldus. Shortly after that Adobe Pagemaker (PageWrecker) died. The only reason they made a version 7.0 and kept up support was because of the very large PM customer base out there. But they made no bones about killing it off and forcing those users to ID. GoLive didn't do well, so they bought out Macromedia. How much promotion do you hear about Dreamweaver? When was the last update for that? Same with Freehand.

Those are just some examples. You could counter argue about Flash, but I think that's just Adobe being greedy (as usual). Flash is ubiquitous so Adobe wanted the money that was generating.

I agree with you on the pricing. But that's Adobe. They're like Micro$oft. Once they have a user base who can't do without the program people will whine and moan, but they pay. And where are they going to go? Sure they could switch to QuarkXPress (that happens to be my favorite program by the way) but what about a vector app and a raster image app? All the free or low cost options out there don't come close to Illy or Photoshop.

 

[FFHMark]

Freehand MX latest

I don’t use a dedicated machine for my copy of FreeHand MX; I simply won’t upgrade until the future of FreeHand is determined and so are a lot of other users who stay on 10.6.8 (or less.) The whole issue with Adobe’s ham-fisted approach to FreeHand has motivated me to the organization that Erik linked to. But, have either of you seen the latest development in our class action lawsuit against Adobe? It is looking good for our side:

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Adobe cannot dismiss an antitrust claims that the company stifled superior FreeHand software to boost its own Illustrator product, a federal judge ruled.
(...) Defending claims of supracompetitive pricing, the group showed that Illustrator cost $399 in 2005 and $599 by 2008.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ruled Friday that the inflated prices appear unlawful because of anticompetitive conduct.
"Plaintiffs ... claim that Adobe maintained its monopoly power through anticompetitive conduct such as discontinuing FreeHand and channeling FreeHand customers to Illustrator, which Adobe bundled with other Adobe products," Koh wrote. "Thus, in the context of the facts as pled, and read in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, Adobe, as a monopolist engaging in other alleged anticompetitive conduct to maintain that monopoly, would not be lawfully entitled to raise prices."
The judge also rejected Adobe's claims that "integrating acquired assets from FreeHand and removing a product from the marketplace is 'rational and normal business conduct' that could only reduce a firm's purported market power and give greater opportunities to its rivals."
"That Adobe was able to maintain its high market share, despite increasing Illustrator's price in 2008, after announcing that Adobe would essentially be discontinuing FreeHand in 2007, undermines Adobe's assertion that discontinuing FreeHand has actually increased competition," Koh wrote. —Courthouse News Service Tuesday, February 14, 2012​

Read the whole article...good stuff. I too am a user of both Quark XPress and FreeHand and had a similar discussion on QXP's forums a while back. I also use Adobe products and to me, this is where Adobe is shooting itself in the foot except with its own customers. Bad policy here, imo.