This was an e-mail that I sent in response to one of the guys from freefreehand.org. While it is not specifically a tip or trick regarding the internet, I figured it is blog worthy while I was typing it.
I am excited about the movement to get the FreeHand codebase released into the open source arena. I also would like to mention that I am still using FreeHand on a regular basis and avoid Illustrator at all cost. www.freefreehand.org
Please note that these are my comments or observations and do not reflect the opinion of my former employer Adobe Systems (Macromedia).
Lets step back in the way back machine to the time of 1994 Adobe was acquiring Aldus and FreeHand future was first questioned. Would Adobe continue to be the distributor and have both FreeHand and Illustrator? Fortunately, Jim VonEhr and the leadership at Altsys the developers of FreeHand and Fontographer negotiated to sever the contract bringing FreeHand back home.
Then came the talks to merge with Macromedia which was buying up companies and technology in a wide variety of areas with Director, SoundEdit and a bunch of other little programs that finally died or was rolled into another new product. Then in January of 1995, FreeHand 5 (Mac) was release and the merger with Macromedia was final. FreeHand 5 was the first version under the Macromedia banner. Development was hot with the windows and Mac version 5.5 release shortly there after.
Then there was FreeHand version 6... wait I mean version 7. In many users opinion the best release since the sainted version 3. The marketing was one of the biggest pushes I ever saw. There was a world tour that was happening and the support team was going on site visits to major customers and user groups around the country. The excitement was big. The features were big, Shall I mention Graphic Search and Replace? I still remember demoing that feature to the team at National Geographic in Washington DC and they were sold. FreeHand 7 if I recall did capture some market share but did not get majority share.
Then the focus of Macromedia changed, it was dotcom this that and the other. Shockwave was the new push of the company, all applications had to write to the web in some manor. Director had Shockwave. Authorware had Shockwave for Authorware. Dreamweaver was in its infancy, Flash was now in the product line and FreeHand was now trying to figure out its place in the new corporate focus. GIF and JPEG format was added. There was even a cool Shockwave player for FreeHand that looking back was in competition with Flash.
Lets not forget this was also the point that Macromedia did the re-branding of the company with the new logo and icons for the products. RIP Pat. It was at this time that the clock started ticking down the remaining life for FreeHand.
Yes there was continued development of FreeHand all the way up to MX AKA version 11 but there was never a push to market it like there was with Version 7. Macromedia was only continuing to produce because the loyal fans were still wanting more and dare I say, there was still profit in it. Trade shows never put FreeHand in the spot light it was only in a side station and if someone asked it would be shown. So yes, software too can experience Cinderella Syndrome, FreeHand was now the step child that no one wanted to focus on at the corporate level.
Adobe was the 2000 lb. gorilla and was dominating the market. Photoshop was an industry standard, (Remember xRes?) anyone doing anything with images was using Photoshop. Because of this they had an advantage in pushing Illustrator as the industry standard. By default, users assumed that Illustrator was what to use despite the fact that it has two pointer tools (yeah, now FreeHand has two also). Shall we bring up Quark XPress and InDesign?
While FreeHand and Illustrator are both illustration applications, they clearly have a difference in the person that would be using them. You and others can ask yourself this question. Did FreeHand get in the way of your creativity? Does Illustrator?
Lets jump back in the way back machine once again to 1988, I was looking and evaluating everything I could get my hands on to find a more efficient way to do illustrations, than pen and ink. My step dad just spent a fortune on a Macintosh SE with a 10 MB hard drive. I was a moth attracted to the porch light on a warm June evening. I got my hands on a bootlegged copy of Illustrator 88, FreeHand 1.1, Super Paint and anything else that I could beg, borrow or well steal to find the answer to my nagging question that there had to be an easier way to get my job done.
Illustrator could only work in keyline mode. FreeHand was allowing me to work in preview. Super Paint well, it really sucked. It was at this point that I found that FreeHand was not getting in the way of my creativity and causing me to jump through hoops to get the job done. I went on to make my employer millions with with FreeHand. I could also mention the whole color and black and white thing also. It's kind of like the Mac vs. Windows thing. Yeah you can do the same things on both. But which OS works in harmony with your creative side?
OK, back to today. I would love to see Adobe let go, it is time to let the 22 year old Adult move out of the house and out on it's own and create it's own future. There is still room for two illustration applications on this planet. Releasing the code base into the open source arena would be exciting to see what could become of FreeHand. Snow Leopard and IntelMac not to mention Windows 7 compliance. New features and Xtras could be exciting along with fixing a few of the bugs would not be bad also.
Free FreeHand!!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This is a great analysis of FreeHand's evolution (or rather de-volution with Adobe). There is so much information in this article, it takes more than one read to get the full picture. In the end though, what would an Open Source FreeHand look like?
ReplyDeleteInkscape certainly is a good model of this open contribution but I would hope FreeHand would keep it's UI and simplicity rather than the ugly way Inkscape looks and can act (on a Mac anyway.)
Another question, would ex-Macromedia personnel contribute? I wonder if FreeHand was just another job to them or was/is there some pride in this application? It would be interesting to know how the "team" feels today.
Of course, so much of this comes down to Adobe's approach to FH. How they release it from their lineup would mean they could sell it off to another company just as much as open source it.
After reading this it came to my kind this long-told story about the very rich guy that couldn't find any love to buy. Adobe is just like that. They just bought FreeHand to get rid off the competitors. But this is ain't new. I remember long time ago (around the MacOs 8 era) when I went to a demo presentation of an awesome application that was on their track to fight face to face with Photoshop. The app was Live Picture (if I remember right). Let me present a time reference: This was the time when talking about HighEnd power computers meant talking about Silicon Graphics, with their 4 GB of RAM memory (or more), meanwhile Mac were using MB, not GB.
ReplyDeleteThis LivePicture app could make ANY filter effect, any rendering on the fly! and the best of all, they were talking of heavy images. Once you applied all filters you wanted, there was this short time when the app was doing all the math and rendering to save the image. Absolute awesome application, but I think Adobe ran into panic and the quickly bought this and safely kept in their warehouses. Adobe was sweating! "uff, that bullet was close!"
Brilliant, Free Freehand and let us carry on doing the work we do, the way we want to!
ReplyDeleteI loved Freehand, and it would be a wonderful move to release it's code as open source. But unfortunately this will not happen. Why should Adobe risk to sell less Illustrator copies? It's much easier to cut the oxygene to Freehand and let it die slowly. As they did with Homesite, which was the only program that could become a danger to Dreamweaver. Now it's dead. And - as sad as it is - Freehand will be next...
ReplyDeleteI don't think FH is dead just yet... just to get that personal opinion outa the way.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that strikes me overall, since using a Mac and computers since 1985 and all of the assorted graphic software since version 1.0 of all of them, is how slow the last decade(s) has been in regard to advances to any of them.
To think of the millions I've also made using FH, PS, and other assorted programs, on machines at the time that were rated in megaherz speeds and megabyte RAM configs... is astounding to say the least.
It is more apparent and depressing when I see what an iPhone and apps for it can do, and then I have to go into Illustrator to do my "compatible" contract work... and what it STILL can not do up to a level of FH9 (...FH7? Visual groups anyone?)
It really is sad to finally have these affordable workstations that we could only dream about in the 80's and 90's, only to have the software for them ever so lacking and seriously behind the curve(!).
Think about this: you can do almost anything with a ~50mb application (FreeHand) that stays out of your way and let's you create; or you can wade through a less functional program that weighs in at 350mb (that's just the program, all told Illustrator is ~650mb exclusive user profiles)!
Anyway... I for one hope that FH finds a new home. And dare I say, I wouldn't change too much of anything, other than update it to take advantage of the horsepower and underlying technologies of it's host OS. "Maybe" add the ability to import more formats for positioning, like native layered PS images, and respecting transparency. That's about it IMO.
> let the 22 year old Adult move out of the house
ReplyDelete(crying) YES!!!
/devoted fan since FH5/
I've used FreeHand since version 1 also. I have always preferred it over Illustrator. I spent 2 years in the mid-90s trying to learn and use Illustrator for another company, and I cried every night when I got home. I finally found another job where they needed someone with FreeHand experience, and I jumped at the chance, and luckily, I got the job.
ReplyDeleteSince 1991, I've owned Macs for use at home along with graphic design and publishing software, which I uses as a side job for a number of years before I started my own little graphic design studio.
I got lucky and bought a copy of the Macromedia 5.5 Design Suite, including FreeHand, Fontographer and other applications. I got it at a bookstore that was having a closeout sale and paid only $179 for the whole suite.
After that, I faithfully upgraded my software suite with Macromedia and by the time they released FreeHand MX (11), I was fairly knowledgeable on the use and contents of the application.
After FreeHand 7, the upgrades (8-11) were OK. Some cool things were removed and others added. I like FreeHand MX (11), but there are some things that need to be addressed, such as some bugs that cause crashes when you least expect it.
Right now, I use FreeHand MX (11) on my new Mac Pro and it works great. I've had to tweak the Keyboard shortcuts and I save A LOT so, if I do have a crash, I don't lose anything.
I'm really annoyed with Macromedia, though. They had the chance to update FreeHand 10 and 11 with the ability to export to Adobe Acrobat PDF versions 5 and 6, but didn't do it. FreeHand only exports to version 4 PDFs. And then I have to open them in Acrobat and "Optimize" them to newer versions, which sometimes doesn't make them better.
I send all my friends and colleagues to Free FreeHand.org so the maybe one day, FreeHand will be FREE of Adobe. Can you say "Monopoly?"
Take Care. Good luck with the fight to Free FreeHand.
FreeHand has clear advantages as a drawing program. It's totally intuitive to use (never had used a computer before, but was producing work on the first day, no sweat!). But for years I've done 95% of my general print work on it, including magazines and reports. For stationery and forms you can't beat it - everything in one file and fully editable. In fact I could have dumped InDesign and gone with just FreeHand and Photoshop. A pity that no-one banged the drum for it more as a complete DTP tool.
ReplyDeleteHello John-
ReplyDeleteWith the announcement of Adobe CS5, all of us at Free FreeHand want you to know that FreeHand MX can have a future. Since you first posted this blog entry back in December, we've grown tremendously (5000 members) and our research has given us a clearer picture of the solution that has the greatest benefit for Adobe and for FreeHand. Exactly as you expressed here, it's Open Source. Here is what we know:
The man in charge of Adobe’s Creative Business Unit (i.e. Creative Suite CS5) is V.P. John Loiacono. He joined Adobe in 2006 after the Macromedia merger and he oversees FreeHand MX along with the rest of the Creative Suite applications. John came directly from Sun Microsystems which is VERY significant because he was the guy that helped to open-source the Solaris operating system. Not to mention that Sun’s StarOffice is directly linked to OpenOffice and NeoOffice for Mac; both of which are open source.
In 2007, John wrote an Adobe blog post that showed his affinity for open source and the Adobe business model of “integration” that would prevent it. His blog seemed relevant at the time but today, Adobe is trying to keep up with fast moving trends and seems desperate not to be seen as a dinosaur (like with Flash?) While he accepts the Adobe model of integration, he also said of open source,
“I come from a company that believes strongly in open source . . . in the right circumstances, I absolutely believe in the model.” and he adds,
“... open source software can be a perfect solution. It's just not right for everything. Or for everyone - like many creative professionals who are on deadline and prefer to innovate vs. integrate.”
Note that “innovate” refers to open source and “integrate” refers to Adobe’s business model; an interesting distinction. There is more and suggest reading his blog yourself:
http://blogs.adobe.com/johnnyl/2007/08/innovate_or_integrate_3.html
John Loiacono could be an important key to open up Adobe for testing the open source model and what better program than with FreeHand MX. With an Adobe “sponsored,” open-source FreeHand, they can still protect the FreeHand patents they need for Flash/Fireworks/Illustrator and yet have the innovation that comes from the open-source community. Because Adobe can’t kill FreeHand outright (FTC regulations) they can pull it out of it’s hibernation and put it to good use to test open source. In fact, our Free FreeHand MISSION STATEMENT has listed these added benefits for Adobe’s acceptance of an open source FreeHand:
• Innovations and new approaches to vector programming
• New features for Adobe Illustrator and InDesign
• Aura of goodwill and reaching out to customers
• Direct competition with other open-source apps (Inkscape, Scribus)
• Creating a new business model for this decade
• Customer base using both FreeHand and Illustrator
• Avoiding customer dissatisfaction and activism
• Alleviate piracy of Illustrator and InDesign
• Attract new customers from open-source FreeHand to the Creative Suite.
What does Adobe have to lose? .... Nothing! .... Illustrator has finally won over the market share of vector artists AND become the industry standard. With the new Illustrator CS5 there is no direct competition remaining. This means FreeHand can be released from bondage to serve both it’s user base and Adobe’s need for innovation.
In short order, our organization will be contacting Adobe management with its full Mission Statement and request for negotiations. If any reader hasn't yet signed up at http://www.FreeFreehand.org then do so now and get on the mailing list for updates. Or for more information or support, contact us at info@freefreehand.org. There is a stronger chance for FreeHand's future than ever before ...if we shout loudly for it.
The Free FreeHand founders:
Bez Palmer
Thü Hürlimann
Mark Gelotte