Yankee Hotel Freehand
Freehand users worried about Adobe’s purchase of Macromedia should remember that this is the second time Adobe has purchased Freehand. When is the last time something like this happened? The last time I recall is when AOL Time Warner bought Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot twice, the first time as Reprise and then as Nonesuch. Don’t wait for a documentary entitled I am Trying to Break Your Freehand to come to a theatre near you. While Wilco’s album debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard charts and posted the band’s strongest sales ever, Freehand is going the way of PhotoStyler.
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This is a blog about technology, music, vinyl, turntables and more.
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One way or another Freehand will survive, at least I hope so. I'm not a fan of Freehand's quirky ways, but hey, some people like its quirks just fine, I'm sure. :-)
I've always been an Illustrator guy, though it's also what I cut my teeth on in the early 90s (I do believe what you learn with often becomes your app of choice). Still, even as an Illustrator guy, I hope Freehand sticks around, for its fans and also to keep Illustrator going forward.
Probably my biggest concern about the merger is a potential lack of competition and innovation to drive both macromedia and Adobe's products forward.
I suppose only time wil tell...
Freehand is welcome stick around as long as the Adobe buyout means Illustrator and Flash will become better friends. Yes Rodney, we can all just get along.
While I liked the idea of Freehand, I never really used it. Most of my vector based needs were handled quite nicely by Fireworks.
As someone who actually purchases their own software, prospective price increases give me worry. For example, I bought Cool Edit for $69. After Adobe purchased it and dubbed it Audition, it's price shot up to $299. For the type of work I do, I actually prefer the useful combination of raster and vector capabilities offered by Macromedia's Fireworks ($299) to the division of labor offered by Adobe's Photoshop ($649.00) and Illustrator ($499.00). There is little hope of many future Fireworks releases when there is money to be made selling expensive, powerful application sets without offering the option of a more economical Swiss army knife. Macromedia Studio is already over priced at $899. If history is any indication, I expect that Adobe will be raising Creative Suite's $1,199.00 price tag after the dust settles.
Per the software pricing woes Faust Gertz details, I wonder why his employer can't negotiate an education rate? While not excusing the pricing practices of Adobe, I am relieved that I can purchase Creative Suite through the university I attend for a tenth of retail. Ditto Macromedia Studio.
Yes, Fireworks is cool for handling both formats (easy batch processing too!). I regret I am programmed to expect it to work like Photoshop though and am still not comfortable with it.
Yes, I agree with Nutsack, you're paying too much for your software (especially since you work in academia). In my university's bookstore they sell Creative Suite Premium for $434 for the boxed version retail. For a license for on-campus use, it's more like $140. A boxed retail version of Macromedia Studio MX 2004 costs $199. Macromedia even has an online educational pricing store that you can order from, if your campus bookstore doesn't sell software. There are also various websites out there that offer educational pricing on software.