Future of Adobe Illustrator and Aldus FreeHand (Virtuoso)?
Izumi Ohzawa
somewhat competing products: Illustrator from Adobe and Freehand
(Virtuoso on NeXT) from Aldus (Altsys)?
Are these products going to be merged as well?
How does the merger affect Altsys that is the actual developer
of Freehand and Virtuoso?
Lorin?
--
Izumi Ohzawa [ 大澤五住 ]
USMail: University of California, 360 Minor Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720
Telephone: (510) 642-6440 Fax: (510) 642-3323
Internet: iz...@pinoko.berkeley.edu (NeXTMail OK)
sl...@cc.usu.edu
> What does the merger of Adobe and Aldus hold for the future of their
> somewhat competing products: Illustrator from Adobe and Freehand
> (Virtuoso on NeXT) from Aldus (Altsys)?
>
> Are these products going to be merged as well?
> How does the merger affect Altsys that is the actual developer
> of Freehand and Virtuoso?
Zowy! When did this happen? Where can I find details?
======================================================================
John Zollinger (NextMail Preferred)
Programmer/Analyst ati06!obsidian!jo...@attati.attmail.com
[Moore BCS - Logan, Utah] "Life is too important to take seriously."
======================================================================
Nevin Pratt
> What does the merger of Adobe and Aldus hold for the future of their
[... munch ...]
What merger? Never heard about it.
Please elaborate.
Nevin
Don Bora
I can't imagine Adobe mergint with Aldus. Adobe produces Illustrator
and Photoshop... Aldus produces Freehand... and Altsys produces Virtuoso
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
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Ed Taft
>What does the merger of Adobe and Aldus hold for the future of their
>somewhat competing products: Illustrator from Adobe and Freehand
>(Virtuoso on NeXT) from Aldus (Altsys)?
Nobody knows yet, and any statement to the contrary is pure
speculation. The Adobe-Aldus merger that was just announced won't be
consummated until about July, pending shareholder and regulatory
approval. Heck, we don't even know what the name of the combined
company will be. In the meantime, it's business as usual for both
companies.
--
Ed Taft ta...@adobe.com ...decwrl!adobe!taft
Peter F Davis
>What does the merger of Adobe and Aldus hold for the future of their
>somewhat competing products: Illustrator from Adobe and Freehand
>(Virtuoso on NeXT) from Aldus (Altsys)?
>Are these products going to be merged as well?
>How does the merger affect Altsys that is the actual developer
>of Freehand and Virtuoso?
My optimistic guess is that Adobus will concentrate on Illustrator
(for which it owns the sources) and let Altsys take back Freehand.
Currently, Altsys is contractually prohibited from marketing an
illustration package on Mac and Windows platforms (by agreement with
Aldus). The big question is: what happens to this agreement after the
merger?
If Adobus is scared of the competition, it will continue to prohibit
Altsys from marketing a Freehand-like product, but it will concentrate
its own efforts on Illustrator. This would be really unfortunate,
since Freehand would basically stagnate then.
Of course, I don't know the terms of Altsys's agreement with Aldus,
but it's possible they could regain the right to market on Mac and
Windows if Aldus is no longer doing so.
-pd
--
===============================================================================
Peter Davis
"Standardization is the opposite of innovation."
Izumi Ohzawa
>Well as far as I know... Aldus and Altsys are two different companies.
>and Photoshop... Aldus produces Freehand... and Altsys produces Virtuoso
The merger story was in SF Chronicle Bus. section front page yesterday (Mar. 16).
Not a 1-st class paper, but it can't be all bogus. There is also a
posting from someone else as quoted below.
Yes, I know Aldus and Altsys are different companies, but as I
understand it, BOTH (Aldus) Freehand and (Altsys) Virtuoso are
really produced by Altsys. It so happens that Aldus just sells
Freehand under its own label, and provide support for it.
Lorin at Altsys stated in the past that Virtuoso for NEXTSTEP will
likely to be renamed to Freehand and possibly will be sold from Aldus
as their product just like Freehand currently is (after all these
two programs must share substantial amount of internal code, or
soon they will. Even now, their PS prologs are nearly identical if
you examine the PS files produced by Freehand and Virtuoso).
In any case, I thought it is likely that something will happen to
these two products after Adobe-Aldus merger as these two are competing
products. Also, since Altsys is the OEM supplier of Freehand and
Virtuoso to Aldus, they seem to be in a awkward position in this
merger. No? Being in the academia, I am no expert, but as a
user of Virtuoso, I would like to know what the plans are.
Izumi
>From: raj...@netcom.com (Rajeev Karunakaran)
>Subject: Adobe and Aldus to merge
>Message-ID: <rajeevCM...@netcom.com>
>Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
>Date: Thu, 17 Mar 1994 04:42:07 GMT
>
>In case you haven't heard...
>
>Adobe Systems and Aldus Corp, two of the leading makers of DTP software,
>are merging to become the fifth largest software company. The new company
>will be called Aldobe (my guess), and will be headquartered at Mountain
>View, Calif. Both companies will continue to sell all of their current
>product lines.
>
>Aldus, maker of PageMaker, is headquartered in Seattle. Aldus made a profit
>of $9.5 million from sales of $206 million in 1993, and has 1000 employees.
>
>Adobe, maker of PostScript, is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. Adobe
>made a profit of $57 million from sales of $313 million in 1993, and has
>1,100 employees.
>
>Executives of the two companies described the merger as a marriage of equals.
Paradigm Shift, Inc.
> I can't imagine Adobe mergint with Aldus. Adobe produces Illustrator
> and Photoshop... Aldus produces Freehand... and Altsys produces Virtuoso
Actually, Adobe bought Aldus as was announced on Monday of this week. Adobe's
stock went down and Aldus' stock rose $.75 on Tuesday.
Lorin is not at Altsys this week, however, no one at Altsys really knows what
will happen with the two competing products on the Mac and PC
Freehand/Illustrator. They themselves are waiting to see and brought up the
possibility of them marketing Freehand on their own or by another third party.
I always call Freehand the Mac version of Virtuoso anyhow. The technology was
only licensed to Aldus.
Dave
--
Paradigm Shift, Inc. in...@paradigm-shift.com
A NeXTSTEP-only Reseller 919.682.8553 [Voice]
Hardware, Software & Peripherals 919.682.1126 [Fax]
***** INSTANT APPROVAL ON POs ORIGINATING FROM SCHOOLS and GOVT. AGENCIES *****
Alan F. Perry
>In article <2ma684$8...@anaxagoras.ils.nwu.edu> db...@ils.nwu.edu (Don Bora)
>writes:
>> Well as far as I know... Aldus and Altsys are two different companies.
>> I can't imagine Adobe mergint with Aldus. Adobe produces Illustrator
>> and Photoshop... Aldus produces Freehand... and Altsys produces Virtuoso
>
>Actually, Adobe bought Aldus as was announced on Monday of this week. Adobe's
>stock went down and Aldus' stock rose $.75 on Tuesday.
Actually, it was more of a merger and it is not yet complete. It still has
to be approved by the majority of the shareholders. This is supposed to happen
around July when all of the Aldus magically becomes 1.15x more Adobe stock.
Apparently, the CEO at Aldus wanted to step down and the options were to either
find a new CEO or merge with a company with established management. Also,
on their own, Aldus could be too easily jarred by products from their
neighbor in Redmond, so the merger with Adobe is a good thing to protect
Aldus from Microsoft. (In case you don't see the Microsoft threat to Aldus,
MS could develop and afford to sell a DTP package at a loss long enough to
kill Aldus. This is harder to do with the Aldus/Adobe combo.)
Now, I wasn't aware of this, but Aldus and Altsys were apparently battling
over the name "Freehand". Does anyone have details on this? If there is
some legal wrangling between Aldus and Altsys, this Adobe deal seems like
a good out for Aldus (as they wouldn't be missing a product in that market).
Altsys may be out in the cold.
Oh, well. I am running Illustrator on my NeXT anyway.
Other interesting speculation that doesn't belong in this newsgroup is
what happens to Quark.
--
----------------------------+-----------------------------------------------
Alan F. Perry | Life is short, but by achieving greater speeds
al...@eng.sun.com (work) | a man can make his life a little longer and
esp...@netcom.com (home) | more affluent - Soichiro Honda
Glenn Reid
> In article <2m88n2$9...@agate.berkeley.edu>, iz...@pinoko.berkeley.edu
(Izumi Ohzawa) writes:
> > What does the merger of Adobe and Aldus hold for the future of their
> > somewhat competing products: Illustrator from Adobe and Freehand
> > (Virtuoso on NeXT) from Aldus (Altsys)?
> >
> > Are these products going to be merged as well?
> > How does the merger affect Altsys that is the actual developer
> > of Freehand and Virtuoso?
>
> Zowy! When did this happen? Where can I find details?
Adobe and Aldus signed an agreement on the 15th to merge, although it
must be approved by the FTC and so forth before it's final. No specific
plans have been announced for any of the products so far. There should
be a press release somewhere on the net, and I don't want to go out on
any limbs, since I work there (although it took most of us by surprise
too :-)
One share of Aldus stock is to be worth 1.15 shares of Adobe stock, as
I understand it. John Warnock will remain CEO of the merged company,
Chuck Geschke the President, and who knows from there. Paul Brainerd,
the current CEO of Aldus, is to take a seat on the board of directors.
This is all in the press release, as are some other things that I can't
remember, like combined revenues, etc., etc. Draw your own conclusions,
of course.
--
Glenn Reid gl...@rightbrain.com / gr...@mv.us.adobe.com
Woodside, California
speaking only for myself
Paradigm Shift, Inc.
writes:
> Actually, it was more of a merger and it is not yet complete. It still has
> to be approved by the majority of the shareholders. This is supposed to
> happen around July when all of the Aldus magically becomes 1.15x more Adobe
> stock.
Yes in a legal sense it was a merger, however, if you look at the numbers
(which I am sure Brainerd did, Adobe's doing quite well and Aldus had quite a
bit less profit on roughly (I believe) the same amount of revenues as Adobe.
Quark has hurt Aldus' PageMaker sales in a major way (too bad Quark never
finished their NeXTSTEP port) ):-(
J A Stephen Viggiano
>somewhat competing products: Illustrator from Adobe and Freehand
>(Virtuoso on NeXT) from Aldus (Altsys)?
I hope like all heck it means they're going to keep Illustrator and
sh*tcan that awful piece of dreck, Freehand.
Sorry, no smileys for this one.
--
Look for me under the arc lights, boys . . . . -- Bill Veeck, _Veeck_as_in_Wreck_
========================================================================
John Viggiano, js...@rc.rit.edu or sjv...@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
NAR 25615 I'm the NAR, and I vote!
Ron Pomeroy x(Coop)
>>In article <2m88n2$9...@agate.berkeley.edu> iz...@pinoko.berkeley.edu writes:
>>>What does the merger of Adobe and Aldus hold for the future of their
>>>somewhat competing products: Illustrator from Adobe and Freehand
>>>(Virtuoso on NeXT) from Aldus (Altsys)?
>>
>>I hope like all heck it means they're going to keep Illustrator and
>>sh*tcan that awful piece of dreck, Freehand.
>>
>>Sorry, no smileys for this one.
>>--
Let me re-iterate this...but in reverse! I hate Illustrator.
No smilies and no apologies either.
--
Ronald Pomeroy
Advanced Micro Devices
CAM Applications Group
rpom...@aunext1.amd.com
Peter F Davis
>Well as far as I know... Aldus and Altsys are two different companies.
>I can't imagine Adobe mergint with Aldus. Adobe produces Illustrator
>and Photoshop... Aldus produces Freehand... and Altsys produces Virtuoso
Wrongo! Freehand is written by Altsys under contract with Aldus, who
markets the product.
Scott Byer
Ron Pomeroy x(Coop) writes:
>>> I hope like all heck it means they're going to keep Illustrator and
>>> sh*tcan that awful piece of dreck, Freehand.
>>> Sorry, no smileys for this one. --
Ron> Let me re-iterate this...but in reverse! I hate Illustrator.
Ron> No smilies and no apologies either.
<Speaking *completely* for myself, as if you didn't know...>
Both products have their loyal following. Personally, being one of the "DPS
fanatics", I hope they *both* stay around. Virtuoso is the best proof that
a Display PostScript can be fast given good programmers that I've seen yet.
(And I hear that the difference in speeds between the NeWS and upcoming DPS
versions on Solaris will shock some people into believing... ;-)
And Illustrator? Well, we've gotten some politics out of the way. Truth
is, we've still got some more to work on. And if the NeXT community still
wants it, they're going to have to show a demand for it. Our applications
(*very* unfortunately) don't get originally developed on Unix, and so take
more work than might make business sense.
--
Scott Byer NeXTMail: by...@mv.us.adobe.com
Adobe Systems Incorporated These are *my* opinions, and
1585 Charleston Road, P.O. Box 7900 do not necessarily reflect
Mountain View, CA 94039-7900 the opinions of my employer.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Pomeroy x(Coop)
>>
>>Ron Pomeroy x(Coop) writes:
>>
>>>>> I hope like all heck it means they're going to keep Illustrator and
>>>>> sh*tcan that awful piece of dreck, Freehand.
>>
>>>>> Sorry, no smileys for this one. --
>>
>>Ron> Let me re-iterate this...but in reverse! I hate Illustrator.
>>
>>Ron> No smilies and no apologies either.
>>
>><Speaking *completely* for myself, as if you didn't know...>
>>
>>Both products have their loyal following. Personally, being one of the "DPS
>>fanatics", I hope they *both* stay around. Virtuoso is the best proof that
>>a Display PostScript can be fast given good programmers that I've seen yet.
>>(And I hear that the difference in speeds between the NeWS and upcoming DPS
>>versions on Solaris will shock some people into believing... ;-)
>>
>>And Illustrator? Well, we've gotten some politics out of the way. Truth
>>is, we've still got some more to work on. And if the NeXT community still
>>wants it, they're going to have to show a demand for it. Our applications
>>(*very* unfortunately) don't get originally developed on Unix, and so take
>>more work than might make business sense.
>>
>>--
Gosh, I feel kinda' bad using that word "hate" - especially since Scott has
answered numerous (often stupid) questions in the past for me.
Let's just say that I find AI extremely un-intuitive and difficult to use. It
does have the coolest tool panel around though. It's always difficult
engineering a product for both the novice and the advanced user. I also hope
both products prosper and improve. More importantly I hope both find there way
to OpenStep implementations.
Scott and Co.:Keep up the good work!
Paradigm Shift, Inc.
> I hope like all heck it means they're going to keep Illustrator and
> sh*tcan that awful piece of dreck, Freehand.
>
Yeah, whose Version 6 of their own product has problems opening Version 3
files, product on the NeXT you probably won't see past it's current version
(although RightBrain was going to update Illustrator as of last NeXTworld
Expo).
Illustrator may have been the standard but Aldus has been good at upsetting
that standard.
Jonathan D Buller
>>What does the merger of Adobe and Aldus hold for the future of their
>>somewhat competing products: Illustrator from Adobe and Freehand
>>(Virtuoso on NeXT) from Aldus (Altsys)?
>
>I hope like all heck it means they're going to keep Illustrator and
>sh*tcan that awful piece of dreck, Freehand.
Well, I'm kinda sorry to here you say that, since I wrote part of
FreeHand. You (and the Illustrator fans) have your opinion, and the
FreeHand fans (including the AP News wire) may have differing
opinions. I am no longer connected with any of the parties mentioned,
or have a copy of either product (except for my copy of Virtuoso/Sun,
but I don't have a Sun, so I haven't removed the shrink-wrap yet 8-)
The rumors I've heard are: 1) The no-compete clause was removed from
the Aldus/Altsys contract some time after Aldus Intellidraw came out.
Altsys still needed the FreeHand money, and Aldus didn't want to throw
away their number 2 product. 2) Someone at Altsys told me the clause
is still in the contract. (Extenuating factoid: I wasn't privy to the
contract, and wasn't paying much attention when all this was happening.
The someone at Altsys is also not privy to seeing the actual contract
as far as I know.) 3) Altsys was told of the merger about 12-24 hours
before the press release. 4) Nobody, including Brainerd, Warnok, and
Von Ehr have decided what to do.
Possibilities include: 1) Adobus gives FreeHand back to Altsys. 2)
Adobus buys FreeHand from Altsys. 3) Things stay the same, Adobus
sells both Illustrator and FreeHand. Other possible factoids: I think
Aldus owns the FreeHand trademark (hence Altsys Virtuoso, instead of
Altsys FreeHand, for NeXT and Sun) I don't THINK Von Ehr wants to sell
the company, but he MIGHT be worried that the loss of FreeHand support
from Aldus will slowly kill FreeHand and hence will sell.
Alternatively, he might want to get some of the marketing and support
people from Aldus (or they may get the axe in the merge) and try taking
the whole job on their own.
The bottom line is: at the moment, there are too many variables, and it's
WAY TOO EARLY to tell what's going on, let alone what's going to happen.
Jon Buller
Paradigm Shift, Inc.
writes:
> Here's your first vote (demand) to get Illustrator (back) onto the
> NEXTSTEP platform. With several gigabytes worth of Illustrator files
> and dozens of vendors (design firms and pre-press houses) who
> use Illustrator exclusively for all our projects, I am currently
> forced into dealing with a mixed Mac/NEXTSTEP environment.
>
> If Illustrator 5 ran on NS/FIP 3.2 I could complete the migration
> to NS and lead a completely integrated life. I could also encourage
> our many vendors to move to NEXTSTEP!
>
> Please port Illustrator soon!
>
If Illustrator (V) ran under NeXTSTEP it too, probably wouldn't be able to open
Version 3 files of it's own files, like I believe neither the Mac or the PC
can.
;-)
sl...@cc.usu.edu
> In article <2mjff8$6...@nkosi.well.com> lud...@well.sf.ca.us (Michael Rutchik)
> writes:
>
>> Here's your first vote (demand) to get Illustrator (back) onto the
>> NEXTSTEP platform. With several gigabytes worth of Illustrator files
>> and dozens of vendors (design firms and pre-press houses) who
>> use Illustrator exclusively for all our projects, I am currently
>> forced into dealing with a mixed Mac/NEXTSTEP environment.
>>
>> If Illustrator 5 ran on NS/FIP 3.2 I could complete the migration
>> to NS and lead a completely integrated life. I could also encourage
>> our many vendors to move to NEXTSTEP!
>>
>> Please port Illustrator soon!
>>
> If Illustrator (V) ran under NeXTSTEP it too, probably wouldn't be able to open
> Version 3 files of it's own files, like I believe neither the Mac or the PC
> can.
Why not just use Virtuoso. It will allow you to open Illustrator v3 files and
play around with them just like they were a native Virtuoso document. You
could then save it out as a Virtuoso document, or save it out as an Illustrator
v3 file. We do this quite often, and haven't had any problems. It also works
fine with Freehand files (of course).
Michael Burgstahler
ATTENTION:
The following text is a full flame attack using explicit words ...
Hey John,
shut up when you don't know what you're talking about !!!
The battle between Illustrator and Freehand/Virtuoso lasts longer than some
users know how to spell DTP. And today you can ask _professional_
graphic-designer all over the world, what they prefer:
The majority votes for Freehand, because it allows to do you work smoothly and
intuitively !
Far too many DUMB amateurs believe, that they so almighty CREATIVE because they
could afford to buy an impressive DTP-app. Take a look at business reports,
advertising, self-made-logos: All these STINK from BORING design, ridiculous
ideas and TERRIBLE hand-craft !
Illustrator (especially the new 5.0) still hasn't learned to get rid of those
FUCKING dialogs, but flashes users with oh-so-nice gradients and automatic
filters, which only brain-dead "designers" will use !
Freehand rules and Illustrator SUCKS !
FLAMING MODE OFF
Sorry Netters, but these words had to be spoken out ...
--
******************************************
Michael Burgstahler
mb...@westwerk.cube.de (NeXTmail welcome)
Two Tribes Informationsgestaltung GmbH
Forststrasse 163/1
70193 Stuttgart
GERMANY
Fon 0711 / 638360
Fax 0711 / 634696
******************************************
--
******************************************
Michael Burgstahler
mb...@westwerk.cube.de (NeXTmail welcome)
University of Stuttgart
2nd. Dpt. of Theoretical Physics
Lorin Rivers III
Don't candy-coat it Michael, tell us how you really feel! Thanks for
the kind words too. Of course I too am biased towards FreeHand and its
evil twin Virtuoso. Although I must say there is some cool stuff in AI
5.
--
Lorin Rivers Lorin_...@altsys.com
NEXTSTEP Sales Manager 214.680.2060
269 W. Renner Parkway NeXT Mail Expected
Richardson, Texas 75080 I said it, not my boss
Glenn Reid
> Illustrator (especially the new 5.0) still hasn't learned to get rid of
> those FUCKING dialogs, but flashes users with oh-so-nice gradients and
> automatic filters, which only brain-dead "designers" will use !
> Freehand rules and Illustrator SUCKS !
How old are you? Illustrator and Freehand are both very professional
products with sophisticated features, and lots of professional
designers get work done with both of them. You really don't impress
anyone, except perhaps yourself, with this kind of ranting on the net.
Although I do have to concede that I was in Fry's Electronics the
other night and there were two people trying to decide whether to
buy Illustrator or Freehand. One of them said, "but I read on the net
that Freehand rules and Illustrator SUCKS!" and it really seemed to
sway the buying decision.
--
Glenn Reid gl...@rightbrain.com
Woodside, California
Markus Wenzel
>Michael Burgstahler writes
>> Illustrator (especially the new 5.0) still hasn't learned to get rid of
>> those FUCKING dialogs, but flashes users with oh-so-nice gradients and
>> automatic filters, which only brain-dead "designers" will use !
>> Freehand rules and Illustrator SUCKS !
>How old are you? Illustrator and Freehand are both very professional
>products with sophisticated features, and lots of professional
>designers get work done with both of them. You really don't impress
>anyone, except perhaps yourself, with this kind of ranting on the net.
Glenn, you should know that "lots of professional ... (insert your
favourite job profile) use it" is a bad argument for the capabilities
of software. Lots of professional ... even use MS Windows, and get
work done with it. But is DOS/Windows a good OS due to this?
Many very professional apps got into a state of "overfeaturism". In
order to provide bells and whistles for the next update release (the
marketing department has to announce new features, what else), some
apps were blown up with zillions of features, dialogs, panels, wizards,
inspectors,... My best example for it is MS Word for Windows 6.0, but
enough other apps fit into the same category. You finally know what
you have bought if all your free disk space has disappeared and it's
time to breakfast each time you launch your application.
Virtuoso/FreeHand is my very best example _against_ this tendency
of overfeaturism. It has any function/feature you need for good and
professional DTP, but the user interface to access these features is
very simple and intuitive. Personally, I never managed to work so
intuitively with Illustrator.
>Although I do have to concede that I was in Fry's Electronics the
>other night and there were two people trying to decide whether to
>buy Illustrator or Freehand. One of them said, "but I read on the net
>that Freehand rules and Illustrator SUCKS!" and it really seemed to
>sway the buying decision.
IMHO, they did not make a bad decision if they decided for FH.
I wouldn't use M. Burgstahler's words, but in result he's right.
Regards,
Markus.
--
.sig got a SIGKILL signal.
Michael Burgstahler
writes:
Sorry about those open words, but that time is felt really provocated by the
silly Illu/Virty-comparison in the previous posting. I'm getting angry when
people talk to a large audience about the quality of software and apparently
haven't done an intensive and fair comparison. Unfortunately one can see the
results of such disinformation in our computer world today. I think, this was
and still is one of the fundamentals of the DOS/WIN-success: Alternatives (e.g.
NEXTSTEP) are not discussed seriously and decisions are made with lacking
knowledge of disadvantages.
I'm doing business using graphics software for several years and have laid my
hand on many apps on different platforms. I've given courses for graphics
software as well. Illustrator and Freehand/Virtuoso were my tools for numerous
productions of brochures, folders, ads, presentations, etc. I used both on
MacIntosh and NEXTSTEP under the pressure of short deadlines, limited budget
and customers demands. In the end I have learned to evaluate the basic approach
of Freehand/Virtuoso much more than the (IMHO few) better functions of
Illustrator. Until Illu5.0 you couldn't have layers - what a mess!
Another problem lies in the professional use of apps like Illustrator and
Freehand. Since the dawn of DTP/PostScript you can create templates for
professional printing with only an affordable computer - and without
professional knowledge of design, typo & production. The stunning results are
visible everwhere and everyday in printed matter: Try to spot the used graphics
software in an advertising. You can easily identify special functions of
Freehand, CorelDraw, PhotoShop in numerous printings - executed with standard
parameters!
Using all those nice filter functions and built-in 3D-distortions isn't
creative and mostly has nothing to do with the contents/message, which should
be transported to the viewer. Illustrator 5.0 goes the many-nice-filters way
and joins the lots-of-parameters-path, whereas Freehand/Virtuoso is
concentrating on ease-of-use, seamless production and silent flexibility.
Illustrator 5.0 has more features, functions, parameters and panels. But this
is also true for Word, Excel, WordPerfect, 1-2-3 and so on. And all these
latter apps offer things like "Assistants", "OnlineGuides", "Tutors" to explain
the growing universe of menu cells.
When you're doing business in graphic design honestly, you shouldn't be aware
of using a special graphics software. It should feel as natural as a pencil -
and this is IMHO definitely more fulfilled by Freehand/Virtuoso than by
Illustrator.