TO ALL AT ADOBE!

Question

PLEASE RECONSIDER FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF FREEHAND!
If you can't do that then at least give us some HONEST answers and your reasons for not doing so...
I simply cannot understand why you ADOBE won't listen to the many numbers of designers still using freehand.
you have been trying to convert us and make it harder for us to use freehand for years now, and still we decide to use freehand...does this not tell you something about how strongly we as freehand users feel towards this magnificent product?
You have isolated a large section of designers around the world by trying to force them into using a program that quite simply isn't good enough yet! the world would be a much happier place if it were illustrator that had been stopped in it's prime and freehand had been allowed to grow!
Believe me, and I think I speak for tens of thousands of fellow designers! illustrator is just not good enough for those of us who like to work creatively and efficiently! so why should we start crawling again...when we had already learned how to run!
PLEASE ADOBE, IF YOUR OUT THERE...LISTEN!
THE OPPRESSION MUST END! AND DEVELOPMENT MUST BEGIN!
many thanks...hope to hear from you soon...
loyal freehand user,
mark

Answer 1

I agree with your outrage Mark and I know of your comments that Illustrator acquire Freehand's simplicity and tools... I read them in Adobe's, Got An Idea for Illustrator Forum.  After several years since the merger, it's clear Adobe's action plan is staying quiet and hoping Freehand users continue to give up and accept their fate toward AI. Many of us have acquired AI as part of our graphics arsenal or surrendered completely to it.
But here's the deal, I think we are all wiser than years ago and really understand how great Freehand is after using AI for these past years. After all, this migration that Adobe hoped would silence us is having mixed results. These folks have to be watching the unrest both here in this Forum and at the FreeFreehand Organization. Your answer to Freehand's future therefore, is in the numbers.
The more Freehand and ex-Freehand users collect to demand an upgrade (and I mean demand in the media and public, not here on Adobe's turf) the quicker that Adobe's statement of  "... Adobe has no plans to initiate development to add new features or to support Intel-based Macs and Windows Vista",  will in fact, become an upgrade reality. "No plans" is not the same as "Never."  The thousands of users you refer to will be the wakeup call, so continue being an activist and bring them in.
Importantly, this isn't about AI being better than FH or one replacing the other. After all these years, I like many things that Illustrator offers and does well; I will definitely keep using it. But equally, I am a Freehand user!  The two are simply going to both exist.