Goodbye to Freehand, GoLive
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
May 30, 2006 at 11:03am
During the Adobe Live event, Robert Raiola of Adobe Systems France said that Adobe will halt the development of Freehand and GoLive, according to MacGeneration.
Adobe will support these two products for some times. Adobe will concentrate all its efforts on Illustrator 13 and Dreamweaver (which will have a new interface similar to other adobe products). The canning of Freehand and GoLive is no big surprise. Since Adobe purchased Macromedia, the company had two illustration packages (Freehand and Illustrator) and two web design apps (GoLive and Dreamweaver) in its repertoire. As these products were previously competitors, it seemed likely only one in each category would survive.
Adobe completed its acquisition of Macromedia in December. The acquisition was accomplished in a stock transaction valued at approximately $3.4 billion. Macromedia, a company that has been rumored at times to be a possible acquisition by Apple, is best known for its Flash, Dreamweaver Web publishing software and FreeHand illustration package.
Under the terms of the agreement Macromedia stockholders received, at a fixed exchange ratio, 0.69 shares of Adobe common stock for every share of Macromedia common stock in a tax-free exchange. In the combined company, Bruce Chizen, chief executive officer of Adobe, continues as CEO and Shantanu Narayen will remain president and chief operating officer. Stephen Elop, president and chief executive officer of Macromedia, joined Adobe as president of worldwide field operations. Murray Demo remained executive vice president and chief financial officer. John Warnock and Charles Geschke are co-chairmen of the board of directors of the combined company and Rob Burgess, chairman of the Macromedia Board of Directors, joined the Adobe Board.
(Thanks to Chris Laporte of MacGeneration, a French-speaking publication for Mac users, for his heads-up and help on this article.)
wilson Says:
Tyler, i don’t think you will miss Golive, you can bet with me that many Golive features will appear on Dreamweaver’s new version, like integration with Photoshop and Illustrator. If Adobe release Flash with the Livemotion ease of use i will be very happy!
Posted on May 30, 2006
Jason Says:
Yeah, the new features will include instability and slowness. GoLive made a wonderful product with Cyberstudio, but when Adobe took it over, they ruined it. Yes, they added needed features, but made it slower than molasses and more buggy than Windows. Not that Dreamweaver was much better, but I worry about which features Adobe will take from each to create the newest version of DreamWeaver.
Posted on May 30, 2006
sales Says:
Continue to support is at least more than what Marcomedia has been doing - however If one wanted to deal with illustrator in the graphics world they would have been using it already, most FH people use FH for the interface - Illustrator will probably add some of the more useful features, but finding them will be the challenge - time to look at Canvas X from ACD/Deneba free trial at http://www.acdamerica.com/support-canvas/canvas-software-downloads/canvas-downloads-canvas-x.html
Posted on May 30, 2006
don Says:
Yes, and I’m an old Freehand user. I liked the “get right down to work” feel of it without all the fancy do-dads and ultra high system resources needed for Illustrator.
Sad, but inevitable.
Posted on May 30, 2006
Sprocket999 Says:
Just because the tool isn’t made any more, doesn’t mean it won’t still work. I kind of figured this would happen with GoLive, as Dreamweaver seemed to be the industry standard (depending on who you talk to). I have been building smart looking commercial marketing sites for service sector businesses using a combination of PageMill 3.0 and hand edited CSS since PageMill 1.0 first came out, so, depending on your rquirements, sometimes a well developed piece of software can serve you for a very long time, indeed. I was contemplating updating to GoLive CS2, as it has to be better than full retail version of GoLive 4.0 I bought on sale a few years ago (That was a dud). Oh well, considering how well these current PageMill sites render in old AND new browsers (all the majors) today, I just might consider doing that and save a bundle on ‘new old store stock’.
(Please—no shots about PageMill. It is far more flexible than you think. I ought to know, as I’ve been using it since Adobe bought Ceneca Communications in September ‘95)
Posted on May 30, 2006
ADeweyan Says:
No surprises here. In fact, my first thought when I heard of the acquisition was that I hoped Adobe could fix Dreamweaver.
I actually encountered (online) someone arguing a point about user interface, and claiming that he should know what was best since he had helped develop the interface for Dreamweaver. As a long-time Dreamweaver user, I nearly choked when I read that!
Posted on May 30, 2006
Brian Peat Says:
Just as long as they leave Fireworks alone. In fact, they need to dump ImageReady and stick with Fireworks. That app is amazing. I can’t imagine having to switch to something else for making web graphics.
Posted on May 30, 2006
Cory Says:
Heh, PageMill. That program coded web pages so inaccurately for me it made be want to learn HTML just so my web pages would come out right. PageMill inserted so much unnecessary junk code when I was using it (not for anything fancy, but nothing would ever be lined up right in standard web browsers), so I decided to figure out what all was wrong. Seeing what mistakes Adobe made for me taught me what not to do. Nothing better than a crash course in HTML in 1996.
Posted on May 30, 2006
jamEs Says:
Good riddance to both. I’m glad to hear that Dreamweaver is being Adobe-ized. I really like that in CS2 that all the apps have a similar look and feel to them. Macromedia products always featured really sloppy menu configurations. Though I still want news that Flash is getting the same treatment. Makes me definitely interested in CS3.
Posted on May 30, 2006
lantzn Says:
Bummer I to am a GoLive and Freehand User. I was ready to upgrade to GLCS2 because of it’s new CSS support. I’ve been studying to move to XHTML and CSS. Now I’ve been eyeing StyleMaster instead.
I much more preferred FH to ILL, and use both.
Posted on May 30, 2006
David Garon Says:
I switched to Illustrator a few years ago, primarily for its consistent UI to the other Adobe Apps I use regularly. I was a Freehand user for at least 12 years prior to that (when Aldus had it!). Not being a web designer, I’m not really concerned about Go Live, but with Freehand off the market, we lose a venerable opponent to Illustrator. My belief is that they inspired each other when features were considered, and now with that gone, we may be losing an important piece of the progress puzzle.
Posted on May 30, 2006
Sprocket999 Says:
(Aw, jeez, someone DID have to rip on PageMill)
Well, Cory, you should have read the manual and/or spent a bit more time, as Version 3.0 does work perfectly. So much so that I have used it recently in one of my corporate enterprise client’s environments, creating prototypes for our programming team to follow using their proprietary apps. It’s a poor workman who blames their tools.
Posted on May 30, 2006
Maz Says:
This is nothing but good news. As a Web designer, I thought GoLive was garbage. Never used Freehand, but Illustrator is a fantastic product, albeit quite a system hog. As for the problem of lack of competition, that was a forgone conclusion the moment Adobe and Macromedia merged. Maybe Microsoft will try coming up with something new now that they gave FrontPage the axe.
Posted on May 30, 2006
HW Says:
Frontpage isn’t going anywhere. It just has a new name.
Posted on May 30, 2006
Defroster Says:
I’m very interested to see how the new applications will integrate with the old. And I’m also curious to see how Adobe will manage the division of Flash into one developer application and one targeted at designers/animators.
Posted on May 30, 2006
MJ Says:
I will miss FreeHand and GoLive for the interface—having used all of these packages and their competitors—Adobe has nothing that works as fast and efficiently as FreeHand. Illustrator has a good preview and works well for Logos—but anything complex with clipping masks and more quickly boggs down.
It has always taken me at least 3X longer to do the same task in Illustrator as FreeHand. They have 5 different tools to change a point for crying out loud!
Posted on May 30, 2006
Rob Kosinski Says:
They probably looked at sales and discovered more people used GoLive and FreeHand. Hence kill them and make everyone buy their software again. I use GoLive and Freehand extensively… Freehand for almost 10 years. I will be sad to see that pass. Although I’m very partial to GoLive, it has become a bloated piece of “hangandcrash-ware” in the last 2 versions. Guess it’s time to have a look at Dreamweaver (which I already own anyway).
Posted on May 30, 2006
Glenn Fleishman Says:
MacGeneration didn’t get the story—they quoted a story from MacBedouille which itself got a short email from a guy named Frederic who said he was attending the event. So there’s nothing official, nor even confirmed from someone else attending MacLive! Macnews.de called Adobe Europe and got a denial that FreeHand was dead (it’ll be standalone, apparently); nothing on GoLive.
Posted on May 30, 2006
Von Glitschka Says:
Hopefully Adobe will take an honest look at Illustrator and seem many of it’s weaker attributes and then take the best of FreeHand and integrate it into CS3 Illustrator? I doubt it though. No reason for them too, they simply don’t give a rats ass about life long FreeHand users.
At the very least they should release a thorough tutorial that is designed specifically to migrate a diehard FreeHand user over to Illustrator without assuming we’ve used past versions of Illustrator. Nothing like that exists. And because AI is so counter intuitive compared to FreeHand it’s a painful struggle just to get the basics down.
I’ll forever keep a machine that runs FreeHand 11, it’s just flat out faster for me to do my work then Illustrator ever will be it seems? They cater the tools to noob hacks who like pull down menus and cheap pre-fab effects rather then the pro user who doesn’t rely on FX but rather unique conceptual ideas and precision execution. FreeHand made creating that easy, CS2 is painful and bloated.
Posted on May 30, 2006
DWalla Says:
That sux… I love GoLive… bugs and all… still think it’s site manager is far superior to Dreamweaver.
Bummer deal indeed.
Posted on May 31, 2006
keybored Says:
its a pity Adobe decided to do away with FH, i just hope that Abode will leave the documentation page that has become very useful to us and we are going to need it if we are to migrate from FH to AI seamlessly.
Posted on May 31, 2006
bah Says:
Well, tbh GoLive its a big loss. Think at css gridle, css visual editing environment, site management, smart objects, diagrams, components and cry out loud. Nothing barely comparable on the other hand. Yes GoLive got his weakness but we are to losing (cept a redesigned css editing tools) this features forever. None of the features mentioned above will be implemented in the upcoming version of dreamweaver. BTW we will have a GoLive CS3 version in the next Adobe CS bundle. This will be the last update for GoLive then no more (cept bug fixs) update.
Posted on May 31, 2006
All Good Says:
It’s all good. I am an old school web developer from way back before any of these products were even on the market. I started on Dreamweaver when version 4 was released and have stuck with it since. Go live was easy to use but generated the worst HTML code of any of the editors. I think adobe realized that Dreamweaver had the market and chose wisely.
I am sad to see Freehand go however Illustrator is an awesome app loaded with features that any seasoned designer can appreciate. My only concern is that Adobe will screw up the amazing job Macromedia did with Dreamweaver when they change the interface. Dreamweaver worked for both programmers and designers and Adobe works more for the designers. I hope the programming features don’t get sidelined.
Posted on May 31, 2006
Simon Says:
In a nutshell, Freehand has always been for the “technical illustrator” whereas Illustrator was more for the “graphic artist”. It boggles the mind to think that Adobe has long seen the two apps as the SAME when the users were most definately NOT.
I think this action shows tremendous misunderstanding of an industry they claim to understand. Just look at any college or university that offers an arts program and you’ll see that many offer a “graphics” course and an “illustration/industrial design” course. Ironically, the “illustration/industrial design” course is for technically oriented artists and the graphics class is the market Adobe Illustrator was intended for (print and publishing).
As a technical illustrator myself, I find Adobe Illustrator to be an incredibly ass-backwards application with poor workflow and execution. But since the app is for the “graphic artist” I don’t complain, I just think those users are nuts.
But now that Freehand is dead, it’ll be very interesting to see what happens. Obviously I CAN’T switch to Illustrator, it’s the WRONG tool for the job, my guess is that other technical illustrators will have to deal with this problem as well.
Personally, I think Adobe just shot themselves in the foot if they really think Freehand users are going to switch.
But that’s just my 2 cents.
Posted on May 31, 2006
Tyler Keen Says:
Freehand did kinda #### compared to Illustrator. I cant really give a goo opinion on GoLive since I didnt use it that much. I use Dreamweaver all the time. Thats a good product.
Posted on May 31, 2006
ar1000 Says:
Personally, I am glad to see freehand go as long as Adobe sells an “Illustrator Elements for Web Graphics” (cheaper, streamlined for web). That would be cool. And, maybe I am the only one, but I find Dreamweaver’s interface to be very excellent. It is easy, quick, but not always the most responsive in DW 8 (previous versions were very snappy though). I don’t like the idea of an adobized veritcal 8x2 toolbar, but I would like to see the Macromedia panels made a little more friendly (the ones that sit at the right).
Posted on May 31, 2006
Simon Says:
Just wondered if Illustrator will alter the way it works since the Adobe buyout… I seem to remember lawsuits over palettes, shortcut keys being taken by one app, etc., etc. At least there’s now a standardised way of working (I had to migrate from Freehand to Illustrator, which wasn’t particularly easy, and frustrating mostly because of this). Also, both packages had a different way of doing most everything - one feature was better on one package and vice-versa - like the align tool, for example: Freehand was a much better at this. Hopefully Adobe will integrate the plus points of Freehand and dish up a cracking product.
Never used GoLive, but Dreamweaver is OK but flawed. The file management sucks.
Posted on June 01, 2006
Frank Beckert Says:
When Adobe stopped making Premiere for the Mac, Apple gave FREE copies of Final Cut Express to owners of Adobe Premiere (MAC). All I had to do is send them my original floppy disks (I had Premiere since version 1.0).
Maybe Adobe will do the same to Freehand users to acclimate them on to Adobe Illustrator. Or the worst-case scenario maybe they will let Freehand users upgrade to Illustrator for the upgrade or a reduced price (like $99).
Posted on June 01, 2006
Tony Ballinger Says:
I second what Brian had to say – as long as Fireworks lives, I’m a happy Adobe customer. I tried switching to Imageready last Fall in case Fireworks didn’t make the cut. It was so frustrating trying to learn that app’s logic, that I decided to wait until I had more time and patience. Whenever I show an ImageReady user how much more powerful Fireworks is, they’re amazed. I never hear anyone singing the praises of ImageReady like I do from the Fireworks crowd.
Posted on June 01, 2006
MJ Says:
You know, we can discuss this untill the cows come home, but the reality of the matter is we should just get used to it. We will just have to make sure we give them as much constructive feedback as neceassary to make changes we require.
They need us as much as we need them, we’ve just got to trust they will deliver what we need to get the job done.
Posted on June 02, 2006
Von Glitschka Says:
With all due respect they don’t want constructive feedback.
And frankly they don’t need us. What other tool are we going to use? Corel Draw? Not.
So they have no motivation, they are now a clear monopoly.
Posted on June 02, 2006
BA Says:
Freehand is an amazing product! I started in this industry on Illustrator and moved over to freehand once I started playing with it. Path selection in Freehand is so much more intuitive, there is nothing I have not been able to do in freehand, I wish I could say the same for illustrator. Not only does it take me at least twice as long to create anything, its cumbersome clipping masks makes objects twice the size they could be in freehand. The swatches, the interface, the path operations, the fact that you can have multiple pages, the type control.. everything just works. Illustrator does have some cool features, there’s no doubt but it does my head in how fiddly it is to do something that freehand does in 2 seconds. I agree with the above, Adobe now has a monopoly that is beyond unfair. I will be using Freehand MX 2004 for a very long time, and its integration with Flash is something I doubt Illustrator will ever match. Adobe should hang its head in shame, either that or sell Freehand to Apple.
Posted on June 06, 2006
Alex Says:
As a lifetime Freehand user I feel sorrow for this unofficial departure. Let’s see what the Corporate Adobe has to say about it, but I’m afraid they will smash on Freehand. Some times I use Illustrator for very specific tasks, but as soon as I can I go back to Freehand. Its multiple page layout and type control are far out the reach of illustrator. If you need to do a multiple face brochure with a lot of text, Freehand is the tool. Forget about Illustrator, because you’ll need 3x the time to do that, and several extra files by the way.
The only feature I really miss in Freehand is a really functional color workflow. It’s quite hard to make it speak good color, and I was expecting (naive!) Adobe will strength Freehand with this (sigh).
But at the end, this is what Adobe was looking for: to make Illustrator the “only” wise guy in the block. Petty, what a petty. I will keep using FH.
Posted on June 13, 2006
Jonathan Evatt Says:
Freehand is great as it is. It is a pity to see it axed. Yet there is nothing I can think of stopping fans of freehand from continuing to use today’s latest version. I am sure it will run for some years at least. For instance, I can run old versions of Photoshop, Freehand, Illustrator, Pagemaker, GoLive, etc. that were released many years ago.
Sure, FH will not be further developed. But really, at the end of the proverbial day, it is great already… so why does it really matter if it’s not further developed?
As a Freehand user, in my world Freehand lives on, whether Adobe continue to develop it or not.
Posted on August 22, 2006
RustyBloods Says:
GoLive still rules ;-)
Posted on September 19, 2006
Ar1000 Says:
No, no it doesn’t.
Posted on September 19, 2006
Lex Parker Says:
I will stick with GoLive (Mac) but I need the latest PC version if anyone wants to sell it.
Posted on September 22, 2006
Jaygav769 Says:
Damn Adobe for gobbling up Macromedia. Having worked with Freehand AND Illustrator over the last 10 years, Illustrator never came close to the ease of FREEHAND! I find myself frustrated every time I’m stuck in Illustrator trying to do something that should be fairly simple...if I was in Freehand where I belong! <sigh>
Posted on September 26, 2006
Forget it all Says:
The only solution is XaraXtreme - the fastes illustrator program on earth, everything else is a step backwards in vector illustration. All these images/shapes can be modified in realtime, you won’t notice any rendering and flickering junk like in Illustrator. It’s hard to believe it’s only 79 bucks.
http://www.xara.com/gallery/artist.asp?artist=vladimir
http://www.xara.com/gallery/
Oh, I’m not working or hired from Xara LTD, rather than beeing a Xara user for the last 8 years.
Posted on November 14, 2006
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
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Tyler Lemke Says:
This sucks!!!
I am a old CyberStudio GoLive user before Adobe bought them out.
I will miss GoLive.
Posted on May 30, 2006