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[[File:Adobe FreeHand 11 CS3 icon.png|thumb|112px|right|[[Adobe FreeHand 11]] ([[Macromedia FreeHand MX|MX]]) icon]]
 
[[File:Adobe FreeHand 11 CS3 icon.png|thumb|112px|right|[[Adobe FreeHand 11]] ([[Macromedia FreeHand MX|MX]]) icon]]
'''Macromedia FreeHand''' was a vector graphics editor that was created by [[Altsys]], licensed to [[Aldus]],<ref name="infoworld-1987-09-aldus-altsys">[https://books.google.com/books?id=Boc_AQAAIAAJ&dq=aldus+altsys&pg=PA65 Aldus Licenses Altsys' Mac Graphics Program], ''InfoWorld'' p.65. 1987-09-21.</ref> and since acquired by [[Macromedia]],<ref name="nytimes-macromedia-altsys">[https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/25/business/company-news-macromedia-completes-acquisition-of-altsys.html Macromedia completes acquisition of Altsys] by Bloomberg News, ''The New York Times''. 1995-01-25.</ref> which itself was acquired by [[Adobe]] in December 2005.<ref name="adobe-acquisition-macromedia">[https://web.archive.org/web/20051207031046/http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200512/120505AdobeAcquiresMacromedia.html Adobe Completes Acquisition of Macromedia], Adobe Systems. 2005-12-05. Archived 2005-12-07.</ref>
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'''Macromedia FreeHand''' was a vector graphics editor that was created by [[Altsys Corporation]], licensed to [[Aldus]],<ref name="infoworld-1987-09-aldus-altsys">[https://books.google.com/books?id=Boc_AQAAIAAJ&dq=aldus+altsys&pg=PA65 Aldus Licenses Altsys' Mac Graphics Program], ''InfoWorld'' p.65. 1987-09-21.</ref> and acquired by [[Macromedia]],<ref name="nytimes-macromedia-altsys">[https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/25/business/company-news-macromedia-completes-acquisition-of-altsys.html Macromedia completes acquisition of Altsys] by Bloomberg News, ''The New York Times''. 1995-01-25.</ref> which itself was acquired by [[Adobe]] in December 2005.<ref name="adobe-acquisition-macromedia">[https://web.archive.org/web/20051207031046/http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200512/120505AdobeAcquiresMacromedia.html Adobe Completes Acquisition of Macromedia], Adobe Systems. 2005-12-05. Archived 2005-12-07.</ref>
   
 
==Product history==
 
==Product history==

Revision as of 13:42, 21 March 2020

Adobe FreeHand 11 CS3 icon

Adobe FreeHand 11 (MX) icon

Macromedia FreeHand was a vector graphics editor that was created by Altsys Corporation, licensed to Aldus,[1] and acquired by Macromedia,[2] which itself was acquired by Adobe in December 2005.[3]

Product history

FreeHand was originally developed by Altsys as Virtuoso and licensed to Aldus Corporation in the fall of 1987.[1] It was then released as Aldus FreeHand 1.0, with Altsys retaining development rights.[4] Aldus (not Altsys) was absorbed by Adobe Systems in a merger that was completed on August 31, 1994.[5][6] Altsys sued to regain marketing rights to FreeHand, citing a non-compete clause because of Adobe's development of Adobe Illustrator.[4]

Altsys was acquired by Macromedia in January 1995.[2] The original development team in Richardson, Texas was renamed the Digital Arts Group and continued development of the program as Macromedia FreeHand. The engineers also created Macromedia Fireworks and the two software projects often shared resources.[1][7]

In 2003, the Texas development staff were laid off or relocated to Macromedia's main office in San Francisco. Prior to that, the team rushed to add many new features to Macromedia FreeHand MX with the expectation that it might be the last version that they would ever work on.[7]

After the acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe in 2005, Macromedia FreeHand MX became Adobe FreeHand 11 without any new major updates, with version 11.0.2 being the final release. Migration guides and upgrades to Adobe Illustrator CS3 were offered to existing users.[8] Adobe's support for FreeHand ended on August 1, 2011.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Aldus Licenses Altsys' Mac Graphics Program, InfoWorld p.65. 1987-09-21.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Macromedia completes acquisition of Altsys by Bloomberg News, The New York Times. 1995-01-25.
  3. Adobe Completes Acquisition of Macromedia, Adobe Systems. 2005-12-05. Archived 2005-12-07.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Aldus to Add Products, Enhance Pagemaker, InfoWorld p.125. 1987-10-26.
  5. Aldus and Adobe Lay Claim to Digital Publishing by Laurie Flynn, The New York Times. 1994-08-24.
  6. Aldus and Adobe Systems Finalize Merger, Computer History Museum. 1994-08-31.
  7. 7.0 7.1 R.I.P. FreeHand by Andy Finnell, Safe from the Losing Fight. 2007-05-17.
  8. FreeHand no longer updated; moving to Illustrator by John Nack, Adobe Blogs. 2007-05-16.

External links

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Macromedia FreeHand
1 · 2 · 3 · 4 | 5 (5.5) · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · MX | 11
Discontinued in May 2007