I will explain it a little bit more to the point, the computer age is moving towards 64 bit only and that soon enought no 32 bit applications will run, at least not native on anyones computer. CS 6 for instance on the Mac only runs in OS  10.6.8 and 10.7.x and evententually the 32 bit support has to be dropped and that goes for Windows operating systems as well and so soon enough no computers on the market will be able to run FH.

There is therefore no reason to support it. It means you have to move on so start now.

Now you can always react like we are not helping the cause but the truth is is that we are just stating the facts.

We are giving you the best advice.

You should always archive your old files but you should also convert them as soon as possible and I suggest doing it in small groups so you do not encounter purprising in the future.

I mentioned this a long time ago as soon as Macromedia was absorbed by Adobe but the FH users persist to argue a point that is quite dead. Go figure!

It has all worked out as I originally stated way back when and what I write here will come to be as well.

So do yourself a good service with a little extra work it can save you a lot of issues in the future.

...evententually the 32 bit support has to be dropped and that goes for Windows operating systems as well and so soon enough no computers on the market will be able to run FH...

I would rhetorically ask where you come up with such nonsense, but I (and no doubt everyone else) knows you just make it up.

First off, what does a 64-bit OS running 64-bit applications have to do with preventing one of those 64-bit applications from opening a file? You don't have to run FreeHand to open a FreeHand document with AI CS5 and prior. It's just a data import filter.

Secondly, I'm still running FreeHand just fine on 64-bit Windows. And many other 32-bit applications, too. In short, you don't know what you're talking about.

It means you have to move on so start now.

Just who do you think you are Wade? Peter needs to be able to open his legacy FreeHand files in order to "move on," as you put it. "Moving on" is exactly what he's doing by opening his FreeHand files and converting them to AI files.

Now you can always react like we are not helping the cause but the truth is is that we are just stating the facts. We are giving you the best advice.

What is all this "we" crap? You don't speak for anyone in this forum but yourself. Get off your high horse and stop pretending you run the show here.

Peter (as I'm sure he knows) has two choices:

Since evidently Adobe has removed the FreeHand import from AI CS6, he can open his files in FreeHand and export them to AI format.

OR...

SInce evidently Adobe has removed the FreeHand import from AI CS6, he can count this as one more reason not to purchase CS6. He can simply judge that Adobe is not providing enough value for the price of this version, and opt to skip it. If he does, that's probably more Adobe's loss than Peter's.

After a point as these long-in-the-tooth programs continue to age, less and less practical value is added with new releases for the amounts charged for them, because they are still building upon antequated foundations. Some versions just beg to be skipped (to wit: CS5.5).

Whichever he choses to do, Peter is free to express here his dissatisfaction at the fact that an omission of justifiably expected functionality in the new version has added a significant amount of inconvenience for him--which is all he was doing.

JET

I agree with Jet, have freehand 11 still installed on my home system and it runs just fine on a 64 bit OS (Mac and Windows) and the freehand import was only a file format in the plug-ins folder all they had to do was recompile it for CS6...nothing changed in the format itself, still the same thing so I don't understand why tey took it out. I even tried installing the old format plug-in and CS6 just disables it.

My suggestion is to send in a "wish list" request to have it re-instated

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

if enough people ask maybe they will put it back in ...at work we have over 100k old freehand art files (freehand was nixed from all systems) that are perfectly good and just need updating sometimes (copy, color, etc) so "moving on" is a long and tedios prospect, it could be CS11 before we get to them all.

I know freehand is "dead" the problem is them taking away something that is necissary to utalise older assets that was available until this...which brings me to the 64 bit thing. the last version WAS a 64 bit version that worked in CS5 and the point of the freehand working is that 64 bit makes no difference in the operation of a program, 32 bit programs work mostly fine and just ignore the upper 32 bits (over simplification but that's the general idea)...freehand is just an example of that fact. There is no expense to Adobe save a recompile to be more with CS6. I'm actually a coder so know about this little tidbit. In fact having a 32 bit plug-in means nothing...anyone who works in after effects can atest to this as some of the plug-ins are actually still 16 bit and a few 8 bit. So again the only thing they really have to do is re-compile it to work better with CS6.

Yes using the link and submitting the request is more a sanity thing on our end hense the word "maybe"

last note...the only thing a 64 bit OS gives you is a larger pointer address for accessing more memory it also helps with program performance (and if it's programmed for 64 bit native) but memory is the main thing...plus 64 bit looks more impressive on the packaging ...here is a few links in case anyone is interested...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946765

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit_computing

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/t283289.html (note the second post)

http://www.ni.com/white-paper/5709/en#toc1

as I said before moving the plug in doesn't work; however, them having the original source code and knowledge of how it works makes it extremely easy for them to recompile it to make it CS6 compatable...if they send the source code I would be happy to work on it.

the freehand file format isn't open, "copywrited" by Macromedia and still like that under Adobe (unless they opened it up) so in order for anyone to make a plug-in they would need their permission. Does anyone know if the format is open or not?

My suggestion is to send in a "wish list" request to have it re-instated

 

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

 

if enough people ask maybe they will put it back in ...at work we have over 100k old freehand art files (freehand was nixed from all systems) that are perfectly good and just need updating sometimes (copy, color, etc) so "moving on" is a long and tedios prospect, it could be CS11 before we get to them all.

 

This is the way to go through the correct channels at Adobe but you will want to have a LOT of requests on the wishlist. Plenty of active FreeHand users are out there but it sure ain't going to be here in this forum. Start with the Adobe FreeHand forum on this longstanding thread where a large number of subscribers will see the notice. Then post to the FreeHand Forum where they have an Illustrator section. It would be smart to send a request email to info@freehandforum.org too. And the FreeHand Discussion list too where long-time users are. I'd love to see the conversion reinstated in CS7.