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...but people don't seem to want to answer there. Perhaps the thread just got too long.
Anyway, WITHOUT namecalling or mudslinging, WHY do you use the software you use, whether it's Illustrator or CorelDRAW or Inkscape or something else. I think this information will be much more helpful to people looking to buy software rather than just saying, "Buy Illustrator!" or, "Buy Corel!"
I'll start this off friendly and NOT state what I prefer yet, tho it's prolly well known by now.
I think it would be especially helpful for people with experience with more than one software package to chime in here, but it's not necessary. If you just happened to learn one package and never looked back, that's great.
I use Illustrator (and Adobe CS in general) because:
1) It's 100% industry standard in this area of the world in all graphic design fields
2) Having come to Photoshop years ago, it was a natural progression
3) I got a good deal on CS3, and with InDesign, Dreamweaver and Acrobat Professional it represents much better value for money (this won't apply to most people).
4) I find it easy enough to use (haven't compared it to X3)
5) I was using Adobe before Corel was a legitimate competitor
6) The integration of programs within the Creative Suite
(some of these reasons are better than others - most of them are no reason for a new user to start with one or the other - 1 and 3 are probably the most relevant)
I use Illustrator because I love PS. I've been using PS for about 5 or 6 years, way before I got into tees. I also use Premiere Pro and love it. Now that I got an up-dated Dream Weaver, which is also owned by Adobe now. I guess in short I learned, know and love Adobe.
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That's funny you should mention Premiere. My first video editing was on Premiere LE, but I learned Sony Vegas at school and loved it. I do mostly higher-end slideshows, and Vegas is PERFECT for those (but also everything else).
1) It's 100% industry standard in this area of the world in all graphic design fields
2) Having come to Photoshop years ago, it was a natural progression
3) I got a good deal on CS3, and with InDesign, Dreamweaver and Acrobat Professional it represents much better value for money (this won't apply to most people).
4) I find it easy enough to use (haven't compared it to X3)
5) I was using Adobe before Corel was a legitimate competitor
6) The integration of programs within the Creative Suite
...ditto...
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Some of the same reasons Lewis mentioned. I learned Corel first in school, then migrated to Illustrator. I actually found (at that time) Corel to be bloated with too many features on screen (busy interface). Also I work in printing, and Illustrator is the industry standard. Freehand second. Then Corel. As the years move on, everything is becoming more alike. Sometimes it more of a choice of do you leave the toilet paper hanging over the front or over the back?
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I actually use Freehand. I first learned on Illustrator 1.0 and migrated to freehand 2.0. When I need to I convert over and use illustrator. Whatever you do. Stay away from Corel. The files are not easily transferable. And your communication between programs (meaning from one shop to the next) is very limited.
Go freehand or illustrator.
Actually, if someone needs something in another format other than cdr, CorelDRAW can save it to nearly every Illustrator version (except for CS3) or eps or whatever. Generally if we were to give someone else a file we did, we'd save it as an eps anyway.
It's Adobe's own stubbornness that's prevented them from adding a cdr importer or exporter. Corel has been more than accommodating.
I respect your decision to use Adobe products (I use them from time to time, too), but please don't tell someone else NOT to use another package in this thread. I'm only interested in why YOU choose to use one over another.
I am new to designing t-shirts but have a strong preference for open-source software - I use Gimp for most of my graphics needs and it works great for me (not to talk of the zero dollar price tag ).
My main reasons for using Gimp are:
1) very stable (never crashed on me)
2) powerful
3) many good tutorials can be found online
4) does not require me to run M$ software
My main reasons for using Gimp are:
1) very stable (never crashed on me)
Good point/something I forgot to mention - likewise I've been very happy with the stability of the Adobe CS. Earlier versions of Photoshop were a little so-so (not as bad as Netscape, but not great), but I don't recall CS crashing on me (it might have a couple of times at worst).
(points 2-4 also apply as it happens, though I think a lot of what could be said on this thread would mostly apply to all modern programs)
A lot of people will say Illustrator is the best to use because it is the industry standard. I always hated Illustrator. It looked like photoshop but had different hotkeys. I also never liked the way Illustrator beziers worked either. I also originally started doing pc graphics in 3d Studio before they had a version that ran in windows. It really isn't fair comparing illustration and 3d software though, so it is still just my opinions and preferences.
When flash came out I started developing flash sites and loved how easy it was to sculpt and cut vector lines with it, so I ended up using flash to do all my vector work for textures to take back into 3d world. As far as I know, no one else did this though. People thought it was weird. When flash added beziers, they functioned how I had already expected beziers to work.
A bit later I started at a t-shirt shop as the graphic designer. There they swore by Corel Draw. For me it was super easy to learn, beziers also worked how I expected them to work, and color seperations were super easy. I also found curves very easy to edit by adding and subtracting points, something that Illustrator doesn't do nearly as well. You will have to jack with your handles in Illustrator trying to to the same technique.
However now at the company I work at ( which is not t-shirt related ) we primarily use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects. I was forced to jump in and figure out how to do everything that I could do with the other packages. Even though I still complain about how clunky Illustrator still seems sometimes and how much of a memory hog it can be, there is nothing I have not been able to do with it.
In the open source world there is Inkscape and Scribus however I have not spent much time with them. They look like they could be very powerful programs, but with a full time career and trying to start my own screen printing business I just don't have the time to learn them.
Having said all that, I'm biting the bullet and am trying to hunt down a legit copy of Illustrator pre CS3. There is a bug with the offset path functions that they did not catch in test and they do not plan on addressing it last time I heard. If you never use offset path, then I hear CS3 rocks.
Basically it is what you are comfortable with. I never had problems sending out files when I was working in Corel, but I usually sent a corel file as well as an eps file. If you are already comfortable with a certain program and it does everything you need it to do then you are set. If you want to go the Illustrator way because people say that's the only way to go... you might pull some hair out in the beginning learning it, but it will be worth it.
I never did any print stuff, or anything much at all, with Freehand so I can't say anything about it for your application. If you have extra money to drop, Illustrator is a solid choice, if you don't want to spend that much, Corel Draw can do all the same stuff. It's apples versus oranges. Hope this helps you out.
ps - anyone know where to get a used 4 color/1 station manual press in Austin, TX?
ps ps - the myth that only bootleg software crashes is false, here at work all the artists have legitimate copies of Illustrator and it has it's up and downs. It might run great for months then crash several times in a week on you. REMEMBER save OFTEN! Oh yeah Illustrator CS1 also has a glitch sometimes when you open up a file and you have missing gradients. There is a pathfinder work around, but it's still a little annoying... Industry Standard lol.
WHY do you use the software you use? 
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Other than to say that Adobe is the industry standard. 
