FreeHand was faster and offered multiple pages (a feature Illustrator wouldn't get for 20 years). Adobe was struggling to compete until was released.

Illustrator 7.0 (1999) continued the trend of innovation, with features like 3D capabilities and enhanced text handling. As the software continued to evolve, designers and artists began to push the boundaries of what was possible with vector graphics.

Adobe Illustrator started as a way for John Warnock to automate PostScript code. It became the "digital pencil" for every major brand identity in the last 30 years. While the subscription model is controversial, Illustrator’s dominance is absolute; almost every professional logo, icon, and vector illustration in the modern world passes through its code at some point.

The next major iteration of Illustrator, version 8.0 (2000), was part of Adobe's Creative Suite (CS), a bundled collection of creative applications. This marked a significant shift towards a more integrated workflow, as designers could now easily exchange files between different Adobe applications.