Why is Illustrator 8 format more reliable?

[Ty_Cox@adobeforums.com]

I'm currently using Illustrator CS. Our vendors are still using Illustrator 9 and 10.

When I export (save) a CS Illustrator file in their programs' versions the files often won't open. The solution is almost always to save in version 8, either as a native AI file or eps.

Mind you, our files are constructed simply: No transparency, no effects, few gradients. Type is typically converted to outlines.

Recently, I had to open a Freehand 8 file from a forgein associate and convert it to an AI file. CS managed it well, but when I saved it in a legacy format for our printer it failed to open until I saved it in version 8.

So why are version 9 and 10 illustrator files not as dependable?

[Just_A_Mac_Guy@adobeforums.com]

Good files are reliabe in just about any format. Illustrator 8 is deemed more reliable because it does not support many of the more questionable features and efects of later version. Things like Gradient Mesh, Transparency and the like are novel features that cause headaches to output depts. They are not so much bad on their own, but they often require a specific set of circumstances and user knowledge to output correctly. Since at that time {and some say still} the main output destination is Quark 4.11, anything that did not output correctly in Quark 4.11 was deemed unreliable.

Not really fair, when Adobe was trying to push the boundries of DTP technologies, but for something to become a new reliable standard, it must first work reliably and easier that its predecessor.

Any function that looks one way in a live AI file and saves differently as an eps, especially without an intrusive warning, is unreliable. The print industry, rather than learn the ins & outs of these features developed a short answer of "Don't use them, and save as Illy8.

It is not a correct answer, or an enlightend one... but it is the answer you are likey to get.

This unfortunate tenant is at the crux of most upgrade hesitation...

[Mark_Douma@adobeforums.com]

FWIW, it was version 8 that introduced Gradient Meshes, if IIRC.

[Just_A_Mac_Guy@adobeforums.com]

I believe you are correct, but so many users hated Illy 7 that 8 became a plateau format that user hung around in. Illy 9 had its own bugs, but I never really had a problem using ver9 eps files.

Word of mouth is a powerful thing and once people started calling ver8 more reliable en masse, few questioned it. {Out side the Illustrator Forums, anyway}

[Gary_Newman@adobeforums.com]

Illustrator 88 files are even more reliable than AI8, especially if you never upgraded beyond AI 88. AI8 is more reliable to people who did not upgrade beyond it, and to people who never learned how to reliably use the features found in more recent versions.