2015-08, rickatech

Tools for design tend to be very fad inspired.  Adobe's Creative Suite still garners wide adoption after decades of refreshes and ports to contemporary platforms.  However, increasingly free and built in tools for various platforms are encroaching on functions that required purchasing tools in the past.  So review what tool features are needed for your design, you may find new tools are cheaper and better suited to your needs than the stalwart heavy design suites of yore.

Adobe Illustrator

Illustrator - Pathfinder Tools

Make sure to first 'Compound Path > Release' with paths that contain holes (e.g. letter O) before performing union with an adjacent path.  Use 'Minus Front' to clip the 'hole' paths from the resulting 'union' path.

Quark

Curved text paths and/or other advanced layout elements not saved or corrupted. In version 4.04 there is a known issue that causes it to save files in older version 3 format if an explicit save as version 4 is not done.

tablet | printable