Exporting was a test of translation. The same file that sat at 10,000 pixels had to be distilled into screens, prints, favicons, and billboards. Artboards multiplied like pages in an atlas; slices and asset exports reduced complexity into tidy files. There was the practical ritual—saving, packaging, outlining fonts—but also a metaphysical one: deciding which approximation of your work would carry the message forward.
A dedicated "Crop Image" tool was added, allowing you to crop placed images directly within Illustrator without using clipping masks.
A: Yes, but you must run it under Rosetta 2 (right-click the app > Get Info > check "Open using Rosetta"). Expect performance equivalent to a 2016 Intel MacBook Pro—usable but not ideal for large banners.