What is the industry standard for web graphic creation?

So I’m having a conversation with someone at the moment about which application is the “industry standard” for web graphic creation.

We both agree it’s not Photoshop – as it’s for photo editing and manipulation, not really graphic creation. Even though it’s misused for this all the time.

I use Fireworks because I can create vector graphics, but they’re being rendered in the program in bitmap form. Perfect for seeing exactly how my graphics are going to display when I export them and use them in a webpage.

He swears it’s illustrator. Because it’s the “industry standard” for web graphic creation, etc. Vectors are awesome and such.
My issue with this idea is that when you zoom in to see your graphics in illustrator you’re going to see “high” quality lines and such, not very good for knowing exactly how your end result file will look.

Does anyone have a definitive solution to this conundrum?