Very expensive buggy software with mediocre tech support, April 3, 2010

I have always been a fan of Adobe products, but I have to say the CS4 line is buggy, very buggy. As to tech support, Adobe has gone the route of every other large corporation in the United States. Namely, they are not in the United States. Gone are the days of communicating with someone whose name you can pronounce or that you can actually understand when you talk to them. It seems whenever you do attempt to get help, their people go down the prescribed checklist. It doesn't matter how stupid the suggestions are, you have to follow them. This would be okay if you actually ended up with a solution. In my case, Adobe says Microsoft is at fault, and Microsoft says Adobe is at fault - sound familiar? Adobe products certainly don't sell at shareware prices, but based on how buggy they are, they should. Running Adobe products on a Microsoft operating system is my idea of Hell.

      best editing tools ever but a pain to use, March 31, 2010

I LOVE the interface and editing features but my problem with this software is it's file handling. Why do I need it to do what I have done with my operating system since DOS? I understand the concept of non-destructive editing but I think this is for people who do not back up their data and are there any professionals by now who do not? I bet most lightroom users do anyway. So why the bloatware? Maybe Adobe wants to get photographers hooked so they will never again be able to handle their files on their own!

       There's a reason professionals use this., March 17, 2010

It's simple, it works, it does what you need it to do. Don't confuse Lightroom with the full blown Photoshop. Lightroom is meant to develop and finish your photos, not fix them. The natural integration with Photoshop is just a plus. The layout is intuitive enough; none of the important features are hidden or obstructed. I had difficulty adjusting to it at first only because I've been using Photoshop for nearly 10 years, and almost none of the shortcut keys transfer over (or are relevant in Lightroom). The only feature currently missing (for me) is proper watermarking for web output (which will be fixed in version 3). For all the people rating this down because they don't know how to use it: google.com -> "lightroom+tutorial" There are literally thousands out there.

       Excellent as Expected, March 13, 2010

I had been using a bootleg copy of LightRoom and I loved it. This made me want to be legitimate and purchase a copy so I could receive updates and use Adobe help offerings if needed. They should allow more than a one week, 30 day or whatever they do offer for a free trial. This will give potential customers a chance to REALLY use their product as a trial. You cannot get to know something as good as LightRoom in such a short period. This is an excellent package. Its easy to use, navigate and learn. I am eagerly awaiting the release of Version 3.0 and will most definitely purchase it as soon as its released. This is so much easier to use than PhotoShop and has about 95% of what I need and use for my photography. I highly recommend this product for any photographer who wants a post processor for their photo work.