I'm using the Adobe Lightroom Beta 4 and really like it. I'll probably purchase it when it comes out.
That said, Gruber's newest musings on Adobe's marketing is RIGHT ON.
this reeks of a marketing decision forged by people who just don’t get it. Photoshop is one thing. Lightroom is another. Yes, they’re both apps targeted at serious photographers, but if you spend even just a few minutes looking at Lightroom from the perspective of what it does, how it works, even what it looks like, you can see that it isn’t “part of” Photoshop. Yet that’s exactly what this “Photoshop Lightroom” branding implies.
Adobe still has time to take off that "photoshop" branding from Lightroom. If they are smart, they'll do that.
Adobe has moved to bundling as a sales strategy for a while now. just look at what they've done with CS and CS2.
I think the the issue with Lightroom is going to be price. How much can they charge when similar (but inferior) programs are less than $200. Now if they bundle it with Photoshop, then perhaps they can use it as a freebie if you buy CS3 instead of one off application purchases.
Hopefully not, but that marketing. I just hope that Lightroom beta users get a discount for a stand alone purchase..