Lightroom 2.0 was released July 28th after being avalaible as a beta for the last few months. If your an apologist for Adobe you'd say that "everything is great", "lots of cool new features', "new software is going to have a few growing pains'. A more realistic approach would have to note that it's got some real problems. Using the new brush tool or the gradient filter for example, causes some machines to run very slowly and many like mine are just hanging. Both Mac and PC platforms are reporting the same issues. A painful three day review of the blogs seems to support the conclusion that the problems are not based on available memory either. Even more suspect is that the Adobe support center has been so swamped since the release that it's been impossible to get any help. Or for Adobe to see how big the problems are. If you can get the support center page to open (about a one in ten chance) there is a file there labeled "Trouble shooting system errors and freezes" but guess what, the support center's server freezes when you try to download it.

What really irks me (going to rant now) is that a broad review of all the Adobe blogs like Scott Kelby's have made no mention of the problems. These guys are so tied at the hip to Adobe that they have lost all credibility. How in the hell can they put out a product with known issues and not fix the problems noted in the beta version. This isn't some screwed up typing program where you might "only" lose a few hours work if it crashes. This is the program where all your original images are held. If they can't have rock solid performance who is going to trust it? (rant over)
To be fair, many folks have not had an issue, many others just note "it's slower than LR 1.4" I really hope they fix the problems. I enjoyed the new tools and saw they have real potential in the 2 hours I had before the crashes started to come.
Here is a recommendation. If your thinking about the upgrade ($99 in the US, $140 international, That's a whole other post) download the trial and put it through it's paces for the trial period before spending the money. And don't remove 1.4, if you have it, until your sure 2.0 runs on your setup or until Adobe gets their $^#T together. And please, if somebody could do me a favor? Go to the Lightroom support center and try to download the "Trouble shooting system errors and freezes for Windows" file, Top of the list, can't miss it. I've tried three different machines but maybe it's a network problem on my end. I'd really appreciate it. If you could share it here, Wetpixel would once again be the first light in the darkness.
Thanks,
Steve
Edited by Steve Williams, 05 August 2008 - 10:29 PM.