Jim--There are plenty of good RAW processors out there--Capture One, Capture NX2, ACR, Bibble and others--what is sorely missing is a good RAW processor integrated with a browser/catalogue that takes you from the beginning to the end of the workflow. I thought that LR was the one, but after a year with it I've found that, for me, it leaves out too many essential features to make it an all-in-one solution. (I am finding that I will need (i) a proper file ingester, (ii) a proper EXIF viewer, (iii) a proper EXIF editor, (iv) another browser/catalogue to deal with my AVCHD video files, .pdf files, audio files, (v) another program to deal with special Nikon features, such as showing focus points, (vi) a better RAW converter (such as DXO) for dealing with heavy-duty lens corrections and distortion control for some pictures, (vii) possibly a dedicated sharpening tool, (viii) plugins to deal with uploading to various websites, such as Picasa (there is no plugin for Photoshop.com however!), (ix) Capture NX2 for difficult color balancing tasks, to get the maximum out of certain Nikon photos and when U-Points are needed, and of course (x) Photoshop (which already includes ACR, making it a relative bargain compared to Lightroom) to do a million other things. Not exactly an all-in-one, for me.)
Note that some of the LR quirks are easy to fix, but I am afraid that LR is just not on the same page as I am and doesn't even view them as issues at all. For example, they've made clear that it's not their job to display any EXIF information that they don't currently display, which I view as a major security flaw. The file ingestor in LR keeps changing from one .dot release to another, and none of the iterations are what I'm looking for (which is flexibility). I am sure they would scoff at the idea of providing the ability to edit EXIF codes (such as camera used and lens used). Their public excuse for not providing support for AVCHD is a fimsy one. Supporting .pdf and audio files would have been very easy but it apparently doesn't fit in their "philosophy".
Yeah, I know I don't have to buy LR if I don't like it. No need to point that out, it really doesn't help.
What I was suggesting was possibly using Picasa as the browser/catalogue along with another RAW processor(s). Expression Media is another candidate. Bridge is a fine browser, but not a catalogue. There really aren't a lot of choices.
drmaxx--I hear you on the privacy issue. When I look at the list of installed programs in my Windows 7 Control Panel, I see 19 entries for Adobe and zero for Google. I give (had given) a lot of stock to the notion that a video/image company should do a good job at managing media without compromising privacy.
I still hope that there will be a sea-change at Adobe and that LR 4 will break away from the ambition of imposing a certain pre-defined workflow on users and poviding more options and flexibility as they do in their other programs, such as Photoshop and Premiere Pro, which I have only a few "philoshophical" problems with.
In the meantime, ANY suggestions of another browser/catalogue would be much appreciated.