Because of your post I decided to try DxO. I downloaded the trial down loader, which failed to install the software after downloading 200+ mb of data. I'm not impressed.

I think you're right there's a lot more potential for them in shifting to support the alpha platform, than doing same old thing with canon / nikon market.

Also there's less competition in the sony tailored digital software market, something else they could perhaps exploit. In addition to garnering new customers for existing software products I mean.

After learning of dxo and trying it with my a100 I immediately cast my vote for more lens support. Alas none were ever added. To me that's the whole appeal of dxo, I don't need it w/o the calibrated lens features.

Hope they wisen up quick to sony alpha.

"I downloaded the trial down loader, which failed to install the software after downloading 200+ mb of data. I'm not impressed."

See, not even a base hit. If you solve the install issue, then you might see a home run. But then you may never get it working. Like I said, nothing in between.

DxO has some interesting ideas, the unfortunate thing is, the reality of the software is not so good. I did get it working ok to test it out, but I would not bother with it myself.

The new LR2 looks pretty good, but its missing the one thing that DxO can do well, advanced perspective and distortion control. I dont mind doing that ala manual myself, as it is..there is nothing there in LR2 to do it with. Which is a shame for shooters like me.

I only wish rawtherapee was much faster, and had some LR type capablities, it would surely do major damage, and be worthy of a decent donation. I have replaced many software programs on my pc with open source or free stuff, I dumped MS office 2 years ago, and have had no regrets with open office.

Sadly, photography has had little real attention from the open source market, if it did...companies like DxO and Adobe would be working much harder to improve their products.

I really like the DxO tools for perspective control. And if they have the lens, I like the distortion correction. Problem is, they don't have enough. So, you're right on target when you say, they have interesting ideas - and your right on target when the reality is, they don't have the complete set of software modules.

There are some developments with RT. For example, Gabor et. al. are working to add batch processing. So, at least it's a baby step closer to adding some LR capabilities. Like you, I value that competition to keep pressure on the big boys.

>>I have replaced many software programs on my pc with open source or free stuff, I dumped MS office 2 years ago, and have had no regrets with open office.

If you like open source software, you may have tried it already. If you haven't heard of Gimp it's an open source photoshop like program. Been around for a long time, more commonly used on linux platforms than windows, but there's a windows version. It's pretty powerful, but not as user friendly as CSx (if you can even say that about CS).

I use it for a lot of things, there are lots of tutorials out there for working with photographic images using it. Not for everyone but thought I'd bring it up.

http://www.gimp.org/windows/

http://www.gimpshop.com/

I'm a 5D owner, but DxO is too expensive for my taste. I've been using PTLens for quite a while now to handle lens correction tasks. It's just $15 for a perpetual license and it supports a huge database of lenses and cameras, including a good selection of KM lenses. It's still short on Sony lenses, but users can easily get any lens included in the database by submitting their own test images.

PTLens - that's a good reminder. I have PTLens and certainly recommend it as well. Like you, I appreciate that users can submit test images to update their lens correction database.