FWIW, there's an updated FAQ on the Lightroom Journal blog:
http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/
Q. Will there be a different version of Lightroom called Lightroom CC?
A. No.
I take the comments from Adobe Senior management seriously. I think in this climate one needs to and it seems to me that people are talking from both sides of their mouth. Earlier I quoted Mr. Hendrickson who said very specifically that Tom Hogan was showing "
the potential of Lightroom CC." Mr. Hendrickson is the man, VP of Creative Solutions. Tom Hogan is a Manager. Everyone concedes that LR will be part of CC of which it will consist as part of the subscription offering. The real question, will there be differences? Here the double speak gets more complicated.
Mr. Hogan has assured us that there will be no differences in his blog post as quoted above. In the same interview at DPReview.com, Brian Hughes is quoted as saying that "
We don't have plans to make Lightroom a subscription-only option but we do envision added functionality for CC members using Lightroom." Even Mr. Schewe implied the same thing above and Mr. Hogan, in his next post at his Lightroom Journal said when talking about ACR8 (which should also refer to LR5) "
No new features or functionality will be available in ACR to Photoshop CS6 customers as part of those updates. (No Upright, advanced healing brush or radial filter, etc.) I don’t have a timeline for how long this camera raw support will continue for Photoshop CS6 but I want to be consistent with our past policy of providing raw support for currently shipping products."
Historically, ACR has matched the Development module in LR. Will ACR8CC (the one with the Upright, advanced healing brush and radial filter) continue to be part of LR5 or will that only be a part of LRCC? How will important functionality like camera shake reduction be added to ACRCC without it being added LRCC? Will all of these updated features be added to LR5 or beyond? Again, Mr. Schewe and others seem to imply there will be subscription differences from the purchase products. The more that management and Adobe loyalists talk, the more the cloudy the picture gets confusing.
So let me say a final thing. What Adobe has done is just stunning. I have been in business and in retail for 40 years. Never have I seen a major organization actively alienage a significant segment of its customer base and from Mr. Hendrickson's words, he doesn't care;
"there's not a lot of photography-specific value in our subscription products." Further, because we are views as having little value, the organization is relegating us to more mundane products like LR and Elements. I just wonder how many other individuals are out there like me who purchased the Creative Suites that will not do so now. It is an interesting world that Adobe has created and it will make a wonderful Business School study.
BTW; the sole issue is ownership. "I will not be involved in a software product where I don't have perpetual rights to what acquire. There are a "lot" of ways that Adobe could have handled this issue, with buy-out-rights, major update purchase options, etc. If Adobe wants to flat line their revenue stream, fine, but give us an opportunity to own what we pay for.