I would like a pretty full version of PS, but I could definitely live without the extended stuff or video or the pointless animated GUI etc. I really don't get on with LR (as some here may already know), because there just isn't enough individual pixel level control in there for me (yes I am also a control freak). So a cut down version of a photo editing tool that is more LR-centric than PS-centric, would definitely not be for me. So I don't know if this has already been suggested in this thread, as it is getting a little too long to browse through, but instead of asking Adobe to re-invent the wheel, which lets face it, they are not going to do, then would it not be easier for Adobe and for us who already know the product, for them to simply dig out and port the code from say CS3 (non extended), into the current 64 bit environment and then offer purchasable compatibility updates? Yes I know when I say easy, it is not in fact that easy, but it could be done and by a third party and on a fixed contract probably.
But even as I am writing this, I know none of this is ever going to happen, as to do something like this means Adobe would be cutting off its nose to spite its face, as quite a lot of its 12 million world wide customer base, would immediately buy into this much cheaper solution and so undermine Adobe’s current drive towards maximising its income stream from existing customers, right up until the pips squeak – although I recently read somewhere on the net, that apparently only around a quarter of a million have so far signed up to the CC, which works out at less than 3% if I have pressed the right buttons on my calculator, although this number might just be hype put out by the opposing camp I suppose.
But if something like this cut down version of PS or similar came to fruition and I am sure Jeff is totally the right guy to be pushing this idea for us all and straight into the ears of right people, then I would definitely buy into it, but as the old saying goes, I am not going to hold my breath.
Dave