Understanding the term 'camera raw'

To me, Adobe's choice of the label camera raw  is unfortunate and misleading. Read the following quote: 'Although Adobe Camera Raw was created to process photos taken in your camera's RAW format, it is NOT JUST FOR RAW PHOTOS, because you can process your JPEG and TIFF photos in Camera Raw as well. So even though your JPEG and TIFF photos won't have all the advantages of RAW photos, at least you'll have all the intuitive controls Camera Raw brings to the table.'

For a very brief description of Camera Raw, a free down-loadable plug-in to Adobe's other products like PhotoShop Elements, go to this web site:
http://don26812.wordpress.com/2008/03/02/edit-jpeg-images-as-camera-raw-files/

The author of this article, 'Edit JPEG Images as Camera RAW Files', says 'You may find that the results you get are not only better (than in  PS Elements alone), but also easier and quicker to apply. Try it and see for yourself.' I fully agree. I love it!

To get the download, go to:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3896