P: Add 10-bit/channel color display support

Furthermore, bit depth of cameras (raw) and monitor output are not comparable at all: Camera bit depth refers to a linear tonal scale (gamma = 1) and monitor output to a non-linear scale (mostly gamma = 2.2).

Existing 8 bit output resolution will not really limit your photography (e.g. in terms of dynamic range). The advantage of 10 Bit is "only" that it gives you more tonal resolution on the display. For critical photos, this can improve display accuracy by reducing banding/posterization in regions with subtle tonal or color changes. So the feature is of course desirable, but not essential.

The bit depth of the data doesn't matter here -- Lightroom already processes images in the depth of the camera or 32 bit floating point format. This topic is about supporting newer video cards and displays that can use 10 bit/channel framebuffers.

DSLR's are increasingly pushing the 8 bit envelope. Why would Adobe be content letting their software limit my photography?

Correct, yes, the compatible card and driver are required, as well as a monitor.

My point is really:
If a user has invested in a 10 bit monitor, a 10 bit compatible card / driver version (e.g. FirePro from ATI) they should be able to get applications that support this.

The prime example being that CS5 does support 10 bit (if all the other pieces are in place) through OpenGL, so as a related product it would be great if Lightroom did too.

Also, we can only support 10 bit/channel through OpenGL - which requires a compatible card and driver version.

He means that the driver, graphics card, and monitor supports 10 bit color. Only the app is missing 10 bit support.

OS X doesn't support 10 bit, though. Windows does.

"At the moment, all that's missing is the application."

There are thousands of feature requests, so obviously that isn't all.