Blame Canon and Nikon for not talking to Adobe and insisting on their proprietary ways.
Unlike Canon and Nikon, Pentax has no delusions of adequacy about their ability to write software, and Pentax does talk to Adobe. Canon and Nikon persist in their delusional belief in their competency to write software, a competency they have demonstrated they lack.
Thanks so much for all your help. I will go to your link and do further work. I have LEARNED a ton. I had read, after posting here, alot about the Canon proprietary issues. It needs some work.
The one thing that one has to keep in mind is that you can't see a raw image in its raw state, ever. A raw image would be a very, very dark grayscale linear image. You can only see a given raw converter's rendition (interpretation) of the color information contained in that awfully dark grayscale image. Each and every single raw converter will have its unique interpretation of the raw information.
That's why you will always see a change in the image when Bridge switches from showing you a thumbnail based on the embedded JPEG to presenting you with ACR's rendition of the raw data.