This is a problem for me, too.
Imported photos are imported with a great deal of orientation problems. Some are fine, others are rotated from how they were taken.
That's one thing, and OK on it's own, but I cannot rotate the photos- I also get the message:
"You cannot rotate this image. The file might be in use or open in another program, or the file or folder might be read-only."
The files, folders, etc. associated with the photos are not read-only, and I have full root admin rights to them on the PC. It doesn't matter what PC I import to, the same problem exists, and only with photos imported from my iPhone 4S. Other cameras import without the meta-data problems that I get with the 4S.
Opening the photos in Paint (ugh) on a one-by-one basis is very inconvenient when dealing with hundreds of photos. So is stripping the meta-data. I shouldn't have to take extra steps just do do simple edits to my iPhone photos.
My iOS 4.x 3G iPhone imported photos into my Windows 7 machine without problem, so I doubt this is a Windows issue. The problems started when I started using my iPhone 4S.
I don't know if this is a problem with the 4S hardware/firmware, or with iOS 5, but it is something that should be fixed. I am rather shocked that Apple is allowing such a glaring flaw to go on this long.