What am i doing wrong?

Recently I started shooting in RAW format.. and i love how i can fix things in terms of sharpness/color/etc.. but i noticed when i convert them to either jpg or tiff it loses some sharpness.. i've used photoshop cs3 to convert and also tried the software that came with my rebel xti.. both programs had the same result with loss of sharpnes.. am i doing something wrong when i convert them? any help appreciated

How are you deciding there is a lack of sharpness? Is this visible to you when you put prints side by side?

More information would be helpful.

Rad

Most digital images can use a bit of sharpening. Do it as the last step before printing.

Also, only compare sharpness between different programs at 100% view.
Different software uses different downscaling algorithms for "fit screen" view.

You might have sharpening set to preview only, though this won't explain DPP.