dakine Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I found this article on Wired Blog Network at: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/creative-fixing.html Creative: Fixing Our Crippled Sound Card Drivers Is "Stealing our Goods" Creative Labs, makers of sound cards that still don't work properly with Windows Vista, doesn't want fixed versions of its broken drivers on the net. In a message to "Daniel_K," who repaired their broken software, Creative Labs' Phil O'Shaughnessy claims that by restoring functionality to Vista drivers that are offered in Windows XP versions, he is a thief. "By enabling our technology and IP to run on sound cards for which it was not originally offered or intended, you are in effect, stealing our goods," writes O'Shaughnessy at Creative's forums. Granted, Daniel_K is soliciting donations. Furthermore, the gear's end-user license agreement specifies, as is usual, that you can't tamper with its software. But why would a company set out to prevent people from helping one another fix problems in hardware it's already sold them? The answer is the sad one you've probably learned to expect: O'Shaughnessy admits that Creative Labs intentionally crippled its Vista drivers as a business strategy. "If we choose to develop and provide host-based processing features with certain sound cards and not others, that is a business decision that only we have the right to make." Man this just pisses me off, we pay good money for {censored} that ends up being obsolete for no other reason than they want us to buy more of their {censored}. EVERYONE SHOULD BOYCOTT CREATIVE, AND SEND THEM THEM BACK THEIR F..KED UP {censored} IN PIECES. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcon351 Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I had an SB Live! 5.1 card lying around that I hadn't been using for a few years. I recently put it in my parents' PC only because the integrated audio broke due to chipset fan failure and consequent overheating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superhai Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I don't understand that people still buy Creative Labs products... Every piece I ever had from Creative have not survived any upgrades of software. Unfortunately my dell laptop has some from them as oem products. And I am pretty sure when next windows comes out it will not work after i upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmdshft Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Off the main topic a bit, here's another nail in the Windows-basher's coffin: Yet more proof that {censored} OS experience is not necessarily caused by the OS software development company (in this case, Microsoft), but by the driver manufacturer's themselves. Anyway, I agree, Creative Labs is a crappy manufacturer and they need to be put down for their shoddy practices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermatea Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I have an Audigy 4 sound card and I really like it. It works just fine in XP. And, news flash, Creative makes more than sound cards. They also make products like mp3 players. The Creative Zen for example is much better than the iPod in many aspects in my opinion: http://us.creative.com/products/product.as...p;product=16999 And to all those Creative haters out there, I'd like to know where you get all YOUR sound cards from. Honestly, if bad drivers is the only bad business practice from Creative, that's still far fewer than those of, say, Apple, for example. They've got plenty of questionable business practices: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=95518 , yet they're #1?: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=96913 Funny isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pop_eye Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 I found this article on Wired Blog Network at: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/creative-fixing.html Man this just pisses me off, we pay good money for {censored} that ends up being obsolete for no other reason than they want us to buy more of their {censored}. EVERYONE SHOULD BOYCOTT CREATIVE, AND SEND THEM THEM BACK THEIR F..KED UP {censored} IN PIECES. I have nothing to say against boycot Creative, however there is a new side of the story which was not included in original post here Message to Daniel_K Dale-CL Moderator We have read the strong feedback about Creative's forum post regarding driver development by Daniel_k and other outside parties. Creative's message posted on our behalf by our Company spokesperson tried to address our concern about the improper distribution of certain software which is the property of other companies. However, we did not make it as clear as we would have liked that we do support driver development by independent third parties. The huge task of developing driver updates to accommodate the many changes in the Vista operating system and the extensive testing required, including the lengthy Vista certification requirements for audio, makes it very difficult for Creative to develop updates for all past products. Outside developers have been very helpful to Creative and our customers by developing updates for many of our Sound Blaster products, and we do support and appreciate these efforts. This however does not extend to the unauthorized distribution of other companies' property. We hope to work out a mutually agreeable method for working with Daniel_k in supporting his efforts in driver development. Going forward, we are committed to doing a better job of working more closely with third parties to support their development for our products and our customers. Message Edited by Dale-CL on 04-01-2008 03:49 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dakine Posted April 2, 2008 Author Share Posted April 2, 2008 I sold the last Creative product that I had months ago, which was and Audigy sound card, because the drivers for Vista only offered about have the capabilities that it did with XP. I just forgot, I do have a Creative Live USB sound device, so yeah, I just bashed another Creative product, this time with a sledge hammer. I feel much better now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirland Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 In brief : let's imagine this is one more nagative post about "Creative". A bit longer: bought, didn't work, guarantee center - changed, worked for a couple of months - guarantee center money back... conclusion: only guarantee center works. guess why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazubu Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Yes this attitude sucks, but alas it's common. Apple is the king for using this business trick a lot but in a less obvious way so that it doesn't hurt their reputation too much. They use it only a little, but on every side, and at the end you still want to upgrade your hardware. Anyway, dunno what you think about it but if I compare the creative labs from 10 or 15 years ago, and the creative labs of today, I see the king of the sound on one side, and a little company that is slowly being forgotten on the other. I wouldn't be suprised if they were aquired soon by a larger company. If they sink, they'll earn what they deserve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apowerr Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 My Audigy 4 still has issues in Vista, which is highly irritating. I use it over my integrated sound because there is known flaw for my motherboard that results in static, although there are fixes =(. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Uh.. I just bought a new creative SB Audigy card a few weeks ago and threw it in my Vista PC.. works fine here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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