Over the years (quite a number in my case), I have purchased a large number of Creative sound cards. Generally, I went for the higher spec ones (AWE64 Gold with extra sugar, etc). My last purchase was in January 2007 of an X-Fi Elite Pro. Not a particularly cheap purchase, you’ll admit, at €360.
Shortly after that, I started testing Microsoft Windows Vista, and was pretty impressed except for the lack audio driver support. I had to accept the statement from Creative that as Vista had not officially launched, they would not provide support it. Fair enough, you say. Once Vista launched though, I wanted my drivers. I still want them. Doesn’t look like I’ll get them from Creative though, and now it seems that Creative want to make sure that I don’t get them from anywhere else.
Daniel_K is a regular in the Creative support forums who has taken it upon himself to develop drivers which Creative can’t/won’t release. He has helped a lot of people to get Creative hardware working on Vista, but now Creative want him to stop.
Creative have, in a thinly veiled threat, told him to cease and desist, or else…don’t-touch-my-IP-or-I’ll-break-your-legs-cuz-you’re-stopping-us-forcing-people-to-buy-new-cards type of thing.
You can read it all here (currently with 1,714 replies…and heading for a quarter of a million views), but suffice to say, I personally will never buy nor recommend that anyone else buys, Creative hardware, as they just want you to junk whatever you have and buy another piece of their unsupported kit.
Message to Daniel_K – Sound Blaster – Creative Labs
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