Thread: Creative threatening legal action on Custom Driver Makers

http://forums.creative.com/creativel...cending&page=1

Dumb shits. If their product doesn't work, and this guy made it work, hire him. If you know how to make it work but don't want it to, then announce it like that, you are just fucking stupid. They get what happens to them. Creative just dumped a huge market share.

Wow...what happened to Creative, I use to like them and recently I have not been impressed with them at all. I recently bought one of their Fatal1ty Champ1on cards and I have to say, I'm not really impressed. I might as well just use the sound card that came with my motherboard.

Originally Posted by Keiron

Wow...what happened to Creative, I use to like them and recently I have not been impressed with them at all. I recently bought one of their Fatal1ty Champ1on cards and I have to say, I'm not really impressed. I might as well just use the sound card that came with my motherboard.

Ditto... well different card but same result.

Came in the PC I got from my Sis-in-law. Music sounded fine, but games (2142) sounded like shit. Using on board one now. Much better.

Creative = bloatware.

The day I replaced my Creative card with a non-Creative card is the day I stopped having sound issues and general stability issues in Vista.

Daniel_K:

We are aware that you have been assisting owners of our Creative sound cards for some time now, by providing unofficial driver packages for Vista that deliver more of the original functionality that was found in the equivalent XP packages for those sound cards. In principle we don't have a problem with you helping users in this way, so long as they understand that any driver packages you supply are not supported by Creative. Where we do have a problem is when technology and IP owned by Creative or other companies that Creative has licensed from, are made to run on other products for which they are not intended. We took action to remove your thread because, like you, Creative and its technology partners think it is only fair to be compensated for goods and services. The difference in this case is that we own the rights to the materials that you are distributing. 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. When you solicit donations for providing packages like this, you are profiting from something that you do not own. 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.

Although you say you have discontinued your practice of distributing unauthorized software packages for Creative sound cards we have seen evidence of them elsewhere along with donation requests from you. We also note in a recent post of yours on these forums, that you appear to be contemplating the release of further packages. To be clear, we are asking you to respect our legal rights in this matter and cease all further unauthorized distribution of our technology and IP. In addition we request that you observe our forum rules and respect our right to enforce those rules. If you are in any doubt as to what we would consider unacceptable then please request clarification through one of our forum moderators before posting.

Phil O'Shaughnessy
VP Corporate Communications
Creative Labs Inc.


Forum Moderator
Creative Labs

danielK

I do know what is right, so I'll stop developing and distributing Creative softwares and drivers.



I'll leave a comment, though.



The funny thing is that you are faster "protecting" your technologies and intelectual properties than providing improved drivers and softwares for your customers.



You purposedly crippled and ruined the Audigy/Live! (Emu10kx) and the Audigy LS/SE/Value/Live!24-bit (P17) drivers for Windows Vista.



This just proves you don't really care about what your customers and what people think about you.

the thread is currently 25+ pages, and growing.

Legally, creative has the right to protect their products. But using deception and lies....coverups as to why Vista has little to no support for major features....EAX and dolby decoding issues....all sorts of crap.....unacceptable.

Creative makes one sound card, and then turns the one card into 3 or 4 different lines. High end, low end, middle of the road, fatality X-gamer pro's, whatever, by simply "disabling" aspects of a fully functional high end card. They've been doing that for years, similar to processor makers who slow down their chips and lock them, even though they can run much faster. That's PC hardware business....that's how it works. I don't have a problem with that.

I have a problem with specifically witholding support for drivers and features for new (X-fi's and Audigy4's) cards on Vista....where you can take the same PC setup, install vista, and now some of your sound features don't work. Same card. Same drivers. No features.

Unacceptable. I will never by a creative card, nor will I recommend one, ever again.

Originally Posted by Consultant

Creative = bloatware.

up to now, I'd have to disgree. I've owned an SB card since the SB16 days. SB32, SBlive, Audigy1, Audigy2, and now my X-fi.

Love them. Makes onboard and other PCI cards sound like crap. EAX, and other features, when they are working, ARE the standard for sound quality on a PC. That can't be argued.

But if the future/Vista/etc cards are being forced upon us by driver support schemes and decpetive trade practices......I'm out.

Creative Labs is not teamplayer.

Originally Posted by ...bigdog...

Originally Posted by Consultant

Creative = bloatware.

up to now, I'd have to disgree. I've owned an SB card since the SB16 days. SB32, SBlive, Audigy1, Audigy2, and now my X-fi.

Love them. Makes onboard and other PCI cards sound like crap. EAX, and other features, when they are working, ARE the standard for sound quality on a PC. That can't be argued.

But if the future/Vista/etc cards are being forced upon us by driver support schemes and decpetive trade practices......I'm out.

Creative Labs is not teamplayer.

I meant their driver packages - 40, 50, 60 MB for a driver package that includes lots of mixers and extra bullshit that I didnt ask for - thats what I meant.

So more importantly, ...bigdog..., what sound card is the next best thing?

For years I used a Turtle Beach Santacruz soundcard and it rocked.

Whats the non-creative equivalent to the X-Fi?

There are a couple of good alternatives to Creative.

M-Audio is more known for their high-end studio quality cards, but they've got some that have decent gaming performance like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829121122

It's based on the VIA ENVY audio chipset. This is used on some of the high-end motherboards, but this is a standalone implementation.

I have an M-Audio 2496 card that handles 24-bit 96kHz audio that I used for some audio projects. It's in a non-gaming machine that I used for ripping audio from Laserdiscs and Vinyl. Top notch stuff.

B-Gears is a relative unknown, but they have a product based off of the C-Media Crystal HD Audio chipset (again, used on a lot of high-end motherboards.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829127002

I personally have this card in my gaming rig and it performs well in everything I use it for.

ASUS is also making major strides in the PC audio department with their Xonar line of cards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...1315&name=ASUS

They are using their own silicon for their cards. I've read some good things about their products. I haven't personally played with them.