[JamesL]

Quote:

With Creative releasing less than one new driver a year, things seemed bleak. Fortunately, a talented user, Daniel_K, was recently able to 'fix' many of the drivers, enabling the incompatible features and also fixing many bugs. Just today Creative has decided to put a stop to this. They removed all links to his modified drivers, and banned several users who were posting links to the now banned drivers.

Message to Daniel_K - Sound Blaster - Creative Labs

 

[TheMarchingMule]

Yeah, engadget.com just posted about this.

I am never buying another Creative product again, and since I need to upgrade my sound card, I'll just buy from another company; I know there's better out there.

This surely rivals Virtual Dynamic's customer support.

 

[j.harris]

This is terribly sad, I wouldn't have bought my music if it weren't for the x-fi part, cause I love gaming. But I haven't been having any problems in vista, what are the problems others have been having in vista?

Jacob

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

This only proves the old saying:

If you build it - They will complain

 

[tk3]

Wow, that's dumb.
I remember having an Audigy 2 card years back, and it had the common crackle/pop problem that they never made a fix for, even though tons of people whined about it on their forums.

I'm also one of those "won't ever buy again" guys now.

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

I was worried that my 0404 USB box would soon become unsupported... I suppose I am going to be right about that...

I wonder if this will affect Creative Lab stocks.

 

[Rempert]

To be honest, I'm surprised it took them so long to decide to shut this guy down. He started out by posting free versions of essentially the same file Creative was selling for $10, on an official Creative forum actively moderated by Creative employees, and for some reason they let him do that and expand from there for months. I guess I could see this coming as he started to push more and more for donations.

Well, this is the small issue to me. The big issue is that Creative has full knowledge of how to make fully functioning Vista drivers with all of their hardware features for both the Audigy and X-fi lines (which DanielK's work essentially proved), and for some reason refuse to do so (particularly for the Audigy line). So they can now bare the reputation of a company which intentionally sabotages its own products. Not a good policy if you want current customers to become returning customers.

 

[flashbak]

I'm contemplating returning my 0404/USB 2.0 because of this debauchery!

 

[Marzie]

wow, I would have expected at least one fanboy to pipe up in the thread, but post after post bashing creative. I hope someone at creative is actually considering the fact that this bad press WILL have an impact on their sales, and not thinking that can be swept under the rug. I own a creative mp3 player as does my girlfriend, but I will be seriously considering any future creative purchases if this is how they feel about their customers. It is really obvious that they not only don't care about their customers, but... it's almost like they don't want the products they buy to work... It's obvious they only care about their $, but as I said, this will affect sales.

 

[Mr.Sneis]

Creative just shot themselves in the foot... BAD.

This is like a textbook case that we go over in marketing classes

 

[Apocalypsee]

Screw that! I'm planning to buy X-Fi Elite Pro for cheap. I think I need to reconsider....

 

[1117]

You know what? I agree with Creative.

He can't ask for DONATIONS. That's basically a run-around for him getting paid for it.

As much as I hate to say it, Creative is right. The guy can't get any money from it. Period.

Now, if Creative was shutting the guy down when everything was just distributed freely without donations, that's another matter. I'd take the guy's side, no questions about it.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1117 /img/forum/go_quote.gif You know what? I agree with Creative. He can't ask for DONATIONS. That's basically a run-around for him getting paid for it. As much as I hate to say it, Creative is right. The guy can't get any money from it. Period. Now, if Creative was shutting the guy down when everything was just distributed freely without donations, that's another matter. I'd take the guy's side, no questions about it.

I see Creative's point, but they handled it the wrong way. They should have put the guy on staff part time as a consultant or something and paid him. When you have someone who helps sell your product, you treat them right. There was a good middle ground to take and they made themselves look bad. You can't hire everyone, but someone who contributes that much should be on the team.

Anyhow, I like M-Audio cards better.

 

[Arainach]

It's hilarious, really. You're a company that makes a product. People are pissed because they can't use your product. A lone man with more coding skill than every developer you've hired in the last decade comes by and write drivers that work and let your customers use your product, making them incredibly happy. Do you:

(A) Thank him and offer to host his drivers
(B) Offer him a job
(C) Offer him a job and lay off the rest of your incompetent staff
(D) Tell him to never let anyone see the drivers again under threat of legal action

If you picked (D), you may be qualified for a management position at a rapidly failing tech company!

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

I think you get it wrong. People are upset not because Creative are unable to create the drivers, but because they decided not to, as their business strategy.