Ive got two words for Creative: **bleep** You.

Im done with you after readng about this subject, you arrogant arseclowns.

I too have been a customer since the very first card you released, but no more, ive suffered enough at the arrogance of your business model:

1) Sell product at not inconsiderable price

2) Release 1 driver update

3) Ignore any further enquiry for support.

Nowadays we have choices, thank god. You dont have the monoploy you once had, yet you act like you do. I hope this attitude and the backlash from this subject sends you BROKE.

I havent read all the 700+ posts, but here's another thing that may not have been raised.

When Vista first came out, i was testing on my old PC with a Vibra 128 PCI card. Granted not the newest card, but very common in budget PC's of a few years age, and quite stable and useful. Do you think i could get a driver for it? It used to supported by Microsoft out of the box with XP. Yet in Vista i was advised to visit Creatives site to seek driver info for it.

I knew that wasnt going to be fun, given as i have already pointed out that Creative like to do on average 1 driver update on such products and then abandon their customers while they build a new card and overprice that....

Anyways, i get tot he Creative site only to be told i would have to buy a new card??? No drivers were going to be released for my sound card...granted it wasnt new, but it was working, and as mentioned it wassupported by Windows out of the box until now.

Finally got on to an MSDN contact at MS and had a bit of a rant about possible collusion between them and Creative, i.e. MS states the driver is Creatives job, Creative portal you are sent to says "buy new card thanks". Also pointed out that the same driver was in the default install of XP. 4 hours later i got the Vista driver for the Vibra128 zipped to me in an email and a directive from Microsoft that it was a driver that had slipped through the cracks when they were doing the driver migration and it would be accessible from Widnows Update within the hour. Now fair enough we know that doing "the migration" is just fiddling a few lines in an .inf file most likely, but Microsoft, who we like to heap on, actually gave me a solution. and true to their word the driver was on Windows Update within the following hour.

I went to bed feeling pretty happy that night, almost entirely sure i just circumvented Creatives plan to make more money out of people using this older card (and others) who would be blindly accepting their portal mantra of "buy a new card", and oddly Microsofts weird dropping of the basic driver in Vistas default driver package.

If this and the other evidence doesnt inspire you to give Creative a total wide berth in future, then you deserve to be conned, because thats what they are...conmen

As has already been covered, Daniel_K was giving PROPER SUPPORT, and for free. You should have embraced this and given the guy a job Creative, you arrogant **bleep**s.

Long live Daniel_K

Die Creative, Die

I remember getting the family's first pc and having to convince Dad to pay the extra to get the sb16. Since then all my PC's and all the rest of the family's PC's have had Creative cards.

That time is over.

Because of this crazy situation I will not be purchasing Creative products again.

So long old friend, so long and farewell.

I had suspected for a while that creative was run poorly - you have good products and yet your presence in the computing industry is disappearing fast. This kind of attitude towards your customers and enthusiastic third party supporters makes things worse (and confirms to me my suspicions that Creative are becoming desperate).

Clutching like this tends to back-fire. Good bye Creative, I won't be buying anymore of your products unless I see a huge change in policy, attitude and integrity.

aahh...

After having just read a few of the posts included here I have changed my mind.

I will *never* buy another Creative product.

Creative is just so mad because Daniel_K has opened some new features that were left behind on the old soundcards in the transition to Vista. They have specifically made this to force us in buying some new and more expensive Creative soundcards like the X-fi which is suppose to be better supported, but it surely isn't.

Such a big mistake you've done Creative. Like someone else on this forum suggested, soundcards are being bought by enthusiasts, normal people only use the integrated sound from the motherboard, and the problem is that the enthusiasts know what they are buying and will surely find out about your scheme and never use another soundcard from you. Since 28-03-2008 your sales will drop considerably. You deserve bankruptcy.

Unbelievable ! Ive just visited some of my subscribed forums and this thing is spreading like wildfire !

Wake up Creative,You need to do some damage controll here..

Using bugmenot because signup doesn't work for me.

Incompetent driver designers.

Incompetent marketing.

Incompetent management.

That's Creative for you.

I have seen such companies before. This happens when management tries to convert a company into the ultimate money making machine, and on the way lost all moral, starts disrespecting laws, considers customers as idiots who just need to be ripped off, and in general lost contact with reality.

I bet on Monday we'll see a press release from Creative. Creative will call all this a misunderstanding and emphases how much Creative values its customers. Folks, this will be a load of bull. They don't value us. In fact, they despise and hate us. Because, we are the people between them and the money they want. It pisses Creative off to no end that they have to give us something in exchange for our money, a working and fully functioning product. What a nuisance. Wouldn't life be so much easier if we just hand over our money without asking for something in return?

Here is my pledge:

Under no circumstances will I ever purchase anything from Creative. Nor will I recommend Creative products or support Creative products in operation. This is my contribution to enforce consumer rights and dignity.

I feel so stupid now that I just bought a new creative sound card.

I hate nothing more than unfinished products sold by marketing hype. I may be fooled into buying such products once, but I won't buy that brand again.

just money talks.

Realizing that Creative sells us only promises I will stop buying products from this manufacturer after 15 years.

Neither for me nor for my friends I will purchase this brand again.

grettings from Germany

I just registered to post this:

Creative, you guys s***! I heard about this whole driver thing and I'm really upset. Why didn't you just let Daniel_k do his work and be happy your soundcard finally had the whole feature support you promised.

I'm not going to sell my creative card because I don't want any other person to have a card from such a bad company. I will throw it against the wall and use onboard sound.(lol onboard sound....gonna be hard times for my cpu xD maybe I should buy this new asus soundcard i read about )

And for all the people out there who blame Daniel_k for "Taking money" for his work:

1. He deserved every single cent

2. He did not TAKE it. he just got donations. For me that's a big difference. He did the work CRATIVE TOOK the money for.