Originally Posted by Saracen 
That's not the way I read what they said.
If cards had the functionality under XP and you don't get it under Vista, but he released drivers that enable it, Creative said they have no problem ... provided users understand it may have problems being supported.
Where Creative have said they have a problem is when unofficial drivers use their IP to enable features that weren't enabled on the original card, even under XP.
It's not uncommon for manufacturers to release more than one version of a card at more than one price, with the feature set varying accordingly. That allows those that want advanced features and are able and willing to pay for them to have then, but users wanting a more budget version to buy a feature-reduced version. And, clearly, it's far more economical to have one basic card than to engineer multiple versions. If they did, it would drive the price up. So getting the hump at someone who uses their IP to enable features that weren't enabled on the cards the user actually bought seems fair enough. The user of those lower-end cards didn't pay for those features.
Their unwillingness or inability to produce drivers that fully support existing (and recent) products under Vista is pretty pathetic, though.
Indeed, that's what they said. However, having read a fair chunk of the thread I can't help feel they are not telling the entire truth.
These drivers were primarily to stop constant crashing, add back the XP features, and actually be usable for the general public.
I have also tried to find out what exactly these features that break IP laws could be. Going from the change log of his hacked drivers:
Exclusive features in this unofficial driver:
- Equalizer
- CMSS and Stereo Surround with Stereo focus control.
- Advanced EQ and Special FX available (see notes below)
- Louder volume
- Dolby/DTS decoder
- DVD Audio (32-bit only)
- 4 Gb RAM approved (tested on Intel C2D E6400, Gigabyte 965P-DS3, 4Gb RAM)
Under XP, My card supports every single one of those (apart from the last one
).
I'm not going to call Creative liars, but there have been several calls in that thread to identify where the 'other company' infringement is. If they wish to keep their credibility any more they should say exactly where he is doing this.
This is also backed up by:
Creative Labs Slams Door on User-Modded Vista Drivers Daniel Kawakami has been modding Windows Vista drivers for Creative Labs products. While Creative Labs insisted that features such as Decoding of Dolby Digital and DTS signals and DVD-Audio which worked fine in WinXP, would not work on Vista.
Daniel_K was recently able to "fix" many drivers, enabling the "incompatible" features as well as fixing some bugs. He made a few mistakes, however, as in asking for donations. Making a profit off his modded drivers was asking for trouble. Now Daniel_K probably shouldn’t have sought donations for his work - that’s the main thing that most likely attracted attention to his efforts. But otherwise, he was only trying to ensure that other users like himself were able to get their sound cards to work properly on the sometimes-unstable Vista OS.
If he is adding features from a 3rd party company that is on a more expensive card (hence some of the money going to licence the tech)
then thats fair enough - I have no argument with that and can see where they are coming from. However, I am not able to find any evidence (I'm not saying it isn't) that this is the case.
I suspect the bit I made bold is what they are referring to, being 3rd party. But this was a feature which
worked in XP. They claimed it wouldn't in Vista. He proved them wrong and added it back and made a statement about them purposefully crippling their cards.
If of course you know anything I don't, feel free to inform me
