Sunday, June 8th 2008
Creative Software Modder Daniel_K Gone for Good
Driver modder Daniel Kawakami or better known as Creative's Daniel_K is backing off his deal with providing modded software for all Creative sound cards for free. After receiving second warning mail from Creative threatening him with legal actions, he is finally "gone for good". He has posted a message over at the Creative forums informing everyone for his decission. Leave your thoughts here, and tell us what do you think.
Source:
Creative Forums
Daniel KawakamiI've received another cease and desist e-mail.
I'm done with Creative, enough is enough.
Don't even bother asking me for the files.
126 Comments on Creative Software Modder Daniel_K Gone for Good
So - by your reasoning, Creative should be out their pulling ALL or the 3rd party drivers for these cards. Why, then, are the only putting a stop to one specific set of modified drivers? BECAUSE FEATURES THAT THESE DRIVERS ENABLE VIOLATE EULA AGREEMENTS THAT YOU AGREE TO WHEN YOU INSTALL THE ASSOCIATED HARDWARE - why, then, have they not pulled any of the other 3rd party driver sets?
They aren't keeping anyone from modding the drivers, nor the hardware, at the sake of their profit - they stopping modified software that enables features that were not initially enabled - and therefore, are also not supported. Secondly, as I mentioned before, if the features are disabled due to some licensing or contractual agreement between Creative and another company, Creative could be held legally liable for a breach of contract.
And for all those that have been trying to claim that Creative are a money-grubbing corporation, keep in mind that they are a publicly traded company (at least their US branch is), and must enact in the best interest of their shareholders - and their shares have been on a steady decline since 2005 - there was a burst when the X-Fis were released, but they have been steadily losing money (why do you think they keep trying to bring new products to market?). They've had to sell their primary headquarters in Taiwan, and that's been within the last year . . . c'mon, people, think! You complain when 10 year old hardware no longer functions properly, or things become disabled - but how else is a company who produces fairly-reliable products that will last 10+ years ever going to turn a profit if their ancient hardware still functions "correctly?" So - by that argument . . . explain to me what is the "same damn thing" between the X-Fi series and the Audigy series (excluding the Xtreme Audio). Explain to me, also, what is the "same damn thing" between the Live! series and the Audigy series as well. Please, explain this one to me, because I fail to see or understand your point on even the tiniest level.
Creative = greedy capitalist pigs
there won't be anymore "GOOD" drivers for creative cards for vista anymore also.
You really think a firm like Creative would even exist if there werent property rights? What about Intel? Do you think theyd spend billions of dollars on producing generation after genration of CPUs if they couldnt patent their products? Protection of intellectual property drives innovation and thankfully most people realise this. the people that dont agree are simply freeriders.
It's all good, though - considering the amount of people on the internet that keep joining into these mod-mentalities against Creative and not really thinking about the issues at hand; should Creative completely go under, everyone will just find another scapegoat - probably ASUS or Auzentech; and again we'll see some heavy-handed practices from said company in the audio market as well, like Creative has been doing for the last 10 years.
I'll guarantee you that.
In Windows XP Dolby Digital and DTS work, daniel_k's drivers made them work in Vista as well. This is only one example.
@imperialreign
Is it stealing to get "the same damn thing" working in Vista too?
Edit: Last summer Creative, charged its customers a $9.99 fee for the privilege of legacy EAX support under Windows Vista.
As a comparisson...What if Microsoft charged us $9.99 for each service pack for XP for example? Would that be ok?
China - communist
Russia - Communist
Me - Born in Britain, U.K (Rofl)
Communisum ftw!
They are lucky if they havent been sued by now, and that is thanks to daniel_k in part, and the fan base. How come he, an individual, could make the drivers work for Vista while Creative, a experienced company, still "works around the clock" real hard striving to bring back what previously worked in XP.
Vista is not to blame for this, but let's not start a XP vs Vista flame war here pls.
I do not think Creative are incapable, they have excelent hardware, and I bet they could make the old hardware work on the new OS, that's what made me think that it was just a "business decision" as they call it to make their old hardware work properly again.
Yes vista is much better than the day it was launched. Gave it a go once every 6 months.. Now I finally have it instaled (dual boot) I am pleased with microsoft's progress, and also the fact that drivers have matured and slowly continue to do so. Vista's viable now, never thought I'd say that.
All-in-all, their hardware is still really great; but the rest of the company has gone downhill over the last 10 years, and they're nothing like I remember them being back during the ISA days, or during the move to PCI back in '96. Their customer service has gone to crap, and I swear their driver team has been on vacation the last 2 years and just keep phoning in the new driver releases. Plus, their tech support is a massive waste of time - if their tech support was worth a damn, I never would've had to start the X-Fi thread here. I just found it sad, though, the vast number of users out there with legitimate issues that they couldn't get resolved with Creative's tech support.
I still have hopes they'll straigthen their act out and turn themselves around - they seem to have been trying to do so recently; we'll have to see if that holds up. you just crossed the line, man, congrats on showing just how mature you are :toast: