Hold your horses: Creative has Vista drivers coming... some time next year

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Nathan Davis21 November 2006, 7:35 AM

The giant awakes and we finally received a response from Creative regarding its largely lacking driver support for its sound cards on Windows Vista.

The almighty Creative has finally answered our questions about its minimal driver support for Vista.

Creative ignored our first and most pressing question: why it has been unable to produce stable release drivers, while at the same time graphics card maker nVIDIA has fully-supported, WHQL-certified drivers for Vista RC2. Are sound cards seriously more difficult to support than graphics cards?

Creative only recently released unsupported beta drivers for Vista RC1.

The company did, however, respond to why it hadn't sooner released the RC1 drivers to the public.

"Creative will ensure quality and stability before releasing," it said, adding "... there is constant fine tuning of specs on Microsoft's part, and it is essential for Creative to re-test and fine tune."

Microsoft several weeks ago released final code for Vista to component and software makers in advance of the November 30 launch to businesses and January launch to consumers.

When asked about RC2 support, Creative reminded us that it continues to work with Microsoft "to finetune," saying "We will certainly release updated drivers when they are available. These driver releases are also dependent on the Vista OS release as different versions at different times may require modification of drivers."

When queried on exactly what cards won't work under Vista, and why, Creative didn't exactly give us a detailed list. Instead, it said, "Creative will support [the] majority of its sound cards."

The great unwashed minority can go suck a lemon, it seems.

So, when can we expect to see supported drivers? It reckons "... in end of the year and Q1 next year."

Creative declined to allow its comments to be attributed to a named spokesperson at the company

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tin:

Creative have gotten as arrogant as MS lately.
Yes, we all loved the SBPro and the SB16. The AWE32 was cool, and the SBLive was a must have.
But they've done nothing really that great lately, and now they seem to not care about their customers. I'm not just talking about this issue either.

It's been building up for about the last 2 years. Creative's support has been getting more rude and the websites have been getting more about selling the latest product than assisting existing users.

29 February 2008, 8:28 PM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

alaskaman:

Every month the story changes at Creative. They stated on their website that they didn't support unreleased operating systems. Vista is now a released product, but still no drivers for my SB Audigy sound card. They refused to allocate proper resources in a timely manner to their required software modifications.The customers were told to wait. We waited; still nothing.

29 February 2008, 8:28 PM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

steve.wiseman:

I don't see it as a huge issue. I mean lets think about it...how many users are going to upgrade to Vista right away anyhow? Isn't it a little crazy to think that they will support Vista the day it's released? I think so. I bet there is tons of software, and hardware that simply will not work, or be supported under Vista for a while. Video card companies were probably subsidised and given the royal treatment by MS. This is because the high end video cards are needed for Aero glass. There are so many changes under the hood. It takes time to develop software that works under the new system...and beta versions don't cut it. You don't want to spend 6 months working on a project only to have Microsoft change a major component and force you to start over. I think middle of next year will be fine. How long did it take for people to really start adopting XP? I think it was 2 years before it started to take off. Steve Wiseman Windows Admin Tools

29 February 2008, 8:28 PM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Splendide:

It'd be nice to at least know which cards they'll be supporting though. I'm in the market for a sound card at the minute, and this development has put that idea on the backburner.

29 February 2008, 8:34 PM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Phill Perry:

It's been two days since the Vista release and Creative still don't have decent drivers available for it's customers. In fact Creative and nVidia have really dropped the ball on this. They have had a great deal of time to get working drivers out but have messed up badly. What really amazes me is the total lack of customer support from both of these main stream companies, surely they haven't been sitting on their rears for the past year!

29 February 2008, 8:29 PM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

VistaRules:

Fist of all your right, because the beta version has been out for long time and they had to release stable drivers, know i paid 400 dolaaes for software and not even stable drivers a re avalible so i believe this company should make good drivers soon because apperently these beta drivers are no good. They have alot of bugs and the sound doesnt sound as good as windows xp. So please creative fix your problems...... Wow!!

29 February 2008, 8:37 PM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

raindog:

By this logic if you buy 22" wheels for your Hyundai it would be Dunlop's fault their wasn't a complete range of tyres in this size. A few of you people need to take a reality check re manufacturer obligations and you personal relevence in when and how corporate dollars are spent. You bought a product that worked well and was suitable for the predominant operating system at that time. Well guess what that operating system is still the predominant operating system as of Feb 6 2007, in time the manufacturer may need to revise their support but not at the whim of a few jumping fools. When did your rushing up to Harvey Norman with 4 crisp hundreds become any Manufacturers obligation to have drivers to suit your changed situation?

29 February 2008, 8:37 PM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

chance:

raindog...just because people install Vista quickly doesn't make them fools. I have the Ultimate version installed because I develop applications for the new platform.I have a non-working SB Audigy 2ZS that hasn't worked now since November. What pisses me off is all the other harware vendors could have caught Creative with its pants down and gained a huge amount of hardware marketshare. Take Dell for instance...its highest performing XPS system doesn't even have Vista as an option because of this. Look at the money both Dell and creative are loosing. All Dell has to say it they are testing supprt for all components within the XPS to ensure compatibility. What they really mean is "We're getting screwed by the boys over at Creative because those idiots can't get out fully functioning drivers for their sound cards." I've been Creative loyal for a long time just because their cards were tops. Now...I'm just wating for that 7.1 digital sound solution to come out from another company with Vista support. I'm sure Dell is too which is why Creative is on the ropes. They loose a customer in Dell and watch their stock tank.

29 February 2008, 8:37 PM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

raindog:

Installing Vista in itself may not be foolish, but rushing in and loading any software that is not yet fully compatible with available hardware and other software is! Particularly if the computer concerned are being pressed into commercial or mission critical usage. Are the applications you say you are developing so dependant on one or two specific pieces of hardware? Properly developed code will have been developed on a variety of hardware and exhaustively tested not just run on the most esoteric grab bag of bits the budget could stand.

You quote Dell as not offering Vista on one of its higher end machines and see this as a commercial tragedy for them. And yes while not offering Vista on a top end package may seem odd its nowhere near as odd as Dell only offering Vista on its Dimension models. Forcing entry level customers to accept a new OS before it is fully supported, is more likely to bite Dell hard than omitting a Vista offering from slower moving shelf stock. Seen the adds about your Dell being personalised, don't believe it! A visit to Dell's web based order system will soon return you to reality. And its no coincidence most Optiplex and Latitude models can be ordered with either operating system, Dell knows full well that corporate buyers aren't going to prematurely leap into the untested the way pavement punters do!

29 February 2008, 8:38 PM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

ScythedBlade:

Only problem is you nubs don't realize that Microsoft screwed Creative over. Give Creative some time. It's the only company coming up with its own API.

29 February 2008, 8:37 PM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend