Boycott or Give In?
Update: Apparently Creative has backed down on this particular situation: "we did not make it as clear as we would have liked that we do support driver development by independent third parties". There is some truth in that quote, because Creative has released info in the past for open-source drivers for Linux, etc. although it should be noted that they have not done so with their current X-Fi hardware.
· · ·
The latest fiasco with Creative Technology (previously Creative Labs) has some folks screaming boycott, which brings up an interesting point for me personally. It's a whole lot easier to get offended when you don't have a stake.
Take Apple for instance, when they demonstrate obnoxious behaviour I'm the first to exclaim my disbelief that people still buy their products. But I don't depend on Apple for much, my last purchase from them was an iPod Shuffle that failed to impress. It's soooo easy for me to boycott Apple.
With Creative, I'm well aware of their shortsighted idiocy in regards to their overly-protective stance on their drivers. It's directly related to the way their tier their product models, they don't want people getting the full use out of the hardware they've deemed budget. It's ethically corrupt.
I don't mean to pick on Puck, he was right to highlight the situation on his blog and his call for a boycott is perfectly valid too. But I can't help thinking it's an easy thing for him to say if his only tie to Creative is an Audigy (likely 6 years old).
Myself, it's humbling to realize I haven't been so quick to jump down Creative Labs' throats over questionable practices with drivers: I love my Creative Labs X-Fi too much, or at least enough to shrug the nonsense off.
I'm a pretty active guy in the activism sense, at least under certain fields of my expertise. I'm not sure if I should be disappointed in myself, or if I should count myself as being a realist while I cave on this particular issue.
Apr 3, 2008 4:57pm
As an addendum on this article, I would like to point out that I've not always been a Creative Labs fan. As a company, I dislike how they're managed, not just with the driver issues as mentioned.
It's the hardware I love.
The funny thing is, most of it was created by Ensoniq's excellent engineers. The entire Audigy line was based upon the AudioPCI hardware Ensoniq developed in 1997. That's how I ended up a Creative customer, my loyalty was first as an Ensoniq customer and Creative bought them out. I do have an appreciation for good audio hardware and I consider the higher end X-Fi cards the best of consumer-level audio hardware.
Now if only their management wasn't so poor, because sadly I think this hardware is going to become lost in irrelevance as software-driven audio dominates and Creative can't get their head out of their ass to sell the hardware plainly with all of its great features.
If anyone at Creative ever reads this (though I doubt it), get some common sense and stop trying to milk the dwindling marketshare you have with multiple tiered cards. Sell one great one instead and open up the drivers so customers can get the most out of it.
Apr 4, 2008 6:47am
I have boycotted Creative products since they drove Aureal out of business way back when. Generally, built in sound products are good enough for me.
Apr 4, 2008 12:08pm
I'm still using an Audigy 2. It works fine, I don't think about it much.
Apr 4, 2008 12:51pm
It doesn't matter how old my Audigy is -- I'm not calling for people to rip out their Creative hardware. Once it's sold Creative doesn't give a damn what you do with it.
But if my Audigy 2 Platinum were to die and I had to switch back to my onboard sound the only thing I'd miss would be EAX support which has never really impressed me anyway.
Apr 4, 2008 1:03pm
That's the thing though Puck, I have and will continue to recommend the X-Fi cards (the higher level ones, not the cheaply renamed Audigy lowend one) to gamers looking for quality hardware. There is a noticeable difference in signal-to-noise ratio, performance and general clarity with the X-Fi XtremeGamer and up.
Not happily recommended, because I'm not thrilled with Creative's shady practices, more begrudged, but still recommended. If they were to open their drivers, I'd be buying another card immediately for my Linux-driven MythTV box.
The problem is the lack of competing products within the same range. If you're happy with onboard sound or an Audigy, I don't believe you're shopping in the same market as I am.
I do respect and understand your position though.