14 DAY TRIAL // Creative Labs is quietly preparing to release its SoundBlaster X-Fi 2, a new series of audio solutions for personal computers. The release is due to come on the background of a conflict generated by the fact that previously released drivers for Windows Vista did not offer full support for the Creative products. Nevertheless, Creative customers expect the new SoundBlaster X-Fi 2 to bring major performance changes and come with fully-functional drivers.
The features of the new SoundBlaster X-Fi 2 have not been detailed by Creative Labs yet, but, even if it is a "second edition", it should provide more performance than the old SoundBlaster X-Fi. The company is known to deliver serious changes to its new products from the same series, although no major differences can be noticed. Those who are familiar with the releases of Audigy and Audigy 2 should remember that the audio processing was slightly improved and the company also provided better codecs.
There are some indicators that Creative may be preparing the launch of the new sound-card, though the company made no official statements on this. One of them is the fact that on 11th of March, the "Designed for Windows Vista" and "Vista Premium" logos were received by Creative Labs for their SoundBlaster X-Fi 2.
The launch of the new sound card may prove to be another reason for Creative Labs' angry customers to protest. The conflict was started when Phil O'Shaughnessy, vice president of corporate communications at Creative Technology, issued an open letter to a person who provided fully-functional unofficial Vista drivers for Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi audio cards. Daniel K., the person providing the drivers, was asked to cease the development of any drivers for Creative products and also threatened with legal actions.
All the Windows Vista drivers provided by Creative Technology were somehow crippled, and the hardware capabilities of the sound processor were not entirely available. Daniel_K. managed to develop drivers that enabled all the features of the sound cards, but the company declared that the drivers were intended to be as they were and that no one should try to change them without the company's agreement.
"We do have a problem when technology and IP owned by Creative or other companies that Creative has licensed from, are made to run on other products for which they are not intended. [?] We own the rights to the materials that you are distributing. By enabling our technology and IP to run on sound cards for which it was not originally offered or intended, you are in effect, stealing our goods. [?] If we choose to develop and provide host-based processing features with certain sound cards and not others, that is a business decision that only we have the right to make," said Phil O'Shaughnessy, vice president of corporate communications at Creative Technology.