A creative example of the value of free drivers

There is no question that Creative has the legal right to grief the users of their older
hardware products.

For me, the issue isn't their legal rights, but their corporate arrogance.

As a result, I have taken my business elsewhere, as is _my_ legal right.

Realistically? The arrival of good sounding motherboard audio hardware has shrunk Creative's
market for their gaming related audio PC hardware.

Yesterday, I was using a Creative card connected to one of their digital speaker systems to
listen to my Windows games' surround sound, with XP.

Today, I am using my ASUS Striker Extreme motherboard's onboard audio hardware's DTS
interactive feature (encoding DTS digital surround sound in real time) to listen to my Windows
games' surround sound on my new Z-5500 speakers, with Vista.

Note: No Creative hardware or software anywhere and the sound is GREAT!

PS: The audio situation is unfortunate in that the Dolby Digital and DTS digital standards are
both proprietary with the associated licensing costs and legal limitations.

IMO that really limits the ability to implement those standards within open source software.