Vista Drops Support For Hardware Sound?

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n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
21,281
4
81
Interesting info.

I'm impressed they actually mentioned this information on their forums.
 

zephyrprime

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2001
7,512
2
81
Well, it's definitely true that MS kicked drivers out of kernal space and mostly into user space. This is actually kind of a throw back to older versions of NT.
 

SuperSix

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
9,872
2
0
Originally posted by: zephyrprime
Well, it's definitely true that MS kicked drivers out of kernal space and mostly into user space. This is actually kind of a throw back to older versions of NT.

Is this an advantage when using VT? Maybe that's the impetus?
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
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Originally posted by: her34
or it's a good thing since msft is basically killing eax and allowing an open standard like openAL to flourish.

a hardware maker like creative controlling the api ruined the sound market

 

Auric

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
9,591
2
71
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Originally posted by: her34
or it's a good thing since msft is basically killing eax and allowing an open standard like openAL to flourish.

a hardware maker like creative controlling the api ruined the sound market

Sophistry. Creative does not control DS3D (the API), Microsoft does. EAX is merely an enchancement which works with both DS3D and OpenAL. So killing off HWA DS3D is a blessing to Creative as they are the sole provider of OpenAL gaming cards for the time being. Indeed, some claim Creative controls OpenAL but certainly as an early and leading supporter they have more influence than they did over DS3D.

Don't be blinded by irrational hatred of Creative. If looking for some entity to blame for lackluster choice the logical culprits are the inept competition. Ask C-Media and its customers why they fail to support OpenAL at such a late date since major released titles have used the API for two years and obviously been in development for several years previous. Moreover, it has been casual public knowledge for at least six months that Microsoft's forthcoming OS will require OpenAL for any acceleration so the industry must have known for a long time or at least been aware of the possibility even if it had not been confirmed.
 

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
31,516
167
106
Originally posted by: Auric
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Originally posted by: her34
or it's a good thing since msft is basically killing eax and allowing an open standard like openAL to flourish.

a hardware maker like creative controlling the api ruined the sound market

Sophistry. Creative does not control DS3D (the API), Microsoft does. EAX is merely an enchancement which works with both DS3D and OpenAL. So killing off HWA DS3D is a blessing to Creative as they are the sole provider of OpenAL gaming cards for the time being. Indeed, some claim Creative controls OpenAL but certainly as an early and leading supporter they have more influence than they did over DS3D.

Don't be blinded by irrational hatred of Creative. If looking for some entity to blame for lackluster choice the logical culprits are the inept competition. Ask C-Media and its customers why they fail to support OpenAL at such a late date since major released titles have used the API for two years and obviously been in development for several years previous. Moreover, it has been casual public knowledge for at least six months that Microsoft's forthcoming OS will require OpenAL for any acceleration so the industry must have known for a long time or at least been aware of the possibility even if it had not been confirmed.
If anything, this hurts gamers, hurts Creative, and really only helps the guys selling low-end/integrated solutions. Now they don't even have to write drivers to offload audio processing like they currently do, Microsoft is doing it for them. All they need to do is supply a DAC, and by the virtue of Vista doing all the heavy lifting, they can fill a whole bunch of checkboxes on OEM product sheets.
 

Auric

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
9,591
2
71
Originally posted by: ViRGE
If anything, this hurts gamers, hurts Creative, and really only helps the guys selling low-end/integrated solutions. Now they don't even have to write drivers to offload audio processing like they currently do, Microsoft is doing it for them. All they need to do is supply a DAC, and by the virtue of Vista doing all the heavy lifting, they can fill a whole bunch of checkboxes on OEM product sheets.

Interesting point but then it merely serves to further differentiate actual game cards from everything else (so long as leading developers prefer OpenAL). So I don't see how it particularly hurts Creative or gamers except for the legacy issue for those really keen on using Vista.
 

IdaGno

Senior member
Sep 2, 2004
452
0
0
couple these sound issues w/this & the immediate Vista future is looking more than just a little grim

(god bless the early adopters! we're gonna need 'em more than ever)