Dear Creative Labs,

Recently it seems there was a big kerfluffle (forum thread) about a set of drivers that one of your users put on the net. Apparently these drivers had a feature that yours lacked, namely the ability to run under Windows Vista with all of the features previously enjoyed under Windows XP. Rather than working with this person in helping to make your drivers better, you decided instead to attack the user. True, he shouldn't have asked for money, I'll give you that, but crippling your cards so that features previously available under XP no longer work under Windows Vista is pretty low.

I believe I have found an amicable solution to the problem, of which I would like to share a few photos:

First, take out the computer from it's cozy area:

Open the computer revealing all the lovely little PCI cards within:

Carefully unscrew the one with the Creative Branded Soundcard (Soundblaster Live 5.1):

Gently pull out the Creative Labs branded card:

Carefully place the Creative Labs branded card on a dust-free and static-free surface, in preparation to sell the card:

Reset your motherboard BIOS to use the Realtek card that shipped with your computer, vowing never again to purchase Creative Labs equipment ever again.

Brilliant marketing strategy, Creative. I hope it works well for you. Me? I couldn't be happier. Actually I think my machine is running a bit quicker without the piece of shit sound card in there. Sure, the Realtek card doesn't sound quite as good, but maybe I'll splurge and get something from one of your competitors who isn't so interested in crippling their customers in order to get repeat sales.

Best of luck, Creative. I hope irrelevance isn't too painful.