If the exalted Big Three deploy obfuscated protocols and Windows takes a high moral attitude to the issue by over writing drivers that you have specifically chosen to install, then go blame Redmond and IKY but not the CHIRP guys. So here's the thing, there's a common theme to my tale- Chinese radios. I put these good experiences down to using good old Windows XP and Windows 7 with their somewhat more cavalier attitude to fake chips. I think it was caused by hot plugging a mono plug in the external loudspeaker stereo socket? Trying to resurrect it I discovered that the radio's firmware is not flash upgradeable, but even with an apparently dead radio, CHIRP was still able to read, back up and load the configuration file. Later on, the KT8900r died on me- no RF or audio. It identified one programming error which I corrected and I then made a backup.
When the lead arrived on a slow boat from China, I used it to check my manual KT8900r programming and it worked straight away.
Then I got a KT8900r and couldn't wait for the new cheap Chinese lead to arrive, so following a great YouTube video I programmed it manually. I don't recall doing the initial backup on either occasion (RTFM!) but maybe I/we did, it was several years ago now.
CHIRP complained that it was an incorrect firmware but my colleague said "do it anyway" and it worked fine. Another local ham then bought a slightly different UV5R with a chrome loudspeaker grille, so we installed CHIRP on his PC and tried using my own backup file. I used CHIRP with a cheap Chinese lead and a UV5R and it worked first time. But, Chirp is very definitely a use-at-your-own risk option. If the program works for your radio, then great. That is, just because your radio is in the menu does not mean you can use Chirp with it. However, this does not change the fact that Chirp is a sometimes unreliable product, with relatively poor communication with users about known issues-including bugs that can things such as erase the radio's memories despite correct setup and implementation.
I am also not insensitive to the fact that Chirp is used on thousands of combinations of computers and operating systems, through serial and USB drivers of varying levels of functionality. Having done this kind of work, I fully understand the issue involved in figuring out obscure data protocols and programming quirks, and appreciate the huge effort behind the product. Perfectly in some cases, less so in others. I've been using Chirp to program various radios for several years. However, it is a flexible and easy to operate utility that does what it does well.
It is not a end-all, be-all software for programming radios, but then, it does not claim to be. Once you understand CHIRP's limitations (which are documented by the developers) you should bring your expectations in line, and you will not be disappointed. It has worked flawlessly for me on the CCRs and Yaesu transceivers I have used it on, and I am soon going to be trying it with an Icom transceiver.
I run CHIRP on Ubuntu on a old HP Pavilion laptop. I find it a great utility for programming the radios it supports. I have used CHIRP on several radios now, and I find that it does exactly what it claims to do - no more and no less. I get a few laughs reading the negative reviews for CHIRP, because it is very clear that in many cases, the reviewers did not go to the CHIRP website and read up on what the software claims to do. Being a Linux user I have a lot of experience with GNU software and and shareware.