Are HDMI to VGA converters/adapters compatible with Mac?

Recently I purchased an HDMI to VGA adapter that actually converts the digital signal to an analog VGA signal to connect a computer to an external monitor. It works perfectly with a Windows PC that I tested, but with my MacBook Pro Retina, no display is detected. I've tried SMC and PRAM resets, several restarts, and hot plugging both ends of the converter, to no avail.

I read an answer on "graphics limitations" of the Mac but am still wondering how that may be the issue, considering that this is has both passive and integrated graphics, rated better than the PC I tested. I would suspect that it is probably a hardware detail that I don't understand here, but I have been having issues with other display cables (HDMI to HDMI) recently, too. I have noticed specific log messages that appear whenever I attempt to connect the two, which I will add in an update.

It is worth noting that I am regrettably on the Yosemite public beta (10.10.2) and I am checking to see if this is the issue with a Time Machine restore in a bit.