[HN Gopher] Meta Horizon OS
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Meta Horizon OS
        
       Author : ahiknsr
       Score  : 511 points
       Date   : 2024-04-22 15:54 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.meta.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.meta.com)
        
       | blensor wrote:
       | It's going to be interesting if Google/Samsung will win out or
       | Meta/etc.
        
         | notRobot wrote:
         | What category has Google really succeeded in since the initial
         | era of gmail/Android/chrome? I can't think of any recent
         | successes off the top of my head.
        
           | EVyesnoyesnoyes wrote:
           | 'really succeeded' sounds super crazy dismissive.
           | 
           | Besides android being gigantic huge, you still have google
           | maps, chrome, gmail, pixel phones, passkey, yubikeypush/2fa,
           | the new cookie aproach, YouTube!!1 etc.
           | 
           | Why would Google need a 'recent' success to be able to win ar
           | snail?
        
             | gryn wrote:
             | the point is probably about whether google still has the
             | ability to go from 0 to 1. instead of 1 to n. from the
             | outside they look like they are not so slowing becoming the
             | bean counting accountant / MBA type of company.
        
           | vineyardmike wrote:
           | What a weird framing? You say this as if gmail, android and
           | chrome are all dead now. They're still being used and
           | improved. Even if they didn't enter new "categories" they're
           | still in a lot of existing ones and very popular -like
           | hundreds of million of users- even if alternatives exist.
           | 
           | First of all, Google Search has maintained dominance and
           | relevance for decades. That's no easy feat. They have news,
           | patents, books, LLMs all added into it.
           | 
           | Google has a hugely popular cloud service. Especially if you
           | include Google Workspace.
           | 
           | Obviously YouTube is huge and regularly gets new features.
           | There is a YouTube app for almost every piece of hardware
           | with a screen.
           | 
           | They have a pretty impressive mapping product suite.
           | Everything from Google maps to Google earth and all their GIS
           | products and tools (eg solar panels location SaaS).
           | 
           | The play store is huge. AND They have a huge variety of
           | extremely popular consumer apps like Photos, Music, Home,
           | etc.
        
             | notRobot wrote:
             | I meant that it felt like they haven't had any massive
             | successes with any recent launches.
        
         | vineyardmike wrote:
         | Zero chance Google actually supplies Samsung with a real
         | operating system they can use. Samsung will for sure release a
         | headset with Meta's Horizon OS before anything from Google.
        
         | baby wrote:
         | Isn't Samsung going bankrupt at this point?
        
         | JKCalhoun wrote:
         | I wonder if every category has a "winner". When compatibility
         | was a determinant, you had winners (Microsoft, obv.). I'm not
         | sure winner-takes-all applies any longer.
        
       | mckn1ght wrote:
       | > Not an actual product render.
        
         | OJFord wrote:
         | It's a silly caption isn't it, why would it be third-person
         | view, nobody's going to see those sketches and assume it's an
         | actual product render, surely.
        
           | NBJack wrote:
           | Some folks stream VR games with a second camera on a green
           | screen, which provides a 3rd person perspective for the
           | audience. It's pretty incredible.
           | 
           | I can easily see less tech savvy consumers being confused.
        
           | zenlikethat wrote:
           | Likely a change requested from legal.
        
       | 999900000999 wrote:
       | This is awesome, I'm waiting for a VR manufacturer to add an HDMI
       | input. Then I could use it as a monitor without jumping through a
       | bunch of hoops.
        
         | ShamelessC wrote:
         | > Then I could use it as a monitor without jumping through a
         | bunch of hoops.
         | 
         | bold of you to assume your hdmi cable won't naturally form some
         | hoops.
        
         | jsheard wrote:
         | The XREAL glasses are trying to fill the niche of a headset
         | that just mirrors a HDMI input on a big virtual screen.
         | 
         | I don't think anyone is currently making an all-purpose VR
         | headset which can _also_ do HDMI mirroring though.
        
           | 999900000999 wrote:
           | I understand, but it seems trivial to add HDMI input here.
           | 
           | Technically you can just remote desktop into a computer from
           | your VR headset, but that won't work in every scenario.
        
             | jsheard wrote:
             | It's fairly trivial to add a HDMI/DP input which directly
             | drives the panels in the headset through a mux (e.g. the
             | Pico Neo3 Link could run standalone or from DP input), but
             | that's probably not what you want, because in that case the
             | HDMI source has to perform all of the 3D rendering and lens
             | correction, using software that probably only supports
             | Windows. If you want to be able to plug in any random HDMI
             | source and have that rendered on a virtual screen then the
             | headset needs a SoC with a low-latency HDMI receiver built
             | in, so it can ingest the video and process it onboard
             | before displaying it, and HDMI input isn't very common on
             | these mobile SoCs.
             | 
             | Maybe you could convert the HDMI input into MIPI and feed
             | that into the SoCs camera interface, but I think headsets
             | like the Quest are already pretty much maxing out the SoCs
             | camera capabilities just to read in all the actual cameras
             | used for inside-out tracking. There's no bandwidth left to
             | shove an extra HD video feed in as well.
             | 
             | tl;dr HDMI input that turns the device into a dumb PCVR
             | headset: easy. HDMI input that mirrors arbitrary video:
             | hard.
        
             | numpad0 wrote:
             | You don't want it. It's disorienting and uncomfortable.
             | 
             | XREAL as well as some drone FPV goggles support
             | non-/partially-head-tracked HDMI input, albeit with much
             | smaller FOV for comfort reasons.
        
               | int_19h wrote:
               | There are quite a few options for non-head-tracked
               | wearable display type headsets. Those generally get
               | pitched as "portable cinema" though, e.g.:
               | 
               | https://goovis.net/products/g3max
               | 
               | (This particular one uses USB-C for video input, but they
               | also sell an HDMI adapter for it.)
               | 
               | Of course, in practice it's just a display and can be
               | used for any purpose. I do appreciate the fact that you
               | don't have to mess around with all the usual VR setup
               | chores with these - it's really very plug and play.
        
             | int_19h wrote:
             | For Quest 3 specifically, "remote desktop into a computer"
             | actually works surprisingly well if you 1) avoid the stock
             | Meta software and use Steam Link instead, and 2) use wired
             | connection to maximize bandwidth and minimize latency.
             | 
             | The second part needs some explaining. One undocumented
             | feature of Quest 3 is that it supports (some) USB-C
             | Ethernet adapters. There isn't really any UI for it that I
             | know of; things just work so long as DHCP is there. This
             | then gives you a direct wired 1GBps link to the PC, which
             | Steam Link will happily utilize.
        
               | StrauXX wrote:
               | Imo a good WAP connected directly to your computer works
               | just as well as with a high end cable. I have both and
               | didn't notice a quality difference either way.
        
         | TrueDuality wrote:
         | You're not going to get HDMI (or at least not directly), but
         | you can now get DisplayPort with many of the XR headsets.
         | They're primarily using the alt-mode of USB-C as the cable is
         | re-used for power as well.
        
           | 999900000999 wrote:
           | Which headsets support this?
        
         | superkuh wrote:
         | The original Vive has HDMI input.
        
       | modeless wrote:
       | Official blog post:
       | https://about.fb.com/news/2024/04/introducing-our-open-mixed...
       | 
       | Short video from Zuckerberg:
       | https://twitter.com/NathieVR/status/1782436898654273981
       | 
       | This is an interesting move and feels like a response to
       | complaints that Meta is hypocritical when complaining about
       | closed platforms while running one themselves. But this isn't
       | open source. I don't know why any OEMs would want to compete with
       | Meta's hardware subsidized by app store revenue when they
       | continue to own the store. Maybe there's an app revenue share
       | involved?
       | 
       | Wait, at the end of the video he says "We're also as part of this
       | going to be opening up our store to give you even more options to
       | use whatever experiences you want. So whether they're on Steam,
       | Xbox Cloud Gaming, our own App Lab, or even Google Play, if
       | they're up for it." The blog post doesn't mention Steam or Google
       | Play. It's not really clear what that means. Will they allow
       | Steam to sell native Quest apps?
       | 
       | Edit: There's a better blog post that has more detail.
       | https://www.meta.com/blog/quest/meta-horizon-os-open-hardwar...
       | This one seems to suggest that being "open" to Steam just means
       | allowing game streaming which they already do, while being "open"
       | to Google Play means that they would allow Google to install the
       | actual Play Store app on the headset, for 2D apps only. But
       | Google doesn't want to. In any case it seems like they would
       | specifically _not_ be open to alternative app stores selling
       | native 3D apps directly on the headset itself.
        
         | ejj28 wrote:
         | I think this is at least better than nothing for companies who
         | want to build standalone headsets and not just headsets that
         | are dependent on PCs. Up until now everyone's had to make their
         | own OS and store and hope that people care enough to port over
         | apps and games.
         | 
         | At the very least, this could lead to more high-end standalone
         | headsets being available. Not every 3rd party headset has to be
         | competing with the Quest line of headsets, so the lack of
         | revenue from the store might not matter to some companies.
        
           | Mindwipe wrote:
           | It seems to suggest they're limited to Qualcomm chipsets, and
           | Qualcomm don't make a higher end VR chipset so it's hard to
           | see where a high end headset would come from.
        
             | throwthrowuknow wrote:
             | Displays and optics are a big one, lots of competing
             | technologies there like OLED vs LED, pancake vs fresnel,
             | movable optics, laser based displays, video pass through vs
             | semitransparent or even HUD style for lower res overlays.
             | They can also compete on audio quality for microphones and
             | headphones, different battery solutions like hot swappable
             | packs, corded or built in. Maybe different form factors
             | that can distribute weight or higher quality head straps
             | for comfort. Tracking options like more cameras for inside
             | out or a different system for pairing with controllers or
             | full body trackers. Even external dedicated compute that
             | works with Air Link. If they're making the hardware they
             | can add whatever extra chips or sensors they want.
        
               | entropicdrifter wrote:
               | That's not even considering the possibilities of using
               | eye tracking for foveated rendering to combine high
               | resolution and long battery life
        
         | Mindwipe wrote:
         | Yeah, if it was "we acknowledge that is bad for hardware to
         | have one installation path" and they were allowing itch.io to
         | have an indie VR store that might be cool but they are very
         | much not.
        
         | mrmetanoia wrote:
         | This seems kind of interesting to me, it's a shame it's from
         | Meta so I'll likely never touch it because of the toxicity of
         | their core products, but I'm glad to see this, as it seems like
         | it could stimulate some competition.
        
       | jerlam wrote:
       | Feels like Microsoft just tried this with their own VR ecosystem
       | not too long ago and it fell flat on its face.
        
         | dotnet00 wrote:
         | MS did the entire VR headset partnership thing, got some very
         | good headsets out (for the time), and then just dropped the
         | project and put it into maintenance mode. If they had kept
         | working on it, it would've done well, as it wasn't falling flat
         | on its face, it was just getting going when they dropped it.
         | 
         | They made the weird business decision to drop the products they
         | had third party cooperation and an enthusiastic userbase for,
         | in favor of an experimental product (Hololens) that ended up
         | only being affordable to businesses and which afaik has never
         | really taken off in the same way as WMR had been.
        
         | staticman2 wrote:
         | Microsoft's efforts were pretty half hearted, for example, none
         | of their headsets worked with Xbox.
        
         | kkielhofner wrote:
         | IMO the issues Microsoft had weren't unexpected. If you look at
         | the disaster that was their US military Hololens project it
         | turns out a fairly significant portion of the population
         | experiences motion sickness and other fundamental issues[0].
         | 
         | This is a hard problem to solve and from what I understand it
         | is similar to issues that are screened for in specialties. For
         | example - fighter pilots and astronauts are screened for all
         | kinds of fundamental things:
         | 
         | - Vision
         | 
         | - Tolerance to motion sickness
         | 
         | - Tolerance to Gs
         | 
         | - Tolerance to claustrophobia (for flight suits, tight
         | cockpits, etc)
         | 
         | If you don't have 20/20 vision (or better), puke all the time
         | in sims, and freak out when put in a flight suit you're just
         | not a fighter pilot, astronaut, etc. Once you make that cut
         | then you train on improving what you fundamentally have and
         | even then wash-out rates are high.
         | 
         | With the Hololens project the goal was to strap a Hololens on
         | pretty much any random soldier. If some fairly large portion of
         | the population just can't make it work the utility and value of
         | the project drops to zero. Imagine standardizing on a gun sight
         | or other key technology that just won't work for even 1/10 of
         | your (already limited recruits), potentially even for otherwise
         | elite soldiers.
         | 
         | I think they realized they will have similar fundamental issues
         | in the enterprise - the utility of a Teams meeting with
         | everyone in Hololens drops pretty significantly when a non-zero
         | portion of employees get sick after a few minutes.
         | 
         | I'm not sure how these issues with the technology can be
         | overcome. Sure, if some gamers can make it work that's cool but
         | that doesn't provide the overall value to the technology MS was
         | hoping for.
         | 
         | [0] - https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-hololens-fails-us-
         | army-te...
        
         | zmmmmm wrote:
         | Nobody's tried anything like the broad scale pitch Meta is
         | making here. Everyone else has tackled the high end or
         | specialized use cases. Meta's really the only company that's
         | tried to make a true OS play that is meant to be accessible to
         | everyone. Based on that alone I just don't think you can
         | extrapolate from "X failed so this has already been tried".
         | Nobody has tried what Meta is doing.
        
         | wvenable wrote:
         | Microsoft also tried this with phones...
        
       | technotony wrote:
       | "we encourage the Google Play 2D app store to come to Meta
       | Horizon OS, where it can operate with the same economic model it
       | does on other platforms." - I feel like this might be the rub of
       | this. Google is way behind in building the android of spatial
       | computing, and maybe this can play into the trust busting cases
       | where meta can show Google not playing fair?
        
         | meragrin_ wrote:
         | It sounds to me Meta is terrified of Apple and they needs apps
         | sooner rather than later.
        
           | gryn wrote:
           | from what I've read on the internet they've been asking for
           | this for a long time but google is blocking it, even before
           | there were rumors of the apple headset.
           | 
           | As a user you can already sideload android APKs, I've tried
           | it works great, but you also need to install apps that manage
           | android permissions since you can't grant them through the
           | quest settings.
           | 
           | having the android store there + integrations where android
           | app devs can make the app VR ready would be a big plus. But,
           | the blocker is that google still has ambitions of making some
           | sort of big comeback on the android VR space and therefore
           | are in direct competition with meta.
        
           | TulliusCicero wrote:
           | Maybe. So far, Apple's headset isn't particularly impressive
           | or compelling, but I suppose it's possible they'll fix its
           | issues in a future version.
        
           | aranelsurion wrote:
           | > they needs apps
           | 
           | Meta likely has the most apps and most users of any one VR
           | platform. Sure everyone needs apps, but they needs apps the
           | least, especially from Play Store.
           | 
           | Unless you see using phone apps as 90" virtual screens as a
           | killer feature at least.
        
             | rvba wrote:
             | Before iphone came out there were smartphones too. But they
             | became quite irrelevant when iphone came out.
             | 
             | (Android was like a year later)
             | 
             | Same fate can happen to metaverse - someone can make a
             | better VR platform.
             | 
             | Doesnt help them that what they have is shit.
        
         | ketchupdebugger wrote:
         | Meta is desperate to get devs to develop apps on their
         | platform. It is the only way to get more interest in VR. Devs
         | dont want to be on it because there are no customers, consumers
         | don't want it because there's no apps. They've been trying to
         | market it hard but nothing has worked. They tried to brand it
         | as a fitness device, a work device, and a game device, but the
         | consumers are not biting.
        
           | PaulHoule wrote:
           | They are selling plenty of games. The issue though is that
           | the Meta Quest consumer is cheap and would rather buy an MQ2
           | at a discount than an MQ3.
        
           | zmmmmm wrote:
           | They hit $1b in revenue on their store last quarter. I'm not
           | sure how you evaluate that but it's something more than "not
           | biting" I think.
        
       | sidcool wrote:
       | This sounds like a good idea. Love him or hate him, Zuck knows
       | how to ship.
        
         | tsimionescu wrote:
         | Oh yes, like he shipped the Metaverse.
        
           | baby wrote:
           | Have you tried vR chat?
        
       | EVyesnoyesnoyes wrote:
       | I would really love to see proper educational content from Meta
       | but i bet this is not were the 'next money thing' is.
       | 
       | Imagine a catalog of proper real life skills you can actually
       | train reasonable good:
       | 
       | - cooking - soldering - welding - Tons of woodworking things -
       | ...
       | 
       | You could also go to a lot of makers of tools and offer them to
       | digitalize their products for them so someone can actually
       | exercise with a cheap to super high end machine like specific
       | CNCs or table saws etc.
        
         | OJFord wrote:
         | Where would that fit in between watching others do it on
         | YouTube for entertainment, and doing it for real where you can
         | hold (or eat) the result at the end?
        
           | graypegg wrote:
           | More hassle than a YouTube video, which is already more
           | hassle than an article, but considering we're talking about
           | mixed reality, the ability to do the soldering, next to a
           | detailed 3D model of exactly what you should be doing, in
           | your line of sight, is a big selling point to me.
        
           | slyn wrote:
           | It seems one of the primary tradeoffs in edutainment is
           | between actually learnable teaching and "content porn" where
           | you sub content with food, cars, tech, etc.
           | 
           | When I think of truly learnable cooking videos the first
           | thing that comes to mind is Kenji's POV cooking videos /
           | streams. Seems like something that could be relatively
           | adaptable to a AR / MR format in a way that would
           | differentiate it from other (still valid) content like the
           | relatively educational food porn from Alex /
           | @FrenchGuyCooking.
        
             | crmd wrote:
             | I'm actually making a version of Kenji's macaroni and
             | cheese (except with shredded baby back rib meat added) for
             | lunch as we speak! His channel is great.
             | 
             | I would also be interested in a Chef Jean Pierre simulator,
             | where you learn classic French recipes in a subtly deranged
             | metaverse with a butter-based economy.
        
           | TeMPOraL wrote:
           | As cheap to perform in as YouTube video, almost as vivid as
           | the real thing, but again with most of the bullshit ("reality
           | has a lot of detail") removed, just like with a YouTube
           | video. Ideally, it would be suitable for experimenting with
           | something you might want to then try out for real, but which
           | would be too risky (time, money, embarrassment) to _start
           | with_ for real.
        
           | inopinatus wrote:
           | That would be Ender's Game. Please don't eat the egg, though.
        
           | lvspiff wrote:
           | This the gap that the porn websites will need to figure out
           | how to fill for it to be a success.
        
         | graypegg wrote:
         | I really want some good VR train sims. It's vaguely
         | educational! A standalone quest train sim would be an instant
         | buy for me. Probably not for many other people.
        
           | stetrain wrote:
           | Derail Valley is a good one on Steam. Obviously that isn't
           | standalone but it works pretty well with SteamVR streamed to
           | a headset.
        
           | sph wrote:
           | I used to play Derail Valley on Steam, which has optional VR
           | support.
           | 
           | https://store.steampowered.com/app/588030/Derail_Valley/
           | 
           | But I agree with the sentiment. Sim games are the killer app
           | of VR and I just want more sims. Where's my Das Boot
           | simulator?
        
             | graypegg wrote:
             | Oh damn! I'll take a look! Thanks!!
        
             | haiku2077 wrote:
             | https://store.steampowered.com/app/552080/IronWolf_VR/
        
               | sph wrote:
               | Time to hook up my Quest 3 to my PC. Cheers
        
         | jasonpeacock wrote:
         | Virtual welding training is already a thing:
         | 
         | https://www.lincolnelectric.com/en/education/training-progra...
         | 
         | https://www.fronius.com/en/welding-technology/our-expertise/...
        
         | danavar wrote:
         | A previous company I worked at was using mixed reality years
         | ago (>4) to train manufacturing operators on manufacturing
         | processes.
         | 
         | It ended up looking like a simulated workbench with low-detail
         | models of CAD parts that needed to be assembled - it was pretty
         | cool. Engineering companies are very ready for this technology.
        
           | lagniappe wrote:
           | A local school here trains nurses in a VR environment that is
           | situated inside a fully built out wing of a hospital. The
           | headsets come down from the ceiling, all the equipment is
           | real, but there are dummies in the beds, and some observation
           | screens for others who supervise.
        
         | abraxas wrote:
         | Yeah, we could call that the... Job Simulator ;)
        
         | paxys wrote:
         | Why would you want to see it "from Meta"? There's no way a
         | single company, that isn't even in the education business, can
         | product that kind of content and keep it up to date. Meta's
         | play is the right one - make an OS and software platform and
         | let people build whatever they want on it.
        
         | yunohn wrote:
         | Coincidentally, I saw Meta ads plastered all over London today
         | - showcasing a welder who claims she practiced/learned welding
         | with a Meta Oculus sitting at home.
        
       | kypro wrote:
       | Meta playing 3d chess here. Opening up the OS to other hardware
       | providers is a great strategic move imo. Excited to see what
       | innovations other hardware manufactures add.
        
         | drdaeman wrote:
         | Not to devalue their engineering departments, but I really
         | don't remember any innovations in the _software_ space from
         | ASUS, Lenovo or alike hardware vendors. To me they 're all
         | essentially the same stuff, with different kind of junkware
         | (or, in case of Lenovo, malware) bundled.
         | 
         | What I read is "we reached out to a bunch of vendors who
         | dabbled in VR/AR/XR/whateveryounameit but failed to produce
         | anything outstanding, so we made a deal of licensing them some
         | software so maybe they'll fare better". Meta did the right
         | thing in a sense that they made some sales, but I wouldn't hold
         | my breath as a end-consumer.
        
       | mvkel wrote:
       | > OS by Horizon by Meta Horizon OS by Meta.
       | 
       | Why not just call it Horizon OS?
        
       | mebazaa wrote:
       | Meta has a lot of work to do on DevEx for non-gaming experiences.
       | Say what you want with the Vision Pro, but it comes with a lot of
       | niceities like SwiftUI. When you develop with the Quest, you're
       | stuck with Unity or Unreal Engine -- it's almost too much freedom
       | to develop simple productivity apps.
        
         | pavlov wrote:
         | OpenXR Mobile SDK is the native development option for the
         | Quest devices:
         | 
         | https://developer.oculus.com/documentation/native/android/mo...
        
         | vineyardmike wrote:
         | Don't they also have a web view wrapper for 2D tools?
        
           | gryn wrote:
           | for 2D you can also plain old android apps, they work here.
           | the point though is that there's not that much room for 3D
           | stuff without going through either unity or unreal or writing
           | everything yourself from scratch.
           | 
           | if your goal is to make some sort of `spatial computing`
           | tool, well there nothing here you can use. each app is it's
           | own little silo that has little room for interaction. I'd
           | love to be able to write my own custom apps that can exist in
           | the home screen/environment and that can interact with each
           | other in non trivial ways. it would make it feel more like a
           | personal space rather than a 3D slideshow that I can use to
           | launch games.
        
         | bschmidt1 wrote:
         | It's all going to end up in JavaScript anyway.
         | 
         | I say this as a joke, yet: https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-
         | unity-webgl                 Simply rendering your Unity
         | Application within your React Application is just the
         | beginning! The Unity Context exposes a lot more fun functions
         | and properties to play around with such as two way
         | communication or requesting fullscreen or a pointerlock. The
         | possibilities are endless, what's next is up to you!
         | 
         | Love it or hate it. Everything ends up in JavaScript!
        
           | zmmmmm wrote:
           | A video about their upcoming spatial SDK ("augments") already
           | leaked [0] and you are correct, it's based on JavaScript,
           | using their Spark toolkit [1] which is hardly surprising -
           | when the company already ships a production AR dev kit, why
           | would they not use it?
           | 
           | [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svlL_ndNdj0
           | 
           | [1] https://spark.meta.com/
        
         | gorbypark wrote:
         | At one point in time the React/React Native teams put out a
         | blog post devoid of any actual details about "multi platform"
         | support and mentioned VR in it. I'm surprised I haven't hear
         | anything else about it since.
        
         | btown wrote:
         | Reposting a comment I wrote on a comparison with Vision Pro
         | here, which is very relevant here:
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39830713
         | 
         | > The biggest innovation with Vision Pro is visionOS. visionOS
         | provides native app frameworks, so developers can build apps
         | for it. That sounds ridiculously obvious, and yet its something
         | Meta have failed to offer for years. Every app on Quest has to
         | reinvent how buttons work, how a scroll view works, how far
         | away from the user the content should be etc.. and every app
         | works differently. On visionOS, all of this is handled by
         | Apple, and every app looks and feels the same.
         | 
         | Meta does have standardized utilities for translating movement
         | to touch/drag/etc. interactions on arbitrary virtual surfaces:
         | 
         | https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2022/11/22/buildin...
         | 
         | https://developer.oculus.com/documentation/unity/unity-isdk-...
         | 
         | But it doesn't seem (AFAIK) to answer the other side of this,
         | which is the UI design system so apps have a consistent look
         | and feel. Which is perhaps more common coming from a game
         | development perspective, but ever since the Mac OS shareware
         | days, Apple's understood that it's empowering to a certain kind
         | of developer if you make it easy/the default path for them to
         | build experiences that match a standardized look and feel. I'm
         | honestly surprised that Meta didn't at least make an optional
         | SDK for this.
        
         | atrus wrote:
         | You can also use Godot (although def has the too much freedom
         | issue) and a-frame as well. The latter might be more attractive
         | to webdevs
        
       | nailer wrote:
       | Is this 'open' as in 'we have partners' or actual open source?
        
         | OJFord wrote:
         | It says 'to more device makers', not all, and anyway it
         | wouldn't even have to be open source but just public releases?
         | I expect it's a case of applying and meeting whatever standards
         | though.
        
         | LatticeAnimal wrote:
         | The fact that you still have to apply as a developer is a bit
         | discouraging. (though that might change...). I can't seem to
         | find anything on github.
         | 
         | Hoping that this is an oversight and that they will open-source
         | the core platform in the next few months/years. It would be so
         | awesome to hack/build on this platform
        
       | not_your_vase wrote:
       | Is it based on some prior art (BSD, Linux...), or a new
       | proprietary OS written from scratch? The post is not too rich in
       | actual information, beside that now other tech-giants can use it
       | too...
        
         | seydor wrote:
         | Isn't it based on android?
        
         | reactordev wrote:
         | A flavor of android
        
           | flohofwoe wrote:
           | Ooof that's a bummer, I hope that doesn't translate to the
           | typical "Android developer experience".
        
         | kingforaday wrote:
         | "This long-term investment that began on the mobile-first
         | foundations of the Android Open Source Project has produced a
         | full mixed reality operating system used by millions of
         | people."
         | 
         | Hopefully they stick to a proper license model with AOSP as a
         | cornerstone.
        
           | not_your_vase wrote:
           | Ahh, indeed, thanks all. Apparently I managed to glance over
           | it.
        
         | asveikau wrote:
         | I can't recall when I first heard the name "OS" used to mean
         | just another linux distro, whereas my increasingly old-man
         | brain expects the term OS to mean a unique kernel, not a
         | repackaging of a different one. Certainly by the 2010s that
         | usage was common.
         | 
         | I feel like these days some would even call something an "OS"
         | if it's running in a docker container, without providing any
         | kernel at all. Which is to say the meaning of the term is
         | expanding.
        
           | amarcheschi wrote:
           | I do like the fact that you just accepted the evolution of
           | the term rather than having a rant about how it changed and
           | eventually being accused in the replies of gatekeeping the
           | term os
        
           | dmayle wrote:
           | From personal experience as far back as the 80's (and from my
           | understanding going back before that as well), OS has never
           | meant kernel.
           | 
           | An Operating System is the collection of software that allows
           | you to operate a computer, so that means kernel, program
           | loader, simple text editor, simple disk management, etc.
           | 
           | As computer users became more savvy, and hardware became more
           | powerful, more and more functionality was included in the OS
           | (graphical interfaces, utility apps, etc.).
           | 
           | I don't think many people would have trouble calling Android
           | an operating system, and that's just the Linux kernel with
           | utility apps, loader, and app libraries, yet very different
           | from something like Redhat.
           | 
           | I don't think it's a stretch in the least to call Horizon an
           | OS.
        
             | asveikau wrote:
             | > From personal experience as far back as the 80's (and
             | from my understanding going back before that as well), OS
             | has never meant kernel.
             | 
             | I definitely heard it used to literally mean only the
             | kernel. Circa 20 years ago and earlier.
             | 
             | For example, if we look at "Operating system" on Wikipedia
             | from 2006:
             | 
             | > https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operating_syst
             | em&...
             | 
             | > Most current usage of the term "operating system" today,
             | by both popular and professional sources, refers to all the
             | software that is required in order for the user to manage
             | the system and to run third-party application software for
             | that system.
             | 
             | Note it says "most current usage". That is because the
             | usage was changing at that time, or had only recently
             | changed. (I picked 2006 because I remember it changing
             | around then.) If we go back another 2 years:
             | 
             | > https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operating_syst
             | em&...
             | 
             | > In computing, an operating system (OS) is the system
             | software responsible for the direct control and management
             | of hardware and basic system operations ...
             | 
             | Sure sounds like that doesn't include userland. Definitions
             | which include userland are marked as "colloquial".
             | 
             | Famously in the 1990s, Microsoft tried to argue in court
             | that an OS included a web browser, and that discussion is
             | cited in these old articles... Many reasonable people at
             | the time thought that position was bullshit.
        
               | bradjohnson wrote:
               | > I definitely heard it used to literally mean only the
               | kernel. Circa 20 years ago and earlier.
               | 
               | You're correct that people have been conflating the
               | kernel and the operating system as the same thing for a
               | long time, but it's not technically correct to call
               | "Linux", for example, an operating system. Stallman would
               | appreciate that people stop doing that ;)
        
               | wzdd wrote:
               | > I definitely heard it used to literally mean only the
               | kernel. Circa 20 years ago and earlier.
               | 
               | You may have, but it was a nonstandard usage. Even your
               | 2004 Wikipedia article distinguishes between OS and
               | kernel. Userland is certainly part of it.
               | 
               | AmigaDOS, 1991, manual p22: "Each AmigaDOS process
               | represents a particular process of the operating system--
               | for example, the filing system [...] AmigaDOS provides a
               | process that you can use, called a Command Line Interface
               | or Shell. (https://archive.org/details/1991-baker-jesup-
               | et-al-the-amiga...)
               | 
               | MS-DOS 6.22 (1994) concise user's guide consistently
               | refers to the entire thing including command.com as the
               | operating system (the kernel here is named msdos.sys.) (h
               | ttps://ia801204.us.archive.org/33/items/msdos_manual_622/
               | ms...)
               | 
               | Hell, the whole Linux vs GNU/Linux thing, which has been
               | around since 1992 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU/Linu
               | x_naming_controversy), was explicitly about the fact that
               | "Linux" is just the name of the kernel.
        
         | steventhedev wrote:
         | > This long-term investment that began on the mobile-first
         | foundations of the Android Open Source Project has produced a
         | full mixed reality operating system used by millions of people.
         | 
         | Which gives some context to the calls for Google to bring the
         | play store content library to Horizon.
        
       | crmd wrote:
       | I wonder if this "opening" of the operating system is their way
       | of putting the metaverse project out to pasture - analogous to
       | donating it to the Apache Foundation - without admitting that the
       | company burned $36 billion on a misadventure.
        
         | soared wrote:
         | Seems more aligned with trying to achieve what android is to
         | mobile phones but with mixed reality.
        
           | persolb wrote:
           | Exactly this. Facebook makes money by network effects. They
           | are incentivized to grow network engagement, more than they
           | are to make direct money off new network members.
        
           | bee_rider wrote:
           | Which, I guess, makes sense. I think it is absolutely nuts
           | that people would buy an OS developed by an ad company that
           | relies on user profiling for their whole business. But then
           | again it works for Google.
        
           | PaulHoule wrote:
           | It actually _is_ Android, just customized for XR.
        
         | romanhn wrote:
         | I'm guessing it's the opposite. Meta is trying to establish the
         | same OS-level foothold/control that Microsoft, Apple and Google
         | have.
        
           | nicce wrote:
           | Is there better place to place ads than Metaverse ;)
        
             | exe34 wrote:
             | It's great isn't it! All ads should go there. In fact ads
             | should be banned everywhere else!
        
           | bevekspldnw wrote:
           | Exactly, at the root a lot of this about ATT.
        
           | AzzyHN wrote:
           | Having a personal computer at home was a game-changer,
           | though. "The Metaverse" has been around for a couple years
           | now, and yet consumer VR (which has been around for eight
           | years now) is still just a "gimmick", rather than a must-
           | have.
           | 
           | The IBM Personal Computer released in 1981. By 1989... yeah.
           | 
           | iPhone came out in 2007. By 2015, smartphones ruled the
           | world.
        
             | throw310822 wrote:
             | > iPhone came out in 2007. By 2015, smartphones ruled the
             | world.
             | 
             | Advanced phones with proper os, apps, camera had been
             | around for years, and personal digital assistants before
             | that. Tablets, too. iPhone got the form factor and ui
             | exactly right and triggered an explosion, but it was far
             | from the first. We might still be in the "smartphone, pre-
             | iPhone" years.
        
               | crowcroft wrote:
               | I don't know what exactly is the right analogy for this,
               | but two other points of context which make me discredit
               | this line of thinking.
               | 
               | 1. Feature/smart 'Phones' were around before the iPhone
               | *and* were already pretty much ubiquitous. VR headsets
               | don't do much but sit on shelfs (either in people's
               | houses or in distribution centres not being sold).
               | 
               | 2. VR has arguably existed in some ways before the Quest,
               | Nintendo Virtual Boy was from the mid-90s.
               | 
               | Maybe the iPhone comparison isn't right, but if we're
               | decades into developing this technology and still very
               | early in development I think we should assume we're a
               | LONG way off these things becoming mainstream consumer
               | devices and we should be wary of any company that brings
               | them to the consumer market.
        
               | ricardobeat wrote:
               | > VR headsets don't do much but sit on shelfs (sic)
               | 
               | Quest has 6+ million monthly active users. Steam 2-3
               | million. Sony doesn't publish numbers but a good guess is
               | 3-4 million active players.
               | 
               | If you allow for some overlap, that's roughly ten million
               | monthly users, and in sales VR is already more successful
               | than a lot of computer platforms of the past.
        
               | herculity275 wrote:
               | > Sony doesn't publish numbers but a good guess is 3-4
               | million active players.
               | 
               | I find it really hard to believe that 3 million people
               | put on PSVR2 every month. That thing gets basically no
               | content.
        
             | mnahkies wrote:
             | Before the iPhone we had palm pilots, blackberries, etc. I
             | prefer to think of it as consumer VR simply hasn't had its
             | iPhone moment yet
        
               | baby wrote:
               | It's crazy because if you try the Quest it's quite insane
               | how good it is already. If I were to guess what could
               | give it an iPhone moment:
               | 
               | - lighter/more comfortable
               | 
               | - faster to get started when you put the headset on
               | 
               | - more social experiences and event organized in VR
               | 
               | - shorter time from headset on to hanging out with your
               | friends in VR
               | 
               | A number of years ago I convinced a bunch of my friends
               | to buy the Quest after being blown away by board games in
               | VR, but turns out Catan only worked for the Go and it was
               | a lot of work to do something together in VR.
               | 
               | IMO there needs to be some sort of lobby that does not
               | take you away from hanging out with your friends when
               | you're in between games. I should be able to easily join
               | a lobby or pause a game to go to a lobby and wave at my
               | friend who's playing to pause and join me in the lobby
        
               | jimmySixDOF wrote:
               | There is a nee version of Catan for Quest 2/3
        
               | imzadi wrote:
               | There is, but it is kind of crappy. It's crossplay, but
               | not in a meaningful way. You can't create a room and
               | share a room code. The best you can do is invite a
               | friend, but only if they are on the same platform.
               | They've never done anything to improve it or make it more
               | player friendly. They released it and forgot about it.
        
               | Capricorn2481 wrote:
               | > - lighter/more comfortable
               | 
               | It's this and one other point: Games that people aren't
               | bored of in an hour.
               | 
               | To me, very few games have come out for VR that don't
               | feel like gimmicky experiences. Even Half Life Alyx, as
               | advanced as it was, kinda felt like a theme park ride
               | after a while. I'm not sure if there's technical reasons
               | for it, but it feels like nobody is taking VR development
               | seriously.
               | 
               | It's hard to justify strapping a TV to my face and
               | feeling uncomfortable for one-off experiences. Even if
               | there was a game with some depth and replayability, I
               | would be even more annoyed to play it on such an
               | uncomfortable headset.
               | 
               | Almost everyone I know is not using their VR headset
               | anymore. I'm not sure it will ever move past that phase,
               | because people want it to be smaller and, simultaneously,
               | more technically immersive. So we're in some weird in
               | between zone where it's neither.
        
               | mrguyorama wrote:
               | >I'm not sure if there's technical reasons for it, but it
               | feels like nobody is taking VR development seriously.
               | 
               | The "technical" reason for it is very very very simple:
               | Nearly no video games are actually improved by "increased
               | immersion" to an extreme. Chess won't be more fun because
               | you have to physically move digital chess pieces around a
               | virtual board, people playing Call of Duty do not want to
               | physically move their arms around to aim, and don't want
               | to jump around to move, and if you aren't doing those
               | things you don't want the downsides that are inherent to
               | a VR system, like extreme seclusion of wearing a headset,
               | physical ability being an inherent filter, clunky UI,
               | nausea etc.
               | 
               | The TWO areas where VR is useful, flight simulators and
               | driving simulators, haven't even fully adopted VR simply
               | because it's too much hassle.
               | 
               | VR is only a gimmick unless you can benefit from that
               | extra immersion, and most things cannot.
               | 
               | The Wii sold gangbusters because everyone and their
               | grandma could understand "swing remote to swing tennis
               | racket", but you couldn't actually build a hyperaccurate
               | tennis sim off of that because a Wiimote is NOT a tennis
               | racket and you cannot get beyond that. VR is the same
               | way. Everyone can experience the "Oh VR is soooo coool"
               | gimmick but very few genres inherently benefit from what
               | VR provides.
        
               | wvenable wrote:
               | Where VR shines, in my opinion, is in fitness. Where the
               | goal is ultimately to move around in a gamified way.
               | That's effectively how I use my Quest 2 and I'm not
               | alone. Recently I've been trying to increase my table
               | tennis skills.
        
               | LordShredda wrote:
               | But why does it need a heavy screen attached to your
               | head? Just get some shorts and go outside, and if you can
               | afford a quest 2 then surely you can afford a tennis
               | table
        
               | int_19h wrote:
               | I think part of the problem is this weird insistence that
               | VR means having to physically move arms around etc. For
               | most games, the _visual_ experience of VR can vastly
               | improve immersion, but control schemes nearly universally
               | suck. Simulators work so much better largely because they
               | don 't fall into the same trap - if you're playing a
               | flight sim, say, you're still probably using the same
               | stick/throttle/pedals as you would without the headset.
               | For space sims, I find that headset + mouse combo works
               | amazingly well (End Space is a good showcase of what can
               | be done there). And so on.
               | 
               | But for some reason there's practically no uptake on any
               | of this outside of sims. I would love to see a first-
               | person shooter that is fully VR enabled while still
               | allowing me to use WASD + mouse. In fact, I already kinda
               | sorta do that by using 2D theater mode with games like
               | Insurgency: Sandstorm, but that doesn't give you the
               | actually useful VR stuff like the ability to turn your
               | head to look around etc. If somebody were to make an FPS
               | that did all that, they'd have my money in a heartbeat.
        
               | numpad0 wrote:
               | That some reason is motion sickness. There has to be
               | consistency with your perception, else it develops into
               | compounding vection feelings. It tend not to apply for
               | vehicular controls hence sim usage.
        
               | zooq_ai wrote:
               | Skills based games -- baseball, cricket, golf, tennis
               | almost have infinite game play
        
               | vundercind wrote:
               | I game quite a bit and had access to multiple headsets at
               | home because of the work my wife did, for a couple years.
               | Official permission to use the hardware for whatever.
               | 
               | I tried beat saber for like 10 minutes and never bothered
               | with anything else. The headset's just too big a hassle,
               | and blocking out the world sucks _a lot_.
               | 
               | Plus I can't help but think of the VR headset guy from
               | the Pearl Jam video "Do the Evolution" when I look at the
               | damn things.
               | 
               | Kinda like how I think of the dad from Serial Experiments
               | Lain any time one of my kids walks in and I'm in front of
               | a glowing screen.
               | 
               | Gross.
        
               | christianqchung wrote:
               | Speaking of Serial Experiments Lain, there is also the
               | guy walking around the street in the AR headset which
               | everyone thought was weird. Funny that it's still weird
               | 27 years later.
               | 
               | I have access to a Vive headset for school project right
               | now and do not find it very fun to use, Beat saber
               | remains the only VR game that is at least on the same
               | tier of replayability as osu.
        
               | jayd16 wrote:
               | They actually do have cross game party chat these days,
               | just FYI. Just make the party and then hop into the game.
               | Support is a little inconsistent as games are not forced
               | to support the feature, though.
        
               | maxsilver wrote:
               | The Quest is insanely good, _for a single person in
               | isolation, once it 's up and running_. But there's a
               | _ton_ of friction that shouldn 't exist before that
               | happens, and Meta hasn't nailed most of the UX here yet.
               | For example:
               | 
               | - App sharing / libraries doesn't work properly yet. (The
               | owner has to secretly log in to each individual app
               | themselves, before anyone else can use it on the device.
               | There is no documentation informing anyone of this
               | requirement)
               | 
               | - Add/ons or DLC also don't work properly yet. (You have
               | to 're-unlock' each individual DLC, for it to share to
               | anyone else on device in something like Beat Saber, for
               | example)
               | 
               | - Child permissions don't work properly yet. (The
               | notification does work, but a parent is not allowed to
               | approve an app from that notification, the child has to
               | _entirely shut down and restart the whole device_ ,
               | before an approval takes effect)
               | 
               | - Screen sharing doesn't work, at all. (If you have a
               | child, you just can't ever mirror their view onto a TV or
               | Tablet -- full stop, no exceptions. Which also means,
               | there's no way to help a child who is wearing a headset
               | -- ever). Note that "taking the headset off" triggers a
               | state reset, so a child can't hand the headset over to
               | their parent for help, since the face sensor will kill
               | state the second a face is removed.
               | 
               | - Windowing UI doesn't really work yet. (You can have
               | windows, but only three, and only side-by-side, and only
               | for a select few apps) -- it's more usability-restricted
               | than even stage manager on an iPad. You can tell the
               | Quest is designed around the expectation that you will be
               | in one-and-only-one full-screen game, pretty much the
               | entire time your wearing the headset.
               | 
               | - Online sharing is app-dependent, a bunch don't work.
               | Many more don't work at _first_ , you have to spend 30 to
               | 60 minutes "unlocking" the right to match-make. (making
               | the online/networking more seemless is critical because
               | of the nature of the device -- you can't both look at it
               | the way you might with a TV or PC or Laptop or Tablet,
               | since it's a worn device)
               | 
               | None of this is dealbreaking stuff, none if it needs any
               | kind of "new invention" or anything to fix. But _as a
               | product_ , friction is still really high here, and I can
               | see why it's not necessarily super popular outside of
               | techie/gaming scenes yet.
        
               | babypuncher wrote:
               | Even as a kid before the iPhone came out, it wasn't hard
               | to see the appeal of a smartphone. People loved their
               | Blackberries and Palm Treos. Having internet access
               | wherever you go was incredibly appealing even before the
               | hardware, software, and infrastructure were ready to make
               | that mass marketable.
               | 
               | VR makes a ton of sense for video games, but I just don't
               | see how it could enhance the rest of my day-to-day life.
               | I don't see it becoming a good general purpose computing
               | platform that most people use all day. I see it being
               | useful for specific niche tasks like CAD, but I'll never
               | put on a headset just to send an email, file my taxes, or
               | browse the internet.
        
               | HDThoreaun wrote:
               | I see tons of appeal for headsets in day-to-day life.
               | Maybe Im unique but I spend a solid hour a day lying in
               | bed reading or on my tablet, I think this experience of
               | using a computing device while lying down could be vastly
               | improved with the right headset and thats an hour every
               | day straight away.
        
               | scrame wrote:
               | I'm still a little nonplussed. i don't like apple stuff,
               | but did a couple demos at work with the vision elite or
               | whatever its called.
               | 
               | Came away very impressed with the technology, but really
               | didn't like having the damn thing strapped to my head for
               | 15-20 minutes.
               | 
               | it reminds me of getting the original 3ds that could do
               | some cool AR stuff, and could do 3d without glasses, but
               | ultimately was an impressive tech demo that I mostly
               | didnt use.
               | 
               | I already spend too much of my day in front of phones and
               | monitors, I'm not sure if the answer is moving the
               | screens closer to our eyes and shutting out more of the
               | world.
               | 
               | industrial applications for sure can have a niche with
               | this, but as a mass market device I think there's a long
               | way to go, even if the experience looks good.
        
               | skhameneh wrote:
               | Consumer VR hasn't had it's Blackberry moment yet!
               | 
               | Coincidentally, someone I interacted with mentioned "I
               | never thought I'd get rid of my Blackberry" in passing,
               | which reminded me of the term once popular term
               | "Crackberry".
        
             | TulliusCicero wrote:
             | VR headsets can be fun for some games, but the hardware and
             | software still have a lot of maturing to do, it's not like
             | smartphones where it feels very developed and there's not
             | much more room for obvious growth/improvement.
        
               | MyFirstSass wrote:
               | Yesterday i was close to buying a Pico 4 (Cheaper non
               | meta Quest 3 equivalent), then i realised there has been
               | zero fully triple a games since my friend blew me away
               | with a Half Life Alyx demo 4 years ago.
               | 
               | I find it incredible there's still only 1 actual
               | "serious" VR game - lots of people then recommended
               | Skyrim VR, a game from 2011.
               | 
               | Is VR gaming in an absolute standstill?
        
               | TulliusCicero wrote:
               | It's not at all, no. There's plenty of compelling games,
               | there just aren't any AAA games (not ones built for VR
               | only anyway) because the market simply isn't big enough
               | to justify the incredible production costs.
               | 
               | If you're dead set on only AAA games then yeah, it's not
               | a useful purchase, but that doesn't mean it's "standing
               | still".
        
               | jamilton wrote:
               | I think there are few to zero new AAA games, but I don't
               | think that means VR gaming is at a standstill, or that
               | there are no great, fun games.
        
               | numpad0 wrote:
               | Yes. Meanwhile:[0]
               | 
               | 0: https://medium.com/@nemchan_nel/vrchat-breaks-records-
               | with-9...
        
             | rvba wrote:
             | IMHO when you talk about PCs "becoming the big thing" - it
             | is more Windows 95 time.
             | 
             | In 1989 market was still fragmented and PCs were weak (286,
             | amiga, mac + old 8bits like atari and commodore).
        
           | babypuncher wrote:
           | The difference here though is I don't think AR/VR will ever
           | become as ubiquitous for general purpose computing as laptops
           | and smartphones.
        
           | r00fus wrote:
           | It's both. Meta can be "giving it away" and "hoping to
           | establish an OS foothold" but if there is no major interest
           | in playing in this space, it's going to be a very empty
           | metaverse.
        
         | graypegg wrote:
         | Using the name << horizon >> without showing Horizon Worlds at
         | all definitely hints at Horizon Worlds being a side social
         | feature of the Horizon OS, versus this being an OS specifically
         | FOR the horizon worlds metaverse.
         | 
         | Meta/Facebook really has trouble with focus, I hope they can
         | pick 1 vision for VR.
        
           | vineyardmike wrote:
           | I think they have the most focus out of any big tech company.
           | They have like 4 products.
           | 
           | They're trying to build a platform to build VR experiences
           | on. That's clearly their goal. Horizon Worlds is "just an
           | app" to show that off. It's a "hero use case".
        
             | PaulHoule wrote:
             | I looked at it seriously for content authoring but gave it
             | up.
             | 
             | The big problem is you cannot import images, textures, 3-d
             | models and such from ordinary tools. You have something
             | like constructive solid geometry to work with but only so
             | much and there is a slider you can use to set the number of
             | players and the more players the less geometry you can use.
             | 
             | I want to make worlds based on photographs (particularly
             | pano and stereo) and art. McDonalds needs to put a Coca-
             | Cola logo on the side of the cup. Either way it is a non-
             | starter.
             | 
             | HW supports collaboration (more than one person shares the
             | world) but https://aframe.io/ lets me make the content I
             | want. If I have to choose one or the other I am going to
             | pick the second.
             | 
             | My take on Meta Quest is that it seems highly successful as
             | a gaming environment based on an app store but is skews
             | towards single-player experiences. Like a lot of AAA games,
             | the excellent _Asgard's Wrath 2_ has some multiplayer
             | tacked on but it is all meaningless like leaderboards and
             | the occasional ghost that shows up in a procedurally
             | generated dungeon.
             | 
             | Of course, Meta wants to make multiplayer experiences but
             | somehow they just can't do it.
        
               | pnw wrote:
               | The most popular gaming experiences on Quest are all
               | social - Gorilla Tag, Rec Room, VR Chat, Population One,
               | Contractors etc.
               | 
               | It makes sense that expensive AAA experiences like
               | Asgard's Wrath are single player since that's a fairly
               | dominant model in gaming. The Quest doesn't have the
               | player base to support a AAA multiplayer model at this
               | point.
        
         | rbanffy wrote:
         | Not really. There is no money in VR/AR headsets. All the money
         | is in the services that back them. Even further, the less money
         | is in making headsets, the more money is in the services.
         | 
         | To say nothing about your data, which is Facebook's primary
         | revenue driver.
        
         | swatcoder wrote:
         | It reads more like they're smartly stepping away from the
         | hardware game they're not really optimized for and focusing on
         | the software and connectivity features that they are.
         | 
         | I'm not keen on more headsets having a Meta data vacuum built-
         | in, but this isn't the opposite of putting the metaverse stuff
         | to pasture.
         | 
         | They're just shifting from an Apple strategy of full-control
         | vertical integration to a Android/Windows strategy of platform
         | ubiquity.
        
           | sgift wrote:
           | > It reads more like they're smartly stepping away from the
           | hardware game they're not really optimized for and focusing
           | on the software and connectivity features that they are.
           | 
           | Which would be weird cause the hardware (Quest 3/Quest Pro)
           | is top notch, while Metas software for it is garbage.
           | Everything good is provided by 3rd party companies.
        
             | swatcoder wrote:
             | Pixel phones are great too, but Google would be a radically
             | different company if they tried to saturate the demand for
             | Android hardware on their own.
             | 
             | Making flagship/reference hardware on the Oculus legacy is
             | a much better strategy for Meta and lets them focus on
             | platform vision and data collection, which is _exactly_ the
             | company they spent the last 15+ years building.
        
             | baby wrote:
             | I really hope Meta keeps making hardware. I want a Quest 4
        
               | sgift wrote:
               | Yeah, me too. It would be really sad if Meta stopped
               | hardware development and left it to other companies.
        
             | andybak wrote:
             | "Garbage" is harsh. It's flawed but they are streets ahead
             | of Pico or Vive.
             | 
             | Ironically Google Daydream was also very polished and now
             | Google is starting again but with a gigantic dent in their
             | credibility.
        
         | vineyardmike wrote:
         | 1. Zuck always wanted to own a platform. He was a developer at
         | heart and wants a product that developers can build on. He's
         | personally invested in this.
         | 
         | 2. I'm pretty sure a lot of the cost quoted for their
         | "Metaverse" stuff included their CapEx for a ton of GPUs which
         | probably have a lot of other uses within the company.
        
           | TeMPOraL wrote:
           | I wonder how 1. works. Won't any developer tell you that
           | _platforms are traps_ , to be avoided unless necessary (or
           | unless you're prepared in advance to jump off it at any
           | time)? I feel platforms are only interesting to business
           | folks, particularly those selling access to them.
        
             | vineyardmike wrote:
             | Platforms are a trap, except Windows launched a revolution.
             | Platforms are a trap, but iOS made companies (like
             | Facebook) billions.
        
               | abraae wrote:
               | Animals usually realise there is something off about a
               | trap. They interact with it extremely cautiously,
               | sometimes leaving it for a few nights and then coming
               | back.
               | 
               | Eventually their desire for whats in the trap overcomes
               | their caution and they put their head in.
        
           | zem wrote:
           | as a developer at heart he should have thought back to how
           | interested he would have been in sharecropping on someone
           | else's locked down platform!
        
           | TiredOfLife wrote:
           | Meta reality does a TON of research.
        
         | burnte wrote:
         | This is them doing that but also trying to do what Android did,
         | capture the bulk of the market and leave the ultra-
         | ridiculously-high-end to Apple.
        
           | criddell wrote:
           | So create a big market where nobody makes much money to
           | compete with Apple's smaller market that captures absurd
           | margins?
        
             | bbarnett wrote:
             | Do _devs_ really capture absurd margins? Or does Apple,
             | leaving the dev with a pittance?
        
               | criddell wrote:
               | I thought _ultra-ridiculously-high-end_ was referring
               | mostly to Apple hardware and bundled software.
        
               | awad wrote:
               | While we can debate plenty on what the right amount of
               | App Store fees might be, it is objectively true that
               | developers absolutely care about the market of available
               | consumers on the high end platform.
        
         | Culonavirus wrote:
         | > the company burned $36 billion on a misadventure
         | 
         | Watch out, the VR mafia is gonna get ya!
         | 
         | Seriously though, any well informed and level headed person
         | could see this coming a mile away. Apparently, such people are
         | in short supply at Meta.
        
           | wahnfrieden wrote:
           | The number of employees who can see failure coming does not
           | matter when they are organized by hierarchy and coerced to
           | work toward failure under threat of losing their wage.
        
             | bsimpson wrote:
             | Plenty of people inside Google also thought that
             | splitting(/replacing) Hangouts into Allo and Duo was
             | monumentally stupid.
        
               | smm11 wrote:
               | That was the thing that turned me off Google permanently.
               | I deleted my G account and have never looked back.
        
           | nradov wrote:
           | Meta kind of doesn't have a choice. The major platforms are
           | now owned by Apple, Google, and Microsoft (and also to a
           | lesser extent IBM and Amazon). The strategic risks of being
           | dependent on other companies' platforms are _huge_. Meta is
           | desperately hunting for a disruptive innovation that will
           | allow them to control the next major platform. A lot of
           | people are betting that will be AR /VR but it could be
           | something completely different.
        
           | imzadi wrote:
           | Speaking from the perspective of a person who is very into
           | VR. There are a lot of things that have gone wrong. First,
           | Facebook/Meta pushing hard with low-end hardware that caused
           | the existing VR gaming to take leaps backward. PCVR was
           | progressing fine before Zuckerberg intervened. Now the VR
           | space is just cluttered with so many low effort, low res
           | games. None of the big players want to get involved, because
           | everyone is so convinced it is too "niche." Meanwhile, you
           | have people who really want to spend money on VR and there's
           | nothing worth spending the money on.
        
         | baby wrote:
         | Why would they shut down the Metaverse? It's clearly the future
         | and Zuck brought it up again in the last podcast that people
         | are linking to. Apple just release a bad headset that just
         | confirmed the bet that Meta took
        
         | araes wrote:
         | How does any company burn $36 billion on a headset they got
         | handed a prototype for?
         | 
         | At a reasonable $100k/yr and 50% overhead, that's 240,000 years
         | of labor. ~5000 human lifetimes. At a .gov labor rate of 2080
         | hrs/yr, that's 500,000,000 hrs of work wasted? For mediocre
         | "not a product rendering" that looks like 90's Second Life? I'm
         | not usually the graphic resolution crowd, yet that was rather
         | underwhelming. Could'a just taken a picture of the inside of
         | the Quest view and it would have been better.
         | 
         | Trying to avoid humble bragging, yet last year I put in four
         | government proposals (one 20-pager, rest were 5-10), wrote a
         | web app, converted a NIST matrix package to a different
         | language, and wrote a mixed Android / Windows app for cross-
         | communication. I may have observer bias, and not be
         | representative. However, that was one year, not 5000
         | lifetimes... You'd think they would have more than a single
         | game as their killer app. Not even Pokemon Go or similar? It's
         | such an obvious previous idea.
        
           | azinman2 wrote:
           | 100k/yr is not reasonable for Bay Area, let alone top talent.
           | There are people working on it making $1M/yr+. Junior
           | developers straight out of college are making more at Meta.
           | You're also assuming everything went to just engineering
           | payroll, which is obviously not true.
        
             | araes wrote:
             | Then FB/Meta's throwing money out the door on people who
             | demonstrably do not deserve $1M+/yr.
             | 
             | And on that topic, same with Wikipedia, why "must" you have
             | your development base in the most expensive place on the
             | West Coast?
             | 
             | Per https://www.gamedevmap.com/ there are Many other, less
             | expensive, locations. America has a bunch, even Africa has
             | gamedevs. They're an International megacorp, with 3 billion
             | monthly active user (probably still a lot of dupes). India
             | has the largest FB audience (366 million, 2024), not
             | America (100 million). Will an Indian developer make you a
             | launch app for less than $1M+/yr? New Dehli has 17 game
             | studios (including Riot Games) and Mumbai has 33 (Ubisoft
             | Mumbai and Pune).
        
               | danielmarkbruce wrote:
               | How is it demonstrable that they aren't worth $1m per
               | year?
               | 
               | While in many cases folks are overpaid in big tech, some
               | of them are insanely talented people who can do things
               | others simply cannot.
        
               | bobsomers wrote:
               | > How is it demonstrable that they aren't worth $1m per
               | year?
               | 
               | Probably because of this:
               | 
               | > How does any company burn $36 billion on a headset they
               | got handed a prototype for?
        
             | throwup238 wrote:
             | The numbers aren't all that much more palatable at 24,000
             | man-years, assuming $1M average TC.
             | 
             | That's equivalent to the amount of labor it took to build
             | some of the minor Egyptian pyramids.
        
           | bee_rider wrote:
           | I want to make a snarky comment about how any reasonable
           | person would want 10x that to work for Facebook but 500 human
           | lifetimes is still a wild amount of time for what they've
           | gotten.
        
           | TiredOfLife wrote:
           | They didn't and they didn't.
        
         | drdaeman wrote:
         | "Opening" what? I can't think of anything here that even
         | remotely resembles opening something to a public or donating a
         | project to any foundation.
         | 
         | They realized they have an asset, and they made some money by
         | licensing it. Sales department did their job, story at 11. But
         | it would've been a boring non-story, so a copywriter used the
         | corporate brandbook - and "open" is the buzzword of the last
         | few years when it comes to the technology.
         | 
         | Someone need to make an LLM SaaS to de-bulshittify the news.
        
         | mvkel wrote:
         | Agreed. Zuck on Dwarkesh's podcast definitely seemed to be
         | doing some aggressive retconning, making it seem like AI was
         | always the plan, and the metaverse never was. Of course the
         | opposite was true.
        
       | seydor wrote:
       | I hope at some point they expand to devices beyond goggles, like
       | i dont know a holodeck or something
        
       | smeej wrote:
       | Am I the only weirdo who does not want, under any circumstance,
       | to move to a world where head-mounted computer systems are
       | normal? It's bad enough we have the things in our pockets. I
       | don't want mine mounted in front of my eyes.
       | 
       | I can hear the replies already, "If you don't want one, don't use
       | one," but if something becomes normal _enough,_ the outside world
       | does change around it. Why invest in street signs, for example?
       | Who prints maps or encyclopedias now? Or why make anything
       | _actually_ aesthetically pleasing if 98% of the people who are
       | going to interact with it will see it through a digital lens,
       | where you can change your designs on the fly and for so much less
       | cost?
       | 
       | It's not just that _I_ don 't want to use it. I don't want it to
       | become normal among other people either.
        
         | parl_match wrote:
         | For what it's worth, we are many decades away from this being
         | the new normal in daily life. It'll more likely start to chip
         | away at iPad and computer sales though.
         | 
         | As for your examples, such as maps/encyclopedias, they still do
         | even in the smartphone age.
         | 
         | >Or why make anything actually aesthetically pleasing if 98% of
         | the people who are going to interact with it will see it
         | through a digital lens, where you can change your designs on
         | the fly and for so much less cost?
         | 
         | There's a great movie called Virtual Nightmare that is
         | basically about this. But I don't think it's such a bad thing,
         | to be honest. We'll have a world where art can be more easily
         | exchanged and public spaces become more collaborative. And the
         | flip side is that hopefully, "offline" will have less ads and
         | there will be a renewed focus on more indie and subversive
         | decoration.
         | 
         | Change isn't always bad, and it isn't always good.
        
         | Sol- wrote:
         | I fondly remember the times where Glassholes were rightfully
         | mocked. Now it's cool to drive around in your Tesla wearing an
         | Apple Vision. It really seems to have become very normalized.
        
           | wnevets wrote:
           | > Now it's cool to drive around in your Tesla wearing an
           | Apple Vision.
           | 
           | This may have more to do with your particular social circle
           | (or mine) than a general trend in pop culture. I don't know
           | anyone who thinks any of those are cool.
        
           | tantalic wrote:
           | Being cool and getting a lot of views/clicks should not be
           | confused.
        
           | talldayo wrote:
           | It's funny to me because pretty much every single issue that
           | the Google Glass had still persists:
           | 
           | - it's too damn expensive (you look like a rich klutz wearing
           | one)
           | 
           | - the content is mostly just normal games and videos that you
           | watch in stereo
           | 
           | - the FOV and camera resolution are too poorly miniaturized
           | to do anything serious with
           | 
           | Why doesn't it surprise me that public perception did a 180
           | when they saw the brushed-aluminum model with an Apple logo
           | on it? At this rate Apple should sponsor a second Hindenberg
           | just to check if their luck's run dry.
        
             | svachalek wrote:
             | Are you thinking of the Quest or something? Google Glass
             | didn't have content or a FOV.
        
           | adastra22 wrote:
           | Part of the difference is that Glass was uploading images
           | (and audio?) to Google for them to use however they like.
           | That was the asshole invasion of privacy. People trust Apple
           | more, right or wrong.
        
         | adastra22 wrote:
         | No, you're not the only one, or even in the minority (outside
         | of the terminally online tech bubble). I feel the same way.
         | 
         | But I also see the value of AR/VR to a number of industries
         | that need more visual interaction metaphors. CAD/CAM,
         | architecture, and real estate come to mind. I could totally see
         | buying a house across the country "sight unseen" based on a 3D
         | scan (if regulatory guards are in place to prevent modifying
         | the scan).
         | 
         | Having an open OS architecture for AR/VR apps is key to making
         | this happen. Current offerings all fall short in various ways,
         | so I'm curious to try this out.
        
         | me551ah wrote:
         | It's only a natural extension of the things that we have in our
         | pocket. I would rather be immersed in the whole virtual world
         | rather than stare at a 7 inch screen for a large part of my
         | day.
         | 
         | Lets face it, we spend considerable amounts of time in front of
         | a screen. A bigger and more immersive screen will be a better
         | experience for everyone.
        
           | arrowsmith wrote:
           | > I would rather be immersed in the whole virtual world
           | rather than stare at a 7 inch screen for a large part of my
           | day
           | 
           | I would rather do neither of these things.
        
             | taway789aaa6 wrote:
             | Well said.
             | 
             | I would rather _not_ be immersed in the whole virtual world
             | AND _not_ stare at a 7 inch screen for a large part of my
             | day.
             | 
             | (written from a 16 inch laptop that I stare at for work)
             | 
             | I've been trying to exist more (in terms of "time-spent")
             | without my phone in my pocket as it seems to be primarily a
             | driver of distraction.
        
         | yayr wrote:
         | if it takes a similar course as the form factors of mobiles
         | from the 1990s to today it may become quite convenient to
         | use... Also many including me prefer Wikipedia over printed
         | encyclopedias. Getting that context while navigating the world
         | may even become a necessity to collaborate or compete with AIs
         | efficiently in the future.
         | 
         | On the other hand I do appreciate beauty in nature and design.
         | 
         | But why not have both?
        
         | jeffbee wrote:
         | I am fairly sure that 90% of people are on your side and only
         | emotionally stunted weirdos like Zuck think this is a good
         | idea.
        
           | flkiwi wrote:
           | It feels like a competition to own a comparatively narrow
           | market (if we're talking about VR). And, within that context,
           | it may indeed be a good idea. But I just cannot see VR
           | headsets being anything approaching common, primarily because
           | people do not like tech accessories they cannot put away
           | unless they have a high fashion value or effectively look
           | like something else. VR headsets, today, check none of these
           | boxes. AR might end up being a different story.
        
         | loudmax wrote:
         | The Vernor Vinge novel Rainbows End famously presents a future
         | in which people's interaction with the world is mediated by
         | augmented reality via contact lenses. It's not presented as a
         | necessarily bad thing, but who actually controls access to
         | information is a very important consideration.
        
         | candlemas wrote:
         | VR makes me sick. Don't know about mixed reality but I've read
         | that also causes nausea.
        
         | ciwolsey wrote:
         | You have no choice, so no point worrying about it.
        
         | jjcm wrote:
         | Just giving an anecdotal response that I am very much the
         | opposite. I'm absolutely thrilled for that future. There's
         | something magical about that blend of real + digital that to me
         | feels more human than sitting behind a desk and staring at a
         | screen.
         | 
         | It will definitely be a cultural change though, and I totally
         | get how that can be almost repulsive from a different
         | perspective. I just want you to be aware though that there are
         | people who at least are interested in that future.
        
         | wredue wrote:
         | If we had lightweight reality augmenting glasses (as in not
         | much more than a pair of reading glasses), I'd have that in a
         | heartbeat depending on use.
         | 
         | But yeah, I'd personally not want much beyond that.
         | 
         | Of course, to each their own.
        
       | swozey wrote:
       | This is interesting, hopefully it gets more HMD options out
       | there, but even better get more developers making ar/vr games.
       | 
       | Was the OS a limiting factor in any of this, though? I've only
       | used a Vive and my Oculus 2 and 3 so I'm not sure what other HMDs
       | use, I assumed some Android distro that just connects to
       | steamvr/openxr/whatever.
       | 
       | Are Asus, Lenovo and Xbox really trying to get into the vr/ar
       | ecosystem? Are they going to be Oculus clones? Their own r&d? Is
       | this all a pipedream?
        
         | aprilnya wrote:
         | the advantage of using meta's OS is that you get the whole Meta
         | Quest Store library (or, i guess, Meta Horizon Store) meanwhile
         | before, you'd have to convince devs to manually publish for
         | your platform
        
       | api wrote:
       | With this and Llama I'm starting to wonder if Meta is making a
       | pivot toward openness similar to what Microsoft did under
       | Nadella.
       | 
       | It's not altruism of course. It's a strategy. But it's a
       | different strategy from the closed pure walled garden strategy
       | they have executed previously.
        
         | joshmarinacci wrote:
         | Smells like competition.
        
         | tracerbulletx wrote:
         | Given React and PyTorch I'd say they've always been doing that.
         | Also they've been releasing open source models for years and
         | pretty much from the beginning.
        
       | idle_zealot wrote:
       | "Open platform" my ass. I still have to jump through ridiculous
       | hoops to mod BeatSaber (which is the only way to make it worth
       | playing for more than a few minutes). Quest 3 makes modding even
       | harder. This announcement is trying to frame App Lab as an open
       | app distribution platform; it isn't. Those "basic technical and
       | content requirements" apps have to meet are basically the same
       | ones that Apple or Google or Meta themselves enforce for their
       | app stores. Entire classes of applications, particularly those
       | that undermine platform-owners' business models are not allowed.
       | 
       | Additionally, Horizon is generally a terrible operating system.
       | Useless and intrusive "social" features out the wazoo, laden with
       | tracking/spyware, and it isn't even good for anything beyond
       | launching apps that take over the whole environment. Want to use
       | your fancy headset to open up apps in 3d space and do some
       | multitaking work? Well I sure hope you're happy with exactly 3 2d
       | apps (all equally sized) lined up in a row in a fixed location,
       | because that's all you're getting. If you want to do anything
       | real you need to install an app that launches its own environment
       | for multitasking, but of course then you can only pull in windows
       | from a remote PC, so if you want to run any local applications
       | it's back to basics for you. Oh, and of course you can't mix
       | those remote PC windows with local apps. As poor as Apple's
       | Vision OS is in the multitasking department Horizon falls far
       | behind even it.
        
         | hackcasual wrote:
         | Modded beat saber is the only reason I still have kept my
         | original quest
        
           | zem wrote:
           | I was half tempted to get a quest after playing beat saber on
           | a friend's device. it's kind of amazing how much better it is
           | than the next best thing you could do on one, some team just
           | knocked it out of the park designing and implementing that
           | game
        
             | NikolaNovak wrote:
             | Pistol whip is pretty good too. Those two get your light
             | saber sword fight fantasy, and the Matrix Gun-Fu fantasy :)
             | 
             | And though I haven't an athletic bone in my body, the
             | fitness / boxing apps are actually a great way to get some
             | exercise in.
             | 
             | Generally, quest 2 was one of the things I haven't had any
             | interest whatsoever until after a year's campaign, my
             | friend basically forced me to try it during a visit :-). I
             | have one now, largely for those 3 apps.
        
         | NBJack wrote:
         | This is ultimately what they want: their owned walled garden,
         | where they get to be the decider, hold the power, track the
         | user's as first party data, etc. It makes perfect sense. They
         | want this to be the next Android OS (with Play Store equivalent
         | of course).
         | 
         | This is really the only move that gets them back in (perhaps
         | only somewhat) with the dwindling ads market.
         | 
         | Much as I don't like it, it is a legitimate tactic. I just
         | don't see it being effective in the current market, even with
         | Apple as a player.
        
           | znpy wrote:
           | > They want this to be the next Android OS (with Play Store
           | equivalent of course).
           | 
           | Or the next Apple with the next iOS ?
        
             | johnmaguire wrote:
             | iOS can only run on Apple hardware.
             | 
             | Google famously made Android "open source" and allows third
             | party manufacturers to run it.
        
           | zooq_ai wrote:
           | Dwindling Ads market? Which planet do you live?
        
           | freedomben wrote:
           | If what they ultimately want is their own walled garden, then
           | wouldn't opening things up be the opposite of what they
           | should do? I mean, it's a lot harder to re-take control that
           | you previously released than it is to hold onto it from the
           | start. Look at Apple's difficulties tighteninng up control on
           | the mac for example. It has to be a very long game. Compare
           | that to the iPhone, iPad, vision OS that have been tightly
           | controlled from the start and they have no difficulties
           | (other than regulatory) holding the reins tightly.
        
             | jonplackett wrote:
             | What control are they actually giving up here though? Seems
             | like they're just adding reach.
        
             | cies wrote:
             | > If what they ultimately want is their own walled garden,
             | then wouldn't opening things up be the opposite of what
             | they should do?
             | 
             | The are only opening things up in their marketing speak.
             | There is not actual opening up happening. "Open" sounds
             | cool, inclusive, and like you are creating a stable
             | platform for others to build on top of (IBM opened up x86,
             | Linus opened up Linux, etc).
             | 
             | Judge by what they do not what they say -- most valid
             | advice in this age of lies.
        
         | bagels wrote:
         | Why can't you play BeatSaber without mods?
        
           | yuck39 wrote:
           | The out of the box track selection is quite weak. The game
           | depends on community made tracks to make it playable in the
           | long term.
        
           | munk-a wrote:
           | You can - it's just far less fun than BeatSaber with mods.
           | The biggest improvement is from being able to select from the
           | community list of songs that are available that may better
           | suit your taste than the songs that come built in. It's a
           | rhythm game so using a rhythm you like makes it much more
           | fun.
        
             | jsheard wrote:
             | Besides song choice, the community also produces higher
             | quality charts than the official ones, and offers
             | difficulty that scales much higher.
             | 
             | Lunatics like these can't be sated by the official songs:
             | https://youtu.be/CKwX349aV98 https://youtu.be/sJQSy3KG-
             | oQ?t=33
             | 
             | That first chart averages _12 notes per second for 5
             | straight minutes_ and the player only missed a single note.
        
               | wkat4242 wrote:
               | Scaling even higher?? Lol I can't even play on medium
               | difficulty on the built-in ones. I don't know how people
               | keep up with the high tracks.
        
               | munk-a wrote:
               | I assume there are sort of natural skill ceilings but if
               | you practice with more difficult scenarios and really
               | push yourself you'd be amazed at what you can do. I've
               | got an essential tremor[1] and I usually play on Expert+
               | for the vanilla tracks which is usually do-able for me.
               | 
               | 1. On that note - my tremor does hurt me here too but
               | unlike twitch shooters (which I loved before my tremor
               | got bad) and things like guitar hero (which require
               | comparatively precise movement) beat saber is usually
               | pretty forgiving about precision of placement and angles
               | - so long as your rhythm is correct you can go pretty far
               | with it.
        
           | idle_zealot wrote:
           | Lack of any songs I actually care about, and the actual note
           | mapping from the devs has been pretty bad up until recently.
           | The modding community has had them beat for ages. Without
           | mods the game would be a breif curiosity before I got bored
           | with the provided songs, most of which don't suit my taste.
        
           | TeMPOraL wrote:
           | Mind that "mods" includes "custom tracks".
           | 
           | OG BeatSaber comes with a small-ish selection of tracks, most
           | of them obscure and not generally known. Good or bad, they
           | get boring quickly. Modding lets you expand to arbitrary
           | number of tracks, including pretty much all the ones you
           | like. It's what makes it fun and worth returning to. Not
           | being able to add your own music, makes BeatSaber not worth
           | the sticker price (much less if you're getting Oculus just to
           | play it).
           | 
           | Also note that people were used to this capability, because
           | before BeatSaber became a poster child for Oculus, it was
           | streamed to other headsets from PC, where adding custom
           | tracks was tacitly allowed.
        
           | micromacrofoot wrote:
           | because they want to use songs they didn't pay for
        
             | bowsamic wrote:
             | How do you know that??
        
               | idle_zealot wrote:
               | No, that's basically correct. Mods are primarily for
               | downloading community-made tracks/maps for songs not
               | included with the game. There are also officially
               | licensed DLC song packs, but they're quite pricy and
               | still only provide access to a limited selection of
               | tracks.
        
               | NikolaNovak wrote:
               | That's literally what the mods do :).
               | 
               | There's moral discussions to be had I'm sure, but the
               | _purpose_ of the beat sabre mods is pretty factual :).
        
               | prophesi wrote:
               | Not quite; piracy of the paid DLC is one thing, but
               | modding is to add songs (which should be read as, entire
               | Beatsaber custom-made tracks) that otherwise are not
               | available through any other avenues.
        
             | tarxvf wrote:
             | More likely because they want to use songs that aren't
             | _offered_ except by modding.
        
             | waffleiron wrote:
             | If I paid for the song (even somewhere else, even on a
             | subscription like spotify/apple music), I should be able to
             | dance/move to it. I don't think one should have to re-buy
             | every song in a videogame. Especially when the work is done
             | for free to put in the dance moves by modders.
        
               | micromacrofoot wrote:
               | You don't pay for the song when you pay for streaming
               | services, you pay to stream it. You have no rights beyond
               | streaming the song.
        
             | stale2002 wrote:
             | There are lots songs for which it is fully legal to listen
             | to without paying for. Many people release songs for people
             | to listen to for free!
             | 
             | This is especially true within the rhythm game community,
             | for which many fans simply like to make rhythm songs and
             | for people to play them.
             | 
             | That is absolutely a valid usecase that should be allowed.
        
         | kotaKat wrote:
         | And I'm still forced to have some form or variant of a
         | Facebook-touched account, even if they want to change the front
         | company behind it.
         | 
         | I don't want to sign in to use a headset, period.
        
           | prab97 wrote:
           | But you do sign in to use an Android phone, or iPhone.
           | Although, I agree with the point that someone would never
           | want to sign in with their Facebook account there, with FB
           | account holding so much personal information about them! For
           | gaming, somebody would rather prefer to use an alias like
           | dungeonmaster669 instead of their verified actual identity.
        
             | rrdharan wrote:
             | You don't _have_ to sign in to use an iPhone or Android
             | phone, though you to have to sign in to use their app
             | stores. Presumably with the advent of DMA though you can
             | avoid creating an Apple ID or Google account if using a 3rd
             | party store (though probably you'll need some other account
             | for that store, that's how it always goes...).
             | 
             | Fe: gaming - yes, this is why Apple had separate IDs for
             | gaming center.. and I think Microsoft does this too for
             | Xbox vs Microsoft account?
        
             | wredue wrote:
             | I also basically have to have a smartphone, and smartphones
             | are entirely self contained devices.
             | 
             | On a scale of trust for how companies are handling my data,
             | Apple, and to a much lesser extent, Google, are still more
             | trustworthy than Facebook, I feel.
        
             | freedomben wrote:
             | On Android at least, you don't _have_ to sign in. You
             | obviously  "miss out" on some "features" that way, but it
             | is usable.
        
         | fijiaarone wrote:
         | Plus, it doesn't have the Apple logo.
        
         | gnarbarian wrote:
         | Hey, at least it supports webXR and there's no way to control
         | that content.
        
         | cma wrote:
         | They mention Steam Link but don't mention it isn't allowed to
         | sell in-app purchases (maybe a decision on Steam's side to be
         | fair; they dont want games on Steam themselves having a "remote
         | desktop" overlay workaround where you buy DLC without paying
         | the 30% revenue tax).
        
         | bodge5000 wrote:
         | > I sure hope you're happy with exactly 3 2d apps (all equally
         | sized) lined up in a row in a fixed location, because that's
         | all you're getting.
         | 
         | To be fair that is all I really want. Regardless, its still a
         | privacy nightmare which makes it a no-go for me, combined with
         | the fact that the most powerful ("productivity") app I can
         | expect to run on it would be something like excel which makes
         | me not really need anymore than 1 window, at which point its no
         | better than a regular laptop.
         | 
         | I'm waiting for the Simula One, or maybe XReal Air support for
         | linux
         | 
         | EDIT: To be clear, the kind of apps I'd want to be running
         | (what I run on my regular laptop) that I doubt would be
         | available on Meta OS include things like: Godot, Blender,
         | VSCode, terminal windows, probably a bunch of other stuff but
         | those are the main ones
        
       | ru552 wrote:
       | With this and Llama, looks like Zuck is trying to be the Linux of
       | whatever the next big wave is
        
         | brevitea wrote:
         | There exists a severe deterioration of trust with respect to
         | Zuckerberg. I don't believe people are as eager to jump on his
         | bandwagon today.
        
           | mousetree wrote:
           | I think he is working on turning that trend around (see
           | Llama).
        
             | waynesonfire wrote:
             | Yeah right, he's donating all those GPUs to rebuild his
             | reputation. It has nothing to do with trying to be relevant
             | as a non-market leader.
        
               | talldayo wrote:
               | Whatever the purpose is behind it, I'm just glad that
               | their work benefits me for once. I could not tell you the
               | last time Tim Cook or Bill Gates sponsored something that
               | genuinely improved my day-to-day life.
        
               | jayzalowitz wrote:
               | I see the day to day for you, but bill gates is probably
               | gonna get statues made of him for some of the things he
               | is doing, especially in africa.
        
               | renewiltord wrote:
               | On the podcast with Dwarkesh Patel, he was quite explicit
               | that he believes that open-sourcing has worked out for
               | them in the past and they're interested in it in the
               | future but they'll only do it so long as it helps them.
               | If they make something awesome that it would be worse for
               | them to release he won't release it. And the license is
               | anti-competitor (if you have 700 million users or more,
               | you can't use Llama) so he's quite clear that this is a
               | business decision.
        
             | bogwog wrote:
             | I wonder if there is a limit to this strategy? How many
             | LLMs would it have taken Epstein to release for HN to
             | forgive him?
        
           | etrautmann wrote:
           | Is that still true?
        
       | cairhart wrote:
       | > We're also developing a new spatial app framework that helps
       | mobile developers create mixed reality experiences. Developers
       | will be able to use the tools they're already familiar with to
       | bring their mobile apps to Meta Horizon OS or to create entirely
       | new mixed reality apps.
       | 
       | Like porting my whole android app + spatial features or...?
        
         | tasoeur wrote:
         | My guess is that they saw how nicely Apple made basic app
         | development (read 2.5D planes with list views and spatial UX)
         | and they are gonna try their best to shape their "app
         | framework" in a similar fashion.
        
       | pavlov wrote:
       | _> "Meta Horizon OS devices will also use the same mobile
       | companion app that Meta Quest owners use today--we'll rename this
       | as the Meta Horizon app."_
       | 
       | Churning through so many VR brands. The app that used to be
       | called Oculus and is now called Meta Quest will soon be called
       | Meta Horizon.
       | 
       | If Meta really believes in the Metaverse, why do they need the
       | Horizon brand? Why not just the Meta OS?
        
         | what_ever wrote:
         | Because their whole company is called Meta?
        
         | sangnoir wrote:
         | > If Meta really believes in the Metaverse, why do they need
         | the Horizon brand? Why not just the Meta OS?
         | 
         | Perhaps for the same reason why Apple OS, Google OS or
         | Microsoft OS don't exist as customer OSes - each OS is scoped
         | to a specific function/device-class, and maybe superceded in
         | the future.
        
       | blululu wrote:
       | This is actually a really cool move. Not sure about the business
       | case, but building an os for AR/VR is challenging. A naive port
       | of Android or Linux will not really work (without inducing
       | massive motion sickness). Having a framework that allows a
       | hardware oem to quickly create a decent AR/VR headset could
       | really open up the market.
        
       | lucideer wrote:
       | pivoting some underlying metaverse tech? scant on detail
       | unfortunately
        
       | spintin wrote:
       | I think linux would be the obvious choice.
       | 
       | VR is being gatekept by Valve and Meta.
       | 
       | How likely is Valve to use Android?
        
         | jsheard wrote:
         | > How likely is Valve to use Android?
         | 
         | Not likely, unless they make a headset which doesn't do much of
         | anything by itself and is just meant for streaming from a PC.
         | To make a standalone headset which can draw on the Steam
         | catalog they would almost certainly want to use a variant of
         | their SteamOS Linux distro.
        
         | TulliusCicero wrote:
         | Valve already has its own OS for a mobile device: Steam OS
         | (based on Arch) on the Steam Deck. My bet is that they'd just
         | modify that for a standalone headset.
        
       | amluto wrote:
       | I wonder if this will allow full use of Meta's hardware without
       | an account.
        
         | pavlov wrote:
         | It's the other way around: you can get the Quest's software on
         | hardware not made by Meta.
        
       | ein0p wrote:
       | Doesn't seem very "open" actually. Open to ASUS and Lenovo !=
       | Open.
        
         | pjmlp wrote:
         | It is open in the sense of POSIX Open Group.
        
       | neural_thing wrote:
       | Very strange how many people are here to dunk on Zuck. He's
       | opening up an OS. THAT'S AWESOME! We should celebrate that in
       | principle, no matter how we feel about him or VR in general.
        
         | Oras wrote:
         | Oculus still requires a Facebook login; don't you see the
         | conflict?
        
           | purge wrote:
           | it requires a meta sign-in, which isn't a facebook account.
        
             | Oras wrote:
             | potato <=> potato (sounds on)
        
               | aprilnya wrote:
               | no, those are completely different... a facebook account
               | is an account on a social network that requires you to
               | use your real name or else you get banned. a facebook
               | account links you to your real life identity and your
               | real life social circles
               | 
               | a meta account is an account that you can optionally link
               | to their social medias, but it isn't required
               | 
               | meta accounts are basically just oculus accounts
        
               | aeonik wrote:
               | I don't need an account to use my monitor or my TV. Why
               | do I need one for a VR Headset?
        
               | aprilnya wrote:
               | Because these aren't dumb headsets that just plug into
               | your PC. These are standalone headsets that handle the
               | whole thing -- they aren't just a display and
               | controllers, they take the role of the PC too.
               | 
               | So, needing an account for these is more comparable to
               | needing an account to use Steam
        
               | aeonik wrote:
               | I don't need Steam to run my games or to pipe data into
               | my Valve Index either.
               | 
               | It's still unclear to me why an account is needed. I
               | mean, I get the profit and control motive, I just don't
               | understand the technical reasons.
        
               | baby wrote:
               | Because you need to buy apps to make use of your VR
               | headset. Lets put it this way, do you need an account to
               | use your Iphone?
        
               | kotaKat wrote:
               | No, in fact, I don't.
               | 
               | My device is not signed into any Apple services right now
               | or any Apple IDs. Anything my company needs to deploy
               | gets pushed by MDM or via enterprise-signed applications.
        
           | zmmmmm wrote:
           | you really should be factually correct when dunking on
           | something
           | 
           | It hasn't been called Oculus for ages and it doesn't require
           | a Facebook login. Meta accounts are stand alone and
           | completely different, you can create as many as you want
           | without giving your identity, just an email address, you
           | don't need to link it to anything.
        
         | croes wrote:
         | to third-party hardware makers.
         | 
         | And it's still based on Android.
         | 
         | The reason will be the same as for Android by Google: Control
         | the market.
        
         | alt227 wrote:
         | Dont be fooled by the marketing language.
         | 
         | All they are doing is allowing some companies to pay them
         | billions of dollars to put meta onto their own headsets.
         | Similar to how Valve allowed a few companies to put SteamOS
         | onto their own hardware to create 'Steam Machines'.
         | 
         | I cant think of a single time in history when this tactic has
         | worked. and made a product or brand more successful. Please
         | correct me if I am wrong.
        
       | woopsn wrote:
       | I know I'm fighting the overwhelming tide here, but what the hell
       | is "mixed reality"? What is "the metaverse"? For that matter what
       | is "artificial intelligence"? Stop trying to dazzle and just use
       | words, if the technology is revolutionary then it will be. An
       | automobile is not the magic carpet, a cell phone is not a
       | soulmate, etc. Otherwise fuck it -- TV is virtual reality,
       | getting high augmented reality, TI-84 calculators are artificial
       | intelligence, libraries are the metaverse, ...
        
         | neverokay wrote:
         | We are like gamers that no longer perceive the improvement in
         | graphics across generations.
         | 
         | Talk to Siri and then talk to ChatGPT if you are feeling that
         | clueless.
        
           | woopsn wrote:
           | I do. I've said it before too -- I like that they called it a
           | "generative pretrained transformer" aka GPT.
        
             | neverokay wrote:
             | You can make gpt be an imaginary friend for children if you
             | want to.
             | 
             | The technology is the technology, the application of it is
             | the magic.
        
         | HL33tibCe7 wrote:
         | Meta are trying to dazzle you with words because there is
         | nothing fundamental behind any of this metaverse stuff
        
         | idle_zealot wrote:
         | These are not complex or dazzling terms. Artificial
         | intelligence is software that seems intelligent. Virtual
         | reality is a simulated environment that you can immerse
         | yourself in through small screens and head tracking. Mixed
         | reality is virtual reality overlayed on your real environment.
         | See also "augmented reality". The metaverse is the web, but
         | replace websites with 3d environments and add some sort of
         | personal avatar, perhaps with some persistent identity.
        
           | woopsn wrote:
           | People seem to think I have trouble understanding what the
           | terms refer to. That's not my point -- you're right in that
           | they are not complex.
           | 
           | But why is virtual reality associated with small screens and
           | head tracking? Why wasn't Everquest on a CRT "virtual
           | reality"? A lot of software calculates probabilities over
           | some distribution, why isn't all that "artificial
           | intelligence"? Why isn't my Subaru's cruise control and lane
           | keeping technology "autopilot" or "self driving"? Why isn't
           | the elevator controller an "agent"? Why aren't my own servers
           | "clouds"?
           | 
           | I don't need the terminology explained, I'm just tired of it.
           | And I do think in many cases it's meant to be dazzling and
           | marketable rather than mean anything.
        
             | PaulHoule wrote:
             | These terms have a way of burning people out. I hesitate to
             | use blockchain and A.I. in the same sentence because that's
             | a sure sign the person doesn't have anything to say.
        
             | andygeorge wrote:
             | > why is virtual reality associated with small screens and
             | head tracking?
             | 
             | ...because that's what it is? surely you understand that
             | the difference between 3D, near-eye displays and
             | traditional 2D screens warrants a different label
        
             | johnfn wrote:
             | > But why is virtual reality associated with small screens
             | and head tracking?
             | 
             | Because this improves the quality of VR.
             | 
             | > Why wasn't Everquest on a CRT "virtual reality"?
             | 
             | It is an extremely limited form of VR.
             | 
             | > why isn't all that "artificial intelligence"?
             | 
             | It is an extremely limited form of AI.
             | 
             | > Why isn't my Subaru's cruise control and lane keeping
             | technology "autopilot" or "self driving"?
             | 
             | It is an extremely limited form of "self driving". (To be
             | more precise, it's Level 1 self autonomy.)
             | 
             | > Why isn't the elevator controller an "agent"
             | 
             | It is an extremely limited form of an agent.
             | 
             | > Why aren't my own servers "clouds"?
             | 
             | They are extremely limited forms of a cloud. (Though I
             | would argue that a cloud needs to be provided by a third
             | party.)
             | 
             | > I don't need the terminology explained, I'm just tired of
             | it.
             | 
             | It sounds like you are refusing to understand how
             | experiences fall somewhere on a spectrum. Is me and my
             | friend tossing a ball around in my backyard "baseball"?
             | What if we get 7 more friends and stand on a diamond and
             | run around the bases? If I come back afterwards and say "we
             | played baseball", even though it wasn't an MLB-regulated
             | official game adjudicated by umpires, are you going to get
             | really upset at me and say that I'm lying and I didn't
             | really play "baseball"? The same principle applies to
             | everything else you've listed here.
        
               | bluSCALE4 wrote:
               | Limited says you. I'll pick on your example of VR. Tell a
               | blind person that Everquest is a limited form of VR.
               | You've just bought into "progress". These other
               | experiences likely still haven't been beaten when
               | strictly speaking about real depth as opposed to the
               | superficial.
        
               | johnfn wrote:
               | A blind person can still hear the spatial audio in
               | Everquest. I think they would get the point.
        
             | bee_rider wrote:
             | I think asking questions like that for rhetorical effect
             | works in other places, but people here prefer to treat all
             | questions as actual good-faith questions. Even ones that
             | are clearly intended as rhetorical, like yours.
             | 
             | So, I don't think they are misunderstanding you. It is
             | almost like calling your bluff.
             | 
             | It is an interesting convention.
             | 
             | I don't dislike these kinds of questions normally. But they
             | do typically lead to a little bit of back and forth. On
             | this site, most interactions are typically only 2-3 posts
             | long. So I think it is better to just state your opinions
             | directly.
        
             | wvenable wrote:
             | > But why is virtual reality associated with small screens
             | and head tracking?
             | 
             | Because it's supposed to simulate reality -- and it does a
             | great job of it. Everquest on a CRT doesn't simulate
             | reality; it's nothing like reality. As the capability of
             | something increases it becomes something else. Cruise
             | control on a car that is sufficiently able to drive a car
             | eventually becomes autopilot. Your own server isn't a cloud
             | but put a large enough of them acting together in a way
             | where each individual machine is entirely redundant and
             | replaceable is a cloud. These words describe actual things.
             | You are a person but why isn't any random clump of cells a
             | person?
        
             | numpad0 wrote:
             | Why is a laptop not desktop? Aren't GNU/Linux desktop OS?
             | Why is Android a phone OS? I thought it was supposed to be
             | a camera firmware GUI toolkit?
        
               | woopsn wrote:
               | I'm not concerned about trademarks. I'm concerned about
               | what isn't trademarked -- language which instead we are
               | all supposed to adopt and throw around as much as
               | possible. As I said: * reality, AI, cloud, etc.
        
               | numpad0 wrote:
               | I get that loosely thrown around buzzwords are annoying,
               | that sentiment I sympathize with, but your examples seem
               | to contain multiple category errors e.g. HUD is a type of
               | AR device, using cloud(noun) is outsourcing(verb) but
               | outsourcing is definitely not appropriate term for cloud
               | tech stacks, and so on.
               | 
               | Digital computer technologies aren't continuously
               | differentiable so made up terms for grouping each
               | distinct tech stacks is unavoidable. AI is linear algebra
               | but grouping up all AI/ML/RL/perceptron into "electronic
               | linear algebra technology" is not helpful.
        
             | alanbernstein wrote:
             | I hated the terms "blog" and "podcast" when they were new.
             | I thought they were so dumb and unnecessary. But they are
             | useful to describe actual things happening in the real
             | word. This is just how the intersection of words and
             | technology works.
        
         | LZ_Khan wrote:
         | I think "mixed reality" is the marketing term for augmented
         | reality. Easier to understand for some people.
        
           | creativenolo wrote:
           | Typically "mixed reality" is used to mean mixing your vision
           | with virtual content. Whereas, "augmented reality" has
           | typically meant displaying a live video feed on a single
           | screen.
           | 
           | They are two quite different experiences and use cases. Once
           | both are common it would make sense to call both augmented
           | reality but I haven't heard any better terms for describing
           | the difference to people yet.
        
             | idle_zealot wrote:
             | I think usage is exactly the opposite of what you
             | described.
        
               | creativenolo wrote:
               | I haven't yet seen a phone Augmented Reality app
               | described as Mixed Reality. I have seen HoloLens, Meta
               | Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro described as Mixed Reality
               | and Augmented Reality.
        
             | woopsn wrote:
             | "Mixed" versus "augmented" reality have no real meaning,
             | which is why there is confusion about which of the two
             | modalities you're referring to.
             | 
             | My question is why avoid the terms overlay, superposition,
             | display and even vision? Why instead purport to have
             | altered reality?
             | 
             | Traditionally in aviation and the military they said "heads
             | up display", because they can't afford to be obtuse. The
             | display allows the pilot literally to keep their head up,
             | instead of pointed down at their instruments. And I'm sure
             | there was no truck for anyone who would have called it
             | mixed or augmented reality.
        
         | baby wrote:
         | The Metaverse is what the Internet is if you add VR. It's not
         | hard to understand.
        
           | creativenolo wrote:
           | It can also mean just plain olde 2D 3D (according to
           | companies selling metaverse services)
        
           | woopsn wrote:
           | I understand. I read Snow Crash. Besides the Metaverse there
           | was also a nuclear powered dog.
           | 
           | My point is this -- by _allusion_ to some concept with which
           | an inventor wishes to form an association in the consumer 's
           | mind, their products are to be thought of as something
           | different than they are, something too grand for plain
           | language. This doesn't serve anyone but the inventor.
           | 
           | The "Internet with head-mounted display" is actually pretty
           | cool technology, I'm not against it. My concern is that it
           | shouldn't be sold or even referred to as an alternate form of
           | reality. For the benefit of product sales, or else the egos
           | of certain technologists, language becomes muddied and the
           | very idea about what makes someone "a person" is bastardized.
           | I think this is wrong and very short sighted.
        
             | wvenable wrote:
             | If you use a term like "Virtual Reality" to describe things
             | it eventually just becomes what people describe. Everybody
             | knows what a VR headset is now. Everyone knows what VR is
             | now. That is VR. The _allusion_ is completely gone.
             | 
             | It's like describing snow to someone who has never seen it.
             | No matter what they allusions they have about snow before
             | they see it, once they've seen it, they know that is snow.
             | And everyone they talk to will have the same meaning.
             | 
             | Same with Augmented reality, mixed reality, whatever. Once
             | it becomes mainstream one of these terms will stick and
             | that's just what it will be. Or it'll be so ingrained in
             | the experience that we no longer even use a separate term
             | to describe it.
        
         | wvenable wrote:
         | What the hell is "cloud computing"? What is "big data"? What is
         | the "Internet of Things" or "SaaS" or "SEO"? For that matter
         | what is "agile development"?
         | 
         | Just use words to describe technology? Every time I want to say
         | "cloud computing" do I have to say "a service where you use the
         | internet to access software, storage, and processing power
         | that's run on a bunch of server located far away in data center
         | that are owned and managed by a company that specializes in
         | providing these services" instead?
        
           | woopsn wrote:
           | In business you would traditionally call that sort of
           | arrangement "outsourcing". The Internet of Things is okay --
           | it could have been worse, The Omninet or something.
        
             | wvenable wrote:
             | "outsourcing" is a broad term. Building your widgets in
             | China is also outsourcing.
        
               | woopsn wrote:
               | That's the point though. Manufacturing, logistics,
               | payroll, research, advertising, legal services, ... --
               | outsourcing certain functions to specialist, often (but
               | not always) cheaper or more efficient companies is a
               | _typical_ business practice. The term is broadly
               | applicable and used where ever this is the case. Since
               | there are well-known business and organizational risks
               | associated with outsourcing, it is conspicuous that we
               | "migrate to the cloud" instead.
        
               | wvenable wrote:
               | Migrate to the cloud has specific meanings. How would you
               | even adequately define it using "outsourcing"? That's
               | just one part of it.
        
       | blackeyeblitzar wrote:
       | A new OS will be interesting ONLY if Meta commits to certain
       | policies that Microsoft and Apple have violated. Users should be
       | able to use their devices without any telemetry or phoning home.
       | They should be able to install any software they want from any
       | source. They should not be forced to make payments only through
       | Meta's services. Etc.
        
         | willi59549879 wrote:
         | wouldn't trust meta with anything for sure not running a whole
         | os.
        
       | Closi wrote:
       | Did they consider the UK market when naming this?
       | 
       | Horizon is synonymous with a computing scandal involving buggy IT
       | code.
        
       | pavlov wrote:
       | Shades of Apple licensing the Mac OS to clone hardware vendors in
       | 1995 - 1997. It seems like Meta will be controlling the software
       | experience quite closely, just like Apple did back in the day.
       | 
       | There's an important difference though: Apple made all their
       | money on Mac hardware margins which the nimble clone vendors
       | could undercut. Whereas for Meta, the Quest hardware has always
       | been sold at breakeven or even as a loss leader (a few years ago
       | they actually raised the price of the Quest 2 to cut further
       | losses).
       | 
       | So there's no kind of existential danger to Quest here, but it
       | remains to be seen if the hardware licensees can bring anything
       | relevant to the table either.
        
         | samspenc wrote:
         | Like other comments have pointed out, I think of this as
         | similar to how Google controls the Android OS. While
         | theoretically open, the real useful stuff on top of Android
         | (Google services etc) require a license from Google along with
         | their Play store, so Google makes revenue from there.
         | 
         | Certainly more open (edited) than the Apple ecosystem, but
         | still controlled by one (big) player, with a little bit of
         | flexibility but not a whole lot.
        
           | ec109685 wrote:
           | You're discounting the huge number of android devices that
           | use it as a base OS. E.g. Amazon and Peloton use android
           | without Google services for consumer devices.
        
             | babypuncher wrote:
             | These are devices built with a specific use case in mind
             | that need an operating system that is easy to develop for.
             | Non-Google versions of Android have struggled to make much
             | headway in markets like smartphones. Even Amazon's own
             | phone flopped pretty hard.
        
               | indymike wrote:
               | Kindle tablets on the other hand have done well.
        
               | sangnoir wrote:
               | > Non-Google versions of Android have struggled to make
               | much headway in markets like smartphones
               | 
               | You may have forgotten about China: Huawei smartphones
               | are doing very well on an AOSP-based OS.
               | 
               | Edit: Google was concerned about a Chinese fork of
               | Android flourishing, they wrote to congress at the time
               | the tech-transfer ban was being condidered
        
               | rchaud wrote:
               | The thing about Android is that a device doesn't have to
               | make headway by selling 100 million units plus to
               | continue being adapted to many different types of
               | devices.
               | 
               | In any case, the Play store can be sideloaded on every
               | Android device even if it isn't officially supported.
        
           | bsharper wrote:
           | Amazon used AOSP to create tons of their products. Even if
           | most Android devices have the Play Store, there are
           | successful variants that don't. And I'd even include Meta's
           | Quest line here: every headset since the Go has the ability
           | to sideload apks using standard Android tools.
        
             | hadlock wrote:
             | My quest (1) I bought on launch day got an OS update and
             | now I have to find my old credentials to log in (and thus
             | accept some (probably) draconian EULA, just to enable
             | developer mode to side load apps on there. You can't just
             | plug a USB stick in the side and copy paste them to
             | "side_loaded_apps" dir it's still a ridiculous task of
             | doing backflips through flaming hoops to use it as an open
             | device. And it may yet again reset my login.
        
           | talldayo wrote:
           | > A bit more open than the Apple ecosystem
           | 
           | It is not "a bit more open" than iOS, it is a completely
           | different approach to OS development that enables wildly
           | different results.
           | 
           | > While theoretically open, the real useful stuff on top of
           | Android
           | 
           | That stuff is by no means necessary; I've run Android without
           | Google services for years and it just feels like a normal
           | tablet OS. Again, it is not "theoretically open" but in fact
           | practically usable without any first-party services, unlike
           | iOS.
        
             | samspenc wrote:
             | :D Fair, I didn't want to be yelled at by the Apple fanbase
             | that comes out in defense to comments like this, have
             | edited my original post with a note.
        
         | bonton89 wrote:
         | > So there's no kind of existential danger to Quest here, but
         | it remains to be seen if the hardware licensees can bring
         | anything relevant to the table either.
         | 
         | Why would I, as a potential hardware maker, wish to compete in
         | a market where the existing main producer is a mega wealthy
         | entity that is already dumping product below cost and is
         | capable of doing so indefinitely?
        
           | distortedsignal wrote:
           | The low end of the market is taken - but (from an outsider
           | perspective) the high end appears free.
           | 
           | The people who want to buy a Honda aren't the same people who
           | want to buy an Acura, even though it's (essentially) the same
           | parts.
           | 
           | Let's say that, tomorrow, Gucci or Dolce and Gabanna (or
           | however you spell that) want to make a VR headset (why? who
           | knows?). They don't have the tech acumen to compete with
           | Facebook on experience, but they have the brand to compete on
           | "people who want to be seen in Gucci."
           | 
           | Is there a market for that? I don't know. But this opens
           | Facebook up to the possibility of making that deal.
        
             | MichaelZuo wrote:
             | Or more like those Lamborghini and Porsche branded phones.
        
             | distortedsignal wrote:
             | Someone teach this man how to spell "Gabbana".
        
             | theptip wrote:
             | Don't agree with this take. I'm sure Meta would be fine
             | with other vendors taking over the low-end, if that meant
             | there was a vibrant platform they controlled (ie the OS).
             | They will lead with flagship models to push the boundaries
             | of what the OS/tech can do.
             | 
             | Why would they want to sell at/below cost forever? The
             | reason they do this now is to make the platform viable.
             | 
             | The only reason they are focusing on cheaper devices now is
             | to build the platform and try to get more users, to in turn
             | get more data on what the killer usecases will be.
             | 
             | Think of this as a play like Android. Google doesn't care
             | what goes on in the commodified end of the spectrum, as
             | long as there is one. Google does ship flagship phones (in
             | competition with eg Samsung) and that is fine.
        
               | distortedsignal wrote:
               | My point is that there is more to "VR Headset Market"
               | than just "low end" - low end is one part of the market,
               | but (right now) Facebook has that part locked up.
               | 
               | It may be that there are more places to compete in the VR
               | Headset Market that people on HN don't know about.
               | 
               | Like you said, this is probably something like an Android
               | play. Everyone was talking about the Apple Vision Pro as
               | the VR Market's "iPhone moment" when it came out - maybe
               | Meta Vision OS (or whatever they're calling it) is
               | Facebook's Android moment.
               | 
               | And yeah, Facebook would probably be ok with others
               | taking the low end of the market if they do it well.
               | Right now, Facebook is the only company willing to take a
               | loss on their own platform. So they do.
        
               | williamcotton wrote:
               | _Don't agree with this take._
               | 
               | Is this a command or an opinion that left out the subject
               | of the sentence?
        
             | potatolicious wrote:
             | It feels less like low vs. high-end and more like
             | specialized vs. general hardware.
             | 
             | For example, if you're selling VR headsets for the purposes
             | of industrial training, you may not want the consumer-grade
             | hardware Meta is selling. You may need weather-sealing to
             | allow outdoor operation. You may need vastly higher-
             | resolution screens for industrial applications. The list of
             | specializations goes on.
             | 
             | The specialized businesses tend to have wider moats and
             | bigger margins. The TAM is smaller - too small for a mega-
             | cap company like Meta to care about, but nonetheless can
             | contribute to the health of the ecosystem.
             | 
             | This play gives influence over these niche, specialized
             | uses of AR/VR without having to commit the entire company
             | to it.
             | 
             | For example think of a medical instruments company that
             | trains on VR headsets. Their choices right now are to use
             | consumer-grade hardware which may not hit all of their
             | needs, or become a full-on AR/VR company with all the
             | requisite R&D that involves.
             | 
             | This allows these companies to exist in the middle ground -
             | having the core R&D being done by another party, but having
             | sufficient control to ship specialized hardware.
        
             | mdasen wrote:
             | I feel like this is a bit off. There have been things like
             | Porsche phones, but those are so niche that I don't think
             | they're really worth considering. They happened, but they
             | haven't been a long-standing product. They were a cash grab
             | where they licensed a brand.
             | 
             | Now, Hondas and Acuras are different products. You can say
             | "oh, they're essentially the same" and if you truly believe
             | that, I'll sell you a Core i3 processor for the price of a
             | Core i7. Yea, they're essentially the same, but it's the
             | differences that make one better than the other. The point
             | is that the high end isn't about branding. The high end is
             | about capability. Apple has shown that their iPhone will
             | outsell any luxury-branded Android phone to rich people
             | because some things are about capability, not a logo.
             | Samsung's flagships will way outsell some luxury logo
             | smartphone too. The high end here is really about devices
             | with better capabilities and it allows companies with good
             | hardware businesses (like ASUS and Lenovo) to build
             | something in the Meta VR ecosystem.
             | 
             | It's also possibly a way for Meta to stop dumping Quest
             | devices. They'd rather just own the ecosystem rather than
             | doing the hardware. If they can get ASUS, Lenovo, and
             | others to do the low-margin hardware work and pick up the
             | tab for a lot of the marketing, that's a win for Meta.
             | Maybe Meta simply backs out of hardware over the next 5
             | years if a nice third party hardware ecosystem arises.
             | 
             | But I think this is going to be tough with VR. When you're
             | trying to make an immersive experience, you need a baseline
             | of hardware. It's also easier when you know the hardware
             | you're trying to target. Android development can be
             | frustrating because there's so much variance in speed and
             | capabilities. One of the reason gaming consoles exist is
             | that targeting a small set of hardware/capabilities makes
             | things easier. That's not to say that PC gaming doesn't
             | exist, but it can be hard because gamers need to spend a
             | lot of money on hardware and there's a variance in
             | capabilities that you need to account for - and who you
             | might simply exclude. With a phone, it's less of an
             | immersive experience for most apps which are just
             | displaying something. They might display it slower, the UX
             | might be laggier, etc. but it works. VR can't be laggy.
             | 
             | In some ways, it feels like Meta is trying to become a game
             | console company without having to subsidize the console.
             | That would be big if they can pull it off. I guess in many
             | ways this is what Steam pulled off on the PC - taking a 30%
             | cut without having to subsidize any hardware. We'll see if
             | Meta can do the same for VR.
        
             | s0rce wrote:
             | Reminds me of the Vertu cell phone, which the iPhone
             | basically killed.
        
             | stronglikedan wrote:
             | > The people who want to buy a Honda aren't the same people
             | who want to buy an Acura, even though it's (essentially)
             | the same parts.
             | 
             | Nit, but as an Acura driver (chooser), I can tell you that
             | they are definitely not essentially the same parts. The
             | irrelevant parts are the same, but everything that matters
             | to the driver (suspension/drivetrain, interior materials,
             | technology, etc.) all all different and better in the
             | Acura. I get what you're trying to say, but that was not a
             | good metaphor.
        
             | rokkitmensch wrote:
             | I strongly disagree that the low end of the market is
             | taken. XReal's Air/2 are awesome and Moore suggests we'll
             | see awesome displays in that form factor, not even
             | necessarily from XReal.
        
             | 0x457 wrote:
             | Yes, but also there are currently so few components to pick
             | from. SoC is definitely some kind of variation of
             | Snapdragon XR2 unless you're Apple.
             | 
             | Can't go into high-end because for a device to make sense
             | either an existing ecosystem around it or high confidence
             | in one appearing. If you tell me that I can buy a 3k dollar
             | vr headset that can run current quest library, I would
             | pretend you're joking.
             | 
             | Mid-end is where we're at right now has/had very small
             | margins because despite it being mid-end - you still have
             | to use high-end components due to lack of options.
             | 
             | I can see someone like Porsche Design making a "high-end"
             | headset (in terms of price, components would be the same).
             | The only option for low-end is to use components previously
             | used in mid-end that would need to compete with used
             | previous gens since they would be nearly identical on the
             | hardware level.
        
           | __s wrote:
           | Because you want to use it as a basis for military VR or
           | something
        
           | ryukoposting wrote:
           | Are they capable of selling hardware loss leaders
           | indefinitely? If so, can they do it at a scale that matches
           | the company's digital presence? The Google Daydream headset
           | sitting on my shelf is skeptical.
           | 
           | Regardless of whether they _can_ sell the hardware at a loss
           | forever, they probably won 't _need_ to.
           | 
           | Third-party hardware is engineering labor that Meta doesn't
           | have to pay for. In fact, it's engineering labor that will
           | pay Meta through royalties. Cost-cutting measures developed
           | by those third parties can easily be copied by Meta's own
           | product, reducing the cost of future versions of the
           | hardware. Cheaper options in the marketplace also help Meta
           | gain market penetration without their own hardware developing
           | a reputation for poor quality.
           | 
           | After a couple generations, vendor lock-in will start to set
           | in, and they'll be able to charge more without losing
           | customers. The aforementioned cost-cutting techniques start
           | to pile up, too.
        
           | ryanbrunner wrote:
           | Google did this early on with android - originally the Google
           | devices (Nexus) were lower end, and high end devices were
           | left to other manufacturers. They've flipped around recently,
           | but I think the Nexus line was a decent enough idea at the
           | time.
        
           | richardw wrote:
           | its partly in the article. Companies like Xbox and Lenovo
           | want different experiences for their clients. This allows
           | them to share the basic platform but specialise for their
           | customer segments, eg professional or Xbox owners or
           | whatever. Architects and civil engineers and doctors might
           | not want normal game controllers and the default resolution.
           | Cheap devices used in developing countries can have a lower
           | resolution and no hand tracking. Meta wins because they can't
           | build 100 versions themselves, all they care about is growth
           | of the market. Nothing is locked up yet, think of a market
           | 100x bigger.
        
           | wvenable wrote:
           | Seems like without some kind of software revenue sharing
           | model it doesn't make sense. These things are consoles --
           | sold a cost or below cost in order to make it back on
           | software sales.
        
         | _giorgio_ wrote:
         | Why should it be different than Google and Android?
         | 
         | Google makes medium and high cost devices, but actually doesn't
         | compete too much on margins.
         | 
         | If the OS catches up, meta will do the same move, allowing
         | other vendors to proliferate.
        
         | giuseppe_petri wrote:
         | > So there's no kind of existential danger to Quest here, but
         | it remains to be seen if the hardware licensees can bring
         | anything relevant to the table either.
         | 
         | How does Meta make its money? Advertising. Licensees bring
         | actual eyeballs to the table and eat the hardware costs
         | fighting amongst themselves selling commodity hardware and Meta
         | re-position Quest as a 'premium' product that they might
         | actually make a little money on.
        
       | brink wrote:
       | This all looks incredibly lonely.
        
       | gausswho wrote:
       | I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the upside-down
       | language that Meta is trying to execute here with the repeated
       | use of 'open' to describe any of this. This is an invitation for
       | other corporations to drink from their social spigot and join
       | their walled-off app store. The word 'open' really is under
       | multiple fronts of diffusionary attack lately.
       | 
       | Is the Overton Window now a mobius strip?
        
       | b_d98 wrote:
       | While good, Meta is likely to attempt to form a walled-garden in
       | the vein of IOS and even Android to an extent. What I'd really
       | hope for is a general-purpose computing platform with root access
       | for the user, As I believe that mixed reality headsets have the
       | potential to overtake both the smartphone and the PC as the
       | default compute device of choice.
        
         | squigz wrote:
         | Is there any such solution in the VR space, even if not state-
         | of-the-art?
        
           | b_d98 wrote:
           | There's SimulaVR. https://simulavr.com/
        
       | modeless wrote:
       | > And we encourage the Google Play 2D app store to come to Meta
       | Horizon OS, where it can operate with the same economic model it
       | does on other platforms.
       | 
       | It sounds like they are specifically _not_ open to third party
       | app stores selling native AR /VR ("3D") apps. I can see why
       | Google might not want to participate if they're not allowed to
       | compete.
       | 
       | This feels like a response to complaints that Meta is
       | hypocritical when complaining about closed platforms while
       | running one themselves. But they aren't open sourcing the OS. I
       | don't know why any OEMs would want to compete with Meta's
       | hardware subsidized by app store revenue when they continue to
       | own the exclusive store for native AR/VR apps. Maybe there's an
       | app revenue share to sweeten the deal for hardware partners?
        
         | bsimpson wrote:
         | I think you're overindexing on "2D."
         | 
         | The Play store is full of flat apps, designed for phones and
         | tablets. There are a gajillion of them, and FB wants them in
         | their headsets.
         | 
         | It's not about not wanting competition - it's about wanting
         | people to have more than 100 apps available when they use a
         | Meta headset.
        
           | int_19h wrote:
           | But why would I as a user want to use those flat apps in VR,
           | when I already have a phone and a tablet?
        
             | modeless wrote:
             | On current headsets, just because it's annoying to have to
             | take the headset off to do things, and also to be able to
             | use those apps in conjunction with other services like
             | meetings in Horizon Workrooms.
             | 
             | On future headsets with higher resolution and better
             | comfort, because it would be a legitimately better
             | experience in many cases.
        
             | chaostheory wrote:
             | Have you seen the Apple Vision demo(s)? Now imagine being
             | able to have wall sized versions of Android apps like
             | Netflix or even word processing apps like Google Docs.
        
             | wvenable wrote:
             | Is that what the majority of Vision Pro users are doing in
             | VR? Projecting flat monitors around.
        
           | modeless wrote:
           | That's what it's about for Meta, sure. But for Google it
           | would be about selling apps on a headset, and being
           | prohibited from selling the native type of app for the
           | platform would be pretty bad!
           | 
           | Meta wants to have their cake and eat it too. If it's their
           | intention to allow third party stores to sell native Quest
           | AR/VR apps on the headset in competition with their own
           | store, they should state that explicitly because what's
           | written here pretty carefully doesn't imply that. I don't
           | think we can just assume what isn't stated here.
        
         | cmiles74 wrote:
         | This seems like trying to come up with an answer to Apple
         | Vision's ability to run iOS apps. If you can install apps from
         | Google Play then you could, if you wanted to, check your email
         | from inside your headset.
         | 
         | I'm not sure many people would want to do that, but if Apple
         | thinks it's a good idea, blah blah blah.
        
         | modeless wrote:
         | Sorry for the double post. One of my comments was moved here
         | from a different submission so now there are two top level
         | comments from me, and I can't edit or delete them because the
         | edit window has closed.
        
       | mattlondon wrote:
       | Notable by it's absence: ML/AI
        
       | wearhere wrote:
       | I was hoping to open this and see screenshots of what the OS
       | looked like--I have never had a sense of what the OS for Meta's
       | headsets is, only what individual games look like.
       | 
       | Instead, we get five (5) "Not an actual product render"
       | illustrations.
        
         | jayd16 wrote:
         | Its Android with a VR quick action bar and app launcher grid.
         | You can select an immersive skybox "desktop" or a use
         | passthrough. There's not much to show seeing as the passthrough
         | is still fairly new. There are no built in 3d widgets or
         | anything atm so there's really not much to show besides apps.
         | 
         | Anyway, this seems like a licensing deal announcement, not a
         | big software release.
        
       | nathan_compton wrote:
       | I don't care what these people do, I'll never use one of their
       | products unless it is to literally save someone's life.
        
         | zooq_ai wrote:
         | what a sad hill to die on
        
           | t1c wrote:
           | I don't think it's a particularly sad hill to die on - Meta
           | has proven themselves to be exploitative, invasive, and
           | downright malicious time and time again.
        
             | zooq_ai wrote:
             | I feel very sorry for people who feel that way and have
             | their identity tied to hating Facebook/Meta
        
           | gretch wrote:
           | No one is dead on a hill.
           | 
           | If anything, not using VR makes you much more "alive".
           | 
           | A real misapplication of this metaphor.
        
             | zooq_ai wrote:
             | once again, I feel very sorry for people who haven't
             | enriched their lives with VR experiences and skills
             | building. No different than people who poo-pooed computers
             | and internet
        
       | vonwoodson wrote:
       | I remember when Facebook released an "OS" for the phone (it was
       | really just a skin for Android). While I'm really happy to see
       | that FB is making another stab into the field with the Quest, and
       | I'm very happy that we're finally getting some real development
       | in VR, I'm even _more_ skeptical of them now as I was then: I
       | just don 't trust FB with my data.
       | 
       | Part of what makes me so skeptical is how "cheap" the Quest 3 is.
       | There's no way they're not loosing [literally
       | billions](https://fortune.com/2023/10/27/mark-zuckerberg-net-
       | worth-met...) of dollars developing VR tech and, given their
       | track record, only have one way they know to make that money
       | back.
        
       | joshmarinacci wrote:
       | "Open" in the same way Android is, with complete control and app
       | store by Meta. I think we have to accept that an 'open hardware
       | platform' the way PCs were was an anomaly. We will never have
       | anything like that again.
        
         | andygeorge wrote:
         | i think that ship sailed when smartphones became ubiquitous.
         | given how heavily subsidized mobile devices are (especially
         | compared to PCs), there's no incentive to produce an actually-
         | open hardware or software platform. Google and Apple want you
         | re-upping every 2 years and to stay locked into their
         | ecosystems. i agree this is sad, but definitely not new
        
         | drdaeman wrote:
         | I don't think it's in the same way. I see "we licensed some
         | software to ASUS, Lenovo and Microsoft (and may license to
         | others - serious inquiries only)", not "we are releasing
         | something under a free software license".
        
       | Aaronstotle wrote:
       | I won't touch VR/AR until the technology progresses to the point
       | where its nealry indistinguishable from regular sunglasses/eye-
       | glasses.
       | 
       | I have yet to use any VR device that made me want to purchase it,
       | its all felt insanely gimmicky, so far the only time a headset
       | seems nice is on a plane ride.
       | 
       | I can see the potential, still seems a long way off imo.
        
         | zooq_ai wrote:
         | Feel sorry that you feel that way. There are many experiences
         | (especially ball games that require hand/eye co-ordination)
         | that has made my game / fitness / skill improve at least 80%
         | with very minimal amount of time I spent (compared to real
         | world training). If you are into Fitness, nothing like training
         | in VR for literally no money (compared to Gym / personal
         | trainer)
        
           | PaulHoule wrote:
           | If "cool" people insist on only wearing Ray Bans that will
           | keep VR fun. It will keep VRChat safe for furries, kemonomini
           | and animekin.
        
         | drdaeman wrote:
         | Typically frames are made very light, so they won't make too
         | much pressure on one's ears and nose. Unless someone runs a
         | fiber to a frame, then keep the rest in a backpack or belt bag
         | or something, I doubt it's physically possible to pack all the
         | necessary additional hardware keeping it nearly
         | indistinguishable from a frame without it.
        
           | PaulHoule wrote:
           | That CPU or battery puck for Apple Vision Pro, Magic Leap,
           | and some others is a real killjoy. It makes it certain you
           | won't be using fitness apps.
        
             | drdaeman wrote:
             | I'm skeptical about working out with a headset, at all.
             | There are probably some good use cases, but I'm just
             | mentally going through the stuff I'm doing at a gym, and I
             | think that typically a headset would be either a hazard or
             | a gimmick of questionable usefulness.
        
               | slfnflctd wrote:
               | I've found some great cardio apps on the Quest and
               | they're one of the top things I go back for.
        
               | echoangle wrote:
               | Can you share the apps? I'm very happy with Thrill of the
               | fight and pistol whip but I'm always looking for more.
        
               | PaulHoule wrote:
               | Try Supernatural. It's like a dance, boxing, or martial
               | arts workout. My VR lab is a little small and has slanted
               | ceilings so I have to be careful not to hit the tips of
               | my fingertips but it is a real workout that is reasonably
               | safe.
        
         | bluescrn wrote:
         | Battery tech is likely to prevent that within our lifetimes,
         | even if the displays and electronics can be miniaturised to
         | that level.
        
         | zmmmmm wrote:
         | So you are ready to go then:
         | 
         | https://www.rayneo.com/products/rayneo-air-2-xr-glasses
        
       | ApolloFortyNine wrote:
       | >And we encourage the Google Play 2D app store to come to Meta
       | Horizon OS, where it can operate with the same economic model it
       | does on other platforms.
       | 
       | Did they get told to shove it by Google when they asked through
       | back channels? To even come out and essentially say publicly
       | "they can still get their 30% cut" is just wild to me.
       | 
       | Also of note, they don't mention any license. Is the hope they
       | can avoid the Google antitrust concerns Google is running into
       | that Apple is somehow avoiding?
        
         | potatolicious wrote:
         | I'd speculate the two things have a lot to do with each other.
         | It's easier to avoid accusations of monopolizing software
         | distribution on a platform when you've openly invited other
         | parties to participate.
        
         | traek wrote:
         | Google asked Meta to switch to AndroidXR for their Quest
         | devices. Meta said no and suggested Google offer Play Store on
         | Quest, which Google rejected.
         | 
         | Google then went on a PR offensive accusing Meta of fragmenting
         | the VR/AR ecosystem.
         | 
         | Meta is including this in the announcement to head off
         | criticism by Google aimed at creating pressure on Meta to
         | consolidate on AndroidXR.
         | 
         | https://www.roadtovr.com/meta-google-android-xr-quest-reject...
        
       | sheepscreek wrote:
       | Isn't it built on Android?
        
       | lyu07282 wrote:
       | Almost exciting, if the software wasn't just this shitty hacked
       | together proprietary android fork. It's just an app store and
       | game launcher, there is nothing there that I would imagine a
       | metaverse operating system to be, like interoperability between
       | vr apps. This would have to be built from the ground up around
       | the VR paradigm on open standards and hackable.
       | 
       | If the Internet started on today's proprietary app stores and
       | nailed-shut operating systems it would've never innovated this
       | quickly. This is what AOL/MSN desperately attempted, but it all
       | failed (thank god).
       | 
       | Meta's dream of the metaverse is nothing but laughable, hold back
       | by nothing but terrible software.
        
       | haytamoptika wrote:
       | i love rivals on tech, hope like ios vs android
        
       | xandrius wrote:
       | Never wished something would quickly fail already at its
       | announcement as much as this.
        
         | bschmidt1 wrote:
         | Long plane rides and TV before bed - 2 things it would be
         | better at than what we have now. Imagine watching a 27" screen
         | from across the room in the dark vs a screen that moves with
         | your vision... No more awkward pillow adjusting to make a
         | makeshift couch etc. your neck can finally just relax and you
         | can stare at the screen however you're laying. In these cases
         | you're not doing anything else anyway.
         | 
         | But yeah, the Tesla Airpod people who talk to themselves all
         | loud outside will no doubt have a full UI of the world 24/7,
         | gesturing like maniacs in the middle of stores, in crosswalks -
         | just a news and stock ticker streaming across the top of their
         | field of vision at all times. And there will of course be
         | junkies in the streets, with - instead of smartphones - goggles
         | on their faces, crumbled up in a brick corner just like the
         | dystopian art showed us.
         | 
         | For Pareto's 20%, it's an Apple Watch, or Airpods++.
        
       | DotaFan wrote:
       | Quite dislike Quest 2 dependency on Meta, would probably never
       | buy their hardware again.
        
         | bee_rider wrote:
         | Yeah my CV1 doesn't work anymore, I think Meta added some
         | account requirement. I feel like Facebook stole some money from
         | me, in the sense that it wasn't obvious when I bought the thing
         | that I'd need to buy into their ecosystem. But it is basically
         | first gen hardware, so I guess it isn't worth anything.
         | 
         | I was pretty excited about VR (enough to drop a couple hundred
         | on what was then a top of the line headset) but overall this
         | experience killed all interest for me.
         | 
         | Maybe good open source options will come out in a couple years.
        
           | RainaRelanah wrote:
           | A friend of mine has been working this year on getting the
           | CV1/Rift S running without the Oculus app/Meta account, which
           | also means continued support for these two discontinued
           | headsets. I don't think she has publicly released it yet, but
           | good progress is being made.
           | 
           | https://github.com/BnuuySolutions/ReLinked
           | 
           | https://twitter.com/BunniKaitlyn/status/1756580547768279466
        
       | a13o wrote:
       | The bridge to nowhere doesn't need more features, it needs a
       | somewhere
        
         | DragonMaus wrote:
         | Would this be the logical extrapolation of the "it's not the
         | destination, but the journey to get there" mindset?
        
       | spxneo wrote:
       | feels like US tech companies are running on fumes
       | 
       | just as the AI bubble starts to fizzle its one last push at AR
        
         | JKCalhoun wrote:
         | I disagree to an extent. I think AI is the real deal, VR though
         | is indeed an evolutionary dead-end that we've been down and
         | retreated from before.
        
       | RobotToaster wrote:
       | That's a bad name collision, "Horizon" is the name of the OS on
       | the Nintendo 3ds and switch.
        
         | _joel wrote:
         | And also for people following the UK news, the name of the
         | Fujitsu/Post Office software that led to a not insignificant
         | number of sub-postmasters being falsely convited in the largest
         | miscarriages of British justice ever (maybe anywhere).
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal
        
         | darkhorse13 wrote:
         | Literally nobody knows this though. Even searching for "Horizon
         | OS" only returns Meta stuff already.
        
           | xcdzvyn wrote:
           | Yeah - while I've never dived too deeply, I have modded my
           | 3DS a fair bit and didn't know what the OS was codenamed.
           | I've always just seen it called 3DS OS, native firm, etc.
        
         | sb8244 wrote:
         | Eh, I don't think this is a bad name collision. Nintendo
         | doesn't really talk about stuff like this publicly, and
         | searching for it is pretty much reddit + hacker news threads.
         | 
         | I'm sure there's a lot of internal code name collisions.
        
         | lsllc wrote:
         | There's precedent, when Apple named iOS, Cisco had (and still
         | has) IOS. They just came to some licensing settlement for
         | Apple's use of the name [0].
         | 
         | Actually, it looks like Apple also licensed the iPhone
         | trademark from Cisco too!
         | 
         | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS#:~:text=In%20June%202010%
         | 2....
        
       | superkuh wrote:
       | This entire thing is newspeak. Every headline means the opposite.
       | For example, "A More Open App Ecosystem" means a more closed
       | application ecosystem. By switching to a proprietary OS and
       | setting up a walled garden where they have to approve all
       | software you can run. This is part of the coming war on general
       | computation.
        
       | inanutshellus wrote:
       | Does this page even load for y'all in Firefox? For me CORS
       | protection blocks the whole site from loading.
        
         | asabla wrote:
         | Nah, the same issue here as well
        
       | coryfklein wrote:
       | Wow that spam bot is quite creative! Looks like they've figured
       | out how to create a green account, and perhaps bypassing the spam
       | detection by having each new account only post one spam message.
       | 
       | I'm sure dang is really busy right now.
        
         | macintux wrote:
         | Yeah, the flood of spam is killing the server's performance.
        
       | librasteve wrote:
       | not sure Horizon is a great name for a software project
        
       | riffic wrote:
       | great, another Android.
        
       | taylorbuley wrote:
       | While the web trends away from open, Facebook is zigging where
       | others are zagging and supporting the resistance technology-wise.
        
       | slim wrote:
       | This will (thankfully) fail because meta will not be able to
       | harness the chinese industrial firehose because 1. US
       | protectionism 2. chinese people are not stupid, they won't let a
       | company whose business model revolves around selling attention,
       | acquire a monoply on attention of human beings
        
       | 29athrowaway wrote:
       | Imagine being banned from Facebook due to not complying with the
       | community guidelines and being unable to use your computer.
       | 
       | Community guidelines that can change at any moment at any time
       | and are enforced by random people who can make mistakes.
       | 
       | A Facebook OS as a daily driver is an idea that is vomitive in
       | every way.
       | 
       | Imagine ads that track you eyes and that you cannot look away
       | from. Ads that track your face muscles so they know exactly how
       | you react to them. Like being connected to a lie detector 24/7.
       | 
       | This is pure evil, everyone should reject this.
        
         | askafriend wrote:
         | What you wrote makes doesn't sense because Horizon OS doesn't
         | require a Facebook account or any account on social media.
        
       | bschmidt1 wrote:
       | Meta is smartly capturing the MR developer market like they
       | captured the web developer market with React.
       | 
       | In terms of Vision vs Quest - I wonder if there will be a "React
       | Native" parallel that allows developers to write React for both
       | Vision and Quest apps. A lot of the developer market comes down
       | to languages: Python for AI/ML, Obj-C (Swift) for iOS, Java
       | (Kotlin) for Android - but JavaScript always seems to weasle its
       | way into these native platforms and a lot of companies end up
       | just writing React for anything front-end.
        
         | ImHereToVote wrote:
         | Making any multiplatform real-time 3D for Apple is such a pain.
         | Even simply using Xcode is a nightmare.
        
           | bschmidt1 wrote:
           | Agree with you there! I don't particularly love Facebook and
           | haven't even used it since 2009, but I can't deny how world-
           | changing React has been for not only front-end (in terms of
           | state management etc.) but also for building cross-platform
           | native UIs on various platforms like TVs and mobile devices -
           | and being able to do it with a (mostly) common codebase.
           | 
           | I probably would have never built for iOS if I had to use
           | Xcode and their entire ecosystem, luckily in RN you usually
           | just need to install their command line tools and never open
           | the software.
        
         | gorbypark wrote:
         | There is react native for VisionOS already and the react team
         | has hinted at react native for Quests/VR in the past..
        
           | bschmidt1 wrote:
           | I didn't know, thanks for letting me know! Just found this:
           | https://www.npmjs.com/package/@callstack/react-native-
           | vision...
           | 
           | > This is a full fork of [React Native] with changes needed
           | to support visionOS.
           | 
           | Awesome.
        
       | guiomie wrote:
       | At least I can build VR apps for free on Meta Quest with Unity,
       | as opposed to 200$ a month with Apple Vision Pro.
        
       | paulspl wrote:
       | I don't think anyone cares.
        
       | w0mbat wrote:
       | Otherwise known as Linux.
        
       | gnuser wrote:
       | fyi I'm working on a GPLv3 competitor and intend to outshine
       | whatever this is
        
       | zmmmmm wrote:
       | I've got to hand it to Zuckerberg : when he spouted the "open" vs
       | "closed" rhetoric earlier in the year, I said it was nice words
       | but meaningless unless he put his money where his mouth was and
       | makes Quest OS available to others as well as put firm guarantees
       | around side loading etc. But in the same breath I said I doubted
       | he would do that. And now he has done exactly that. However much
       | antipathy people have towards him and his past, he keeps putting
       | meat behind his words and actually doing the things he says.
       | 
       | At the same time, important to recognise here that this is still
       | to some extent "open washing" what is a totally controlled OS.
       | This is not like AOSP where you can go download the source code
       | and compile it yourself. So far it is not even like Windows where
       | you can download an installer and run it on a computer yourself.
       | A manufacturer will have to form a business partnership with Meta
       | to even get access to this "open" OS - I assume. But since I keep
       | under estimating Zuckerberg maybe he will exceed my expectations
       | on that front too.
       | 
       | Nonetheless, this is a huge step forward and a genuine challenge
       | now for Google/Samsung. The bar is now very very high for them to
       | deliver something compelling enough that manufacturers will jump
       | on board instead of building on Horizon OS with an existing
       | install base of 25M+ users and thousands of apps.
       | 
       | All up, this is pretty exciting news in the XR space and really
       | sets the stage for an epic battle in the next couple of years as
       | these platforms go head to head.
        
       | weinberg wrote:
       | Somewhat surprised to not see Valve in there, especially after
       | Steam Link showed up a handful months ago.
        
       | dev1ycan wrote:
       | Dude they already have a new grift, AI, why are they still
       | pouring money in this failed project? Zuckerberg is trying so
       | hard to not be Elon 2.0
        
       | webninja wrote:
       | It's funny that Horizon is named after Horizon in the Amazon
       | Prime TV series "Upload". Good TV series btw.
        
       | Grimeton wrote:
       | Funny what they call an OS nowadays. I'd say it's another Linux
       | distribution.
        
         | fragmede wrote:
         | Depends on if you consider Android, ChromeOS, and Ubuntu to be
         | the same OS or not.
        
       | ThinkBeat wrote:
       | As usual I get quite hopeful when I hear about a new operating
       | system. We so absolutely need paths to move away from what we
       | have today.
       | 
       | I didn't even know what "mixed reality operating system" was so
       | that made me hopeful. May include some nifty quantum processing.
       | 
       | Alas, it is just stuff built on top of Android, which is built on
       | top of the Linux kernel.
       | 
       | Perhaps "Meta Horizon SDK for Android" would be a better label?`
        
       | 2genders42803 wrote:
       | hi are u lonely want ai gf?? https://discord.gg/elyza
       | prEAzOgsSTKHvGQAm
        
       | hatthew wrote:
       | Joel Spolsky's "Commoditize your Complements" [0] seems relevant
       | here. From that perspective, it seems like Meta is trying to
       | commoditize the hardware and monopolize the OS (and likely the
       | app store and payment system), similar to Android.
       | 
       | [0] https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/
        
       | 2genders20059 wrote:
       | Are you lonely? Do u want an AI girlfriend?
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       | w10-1 wrote:
       | If hardware manufacturers actually wanted this, Meta would be
       | announcing a licensing deal.
       | 
       | This is a threat to Apple: if Apple doesn't relent on
       | advertising/privacy in VisionOS, then Meta will do to VR what
       | Google did for smartphone's: sell the market to maintain
       | advertising access.
       | 
       | Meta doesn't care about money or mindshare on VR. They just want
       | ad access.
        
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       (page generated 2024-04-22 23:00 UTC)