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Facebook acquires Oculus VR

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Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#551

Post by jamesie »

neotek wrote: post #234
kayoone wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google is also investing heavily into stuff thats far from their core competency, like robots and self driving cars. I just hope FB don't mess with it too much in the next few years.

Maybe this is my personal bias showing, but surely Google is more of a general technology company than Facebook could hope to be. Google has a long-term, sustainable business that continually makes huge strides in new markets - from revolutionising search, to speeding up the evolution of the internet through projects like Chrome, smashing up the smartphone market with Android, and so on. Facebook on the other hand is…

Google has been around for 6 years more than Facebook. Facebook will become more of a general technology company.

Expect more acquisitions like this. It only makes sense to diversify.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#552

Post by qq66 »

lawl wrote: post #48

Damn! I don't like this. I had hoped they jump in bed with valve. Yes, I just really dislike facebook, so I hate to see them aquiring something i was really excited about. Also from the article: > After games, we're going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor fa…

There could be interesting applications of this. What if the doctors were all linked in a group through Facebook (this sounds unlikely, they have their own professional networking tools, but suspend disbelief for a moment).

The patient is a mother experiencing pregnancy complications, stuck a remote area of Alaska, in an Oculus conference with a doctor in Seattle. Her doctor diagnoses her and uses the network to find a specialist in the specific condition. Turns out there's one in Portugal, and at an appropriate time the Portuguese doctor joins the Oculus conference. The two doctors work together to make a recommendation for the patient. Like a videoconference that actually feels like a meeting (a holy grail for decades)

This is the kind of application that would be best pursued by an independent company, but is certainly more likely from Facebook than from Valve.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#553

Post by DonGateley »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #538

Meanwhile, CastAR is alive and well, and still looking like a better product.

The CastAR remains augmented reality, not virtual reality. They've said there is a VR attachment but it has yet to be seen and given their projective technology seems a pretty nasty optical folding trick if it can be done at all.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#554

Post by lclarkmichalek »

interpol_p wrote: post #432
sirkneeland wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"if Google was the buyer, there would be much more positive comments here." The HN reaction to Google's acquisition of Nest makes me think the comments would be equally negative. I'd be hard-pressed to think of a buyer that WOULDN'T lead to negative reactions on HN... Apple: they'll make it iDevice-only, and also it will disappear for a year if not longer until Apple feels it's good and ready Microsoft: they'll screw…

I can't imagine many negative comments if Valve bought Oculus.

Working with Valve products, they are so god damn open. Api for a whole load of stuff, no serious attempts to lock down their non documented api/interfaces, games built on open technologies (all Dota network traffic is protobufs etc), and serious commitments to open source tech long term

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#555

Post by infinitone »

frakkingcylons wrote: post #179

Palmer Luckey (founder of Oculus VR) just wrote a statement[0] on the Oculus subreddit: "I’ve always loved games. They’re windows into worlds that let us travel somewhere fantastic. My foray into virtual reality was driven by a desire to enhance my gaming experience; to make my rig more than just a window to these worlds, to actually let me step inside them. As time went on, I realized that VR technology wasn’t just…

Not sure if I've ever seen such a PR disaster this fast and upfront.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#556

Post by ChikkaChiChi »

Has anyone considered that the Oculus team was scared by Sony's Morpheus project and decided to cash out while they were still relevant?

I've not experienced either device, but I consider this at least plausible. Maybe Sony had already figured out solutions to problems Oculus was still toying with.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#557

Post by deletes »

marcamillion wrote: post #421
lawl wrote: post #48

Damn! I don't like this. I had hoped they jump in bed with valve. Yes, I just really dislike facebook, so I hate to see them aquiring something i was really excited about. Also from the article: > After games, we're going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor fa…

I would say that at the very least, we should give Carmack the benefit of the doubt. He has proven to be a visionary and able to execute on all manner of awesome tech for many years. If he leaves shortly after this acquisition, then we know something is amiss. If he stays, then it should be for a very valid reason - i.e. that they can probably do much more inside of FB than outside. Keep in mind he was independently…

I think for Carmack the situation is the same as when Id was acquired by Zenimax. So for anyone curious just look what happened then. He doesn't care, as long he can work on the stuff he wants to and he left Id because he couldn't do that( work on VR ). If he leaves Facebook, the reasons will be similar.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#558

Post by Hominem »

Despite my dislike of facebook I think this may have been a smart play. Valve's largely vaporous VR tech was gaining mindshare and Sony has cash, manufacturing, retail presence, the list goes on and on. Without a huge bankroll Oculus may have ended just another piece of tech trivia.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#559

Post by pinaceae »

jusben1369 wrote: post #507
pinaceae wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

right, that's why pure software companies now need to get into hardware, just like, erm, who exactly? do they want to be the next apple? hardware is such a different skill and mindset than software, it's not even funny.

I don't understand your point. Were you railing on Google when they bought Nest?

I said: "well, stick in a fork in Nest then." Does that count? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7053838

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#560

Post by 31reasons »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #498
zanny wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Basically they want to have everyone share virtual experiences together within your network. Over proprietary facebook-only protocols, on their proprietary software, using proprietary device drivers, with systemic data collection, and virtual reality advertising. Yeah, no thanks. Occulus was poised to be revolutionary because it was going to be bigger than one headset, it was going to be an open platform for an ent…

What is the wonderland you live in that makes you think an insanely expensive platform (yes for the average person the Oculus is crazy expensive) with expensive to create content and little use outside a static environment would be open forever? Can you name anything massively successful with wide adoption that has those features? If it wasn't facebook it would have been Google/Msft/etc... The vitriol to this announc…

I wouldn't have hated this deal much if it was Microsoft.
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