Oculus to Acquire Carbon Design Team • Hacker News Board

Re: Oculus to Acquire Carbon Design Team

#11

Post by acgourley » Tue, Jun 24, 2014, 9:44 PM UTC

paperwork wrote: post #2

So why would Oculus acquire Carbon Design, rather than contracting them to design/build their products?

It's possible that in working with Carbon they were bleeding trade secrets and knowhow, and they might have noticed competitors starting to engage Carbon.

Re: Oculus to Acquire Carbon Design Team

#12

Post by endergen » Tue, Jun 24, 2014, 9:45 PM UTC

paperwork wrote: post #2

So why would Oculus acquire Carbon Design, rather than contracting them to design/build their products?

You are basically paying to grow a competitor if you outsource high skilled work. Strategically it's better to control all knowledge/resources that your company is dependent on.

Re: Oculus to Acquire Carbon Design Team

#13

Post by sp332 » Tue, Jun 24, 2014, 9:48 PM UTC

chollida1 wrote: post #4

paperwork wrote: post #2

So why would Oculus acquire Carbon Design, rather than contracting them to design/build their products?

Why would a company hire an employee rather than contracting them out to do the same work? Bingo. User Bane understands why:)

Did you just contract out your answer to bane?

Re: Oculus to Acquire Carbon Design Team

#14

Post by magicalist » Tue, Jun 24, 2014, 9:59 PM UTC

th0ma5 wrote: post #8

I keep thinking the long term goal here is not an Oculus Rift product, but devices that tie in augmented reality and marketing / sales, with hooks to your Facebook account. I honestly see them ditching anything to do with a game display device.

How does that follow at all from the blog post? I'm no fan of Oculus being purchased (at all), but what in a product design team joining Oculus suggests any "long term goal here" about devices for marketing, sales, or hooks to your Facebook account, let alone ditching a game display device?

I think the far more likely reading is that they know the device sitting on your face is make or break for a VR device hitting the mainstream, and they have the chance here to basically define what a VR display is for the next 10 or 20 years if they do it right (the evolution of game controllers is actually a great analog of this).

Re: Oculus to Acquire Carbon Design Team

#15

Post by rhizome » Tue, Jun 24, 2014, 10:00 PM UTC

th0ma5 wrote: post #8

I keep thinking the long term goal here is not an Oculus Rift product, but devices that tie in augmented reality and marketing / sales, with hooks to your Facebook account. I honestly see them ditching anything to do with a game display device.

Knowledge gained working with a renderer and two screens can be used with camera(s) and one screen, such as what a cellphone/tablet/computer has.

Re: Oculus to Acquire Carbon Design Team

#16

Post by rhizome » Tue, Jun 24, 2014, 10:02 PM UTC

magicalist wrote: post #14

th0ma5 wrote: post #8

I keep thinking the long term goal here is not an Oculus Rift product, but devices that tie in augmented reality and marketing / sales, with hooks to your Facebook account. I honestly see them ditching anything to do with a game display device.

How does that follow at all from the blog post? I'm no fan of Oculus being purchased (at all), but what in a product design team joining Oculus suggests any "long term goal here" about devices for marketing, sales, or hooks to your Facebook account, let alone ditching a game display device? I think the far more likely reading is that they know the device sitting on your face is make or break for a VR device hitting t…

We can speculate about a Google Glass competitor, and certainly the market would react to a prediction of that, but step 1 is getting people to put something on their face.

Re: Oculus to Acquire Carbon Design Team

#17

Post by ckaygusu » Tue, Jun 24, 2014, 10:06 PM UTC

th0ma5 wrote: post #8

I keep thinking the long term goal here is not an Oculus Rift product, but devices that tie in augmented reality and marketing / sales, with hooks to your Facebook account. I honestly see them ditching anything to do with a game display device.

Can you provide some insights on what made you think like that? I, too, had this bad feeling when Zuck made the announcement but other than Facebook and Oculus VR doing business on practically unrelated areas there is nothing to be pessimistic about it, especially Facebook's track record of buyout aftermaths, which mostly they let people do their own things.

Re: Oculus to Acquire Carbon Design Team

#18

Post by whence » Tue, Jun 24, 2014, 10:09 PM UTC

Why is it said that Oculus acquired them, instead of Facebook? Doesn't Oculus not really exist anymore (as a company)?

Re: Oculus to Acquire Carbon Design Team

#19

Post by devindotcom » Tue, Jun 24, 2014, 10:15 PM UTC

whence wrote: post #18

Why is it said that Oculus acquired them, instead of Facebook? Doesn't Oculus not really exist anymore (as a company)?

Since they operate independently and likely have their own cash pile for stuff like this, the legal entity making the purchase is actually Oculus. Same with like Nest/Google AFAIK.

Re: Oculus to Acquire Carbon Design Team

#20

Post by ooorrr » Tue, Jun 24, 2014, 10:15 PM UTC

Great for Carbon. The situation for hardware design firms (right now, and often) is brutal - the degree of difficulty to consistently book enough new work to keep your talented team members employed is incredibly high, and more companies are moving this work in-house.

There are a number of these firms in the Seattle area, and all of them are struggling. Acquisition is often preferable to closing your doors, which could well be what happens to others.