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Oculess – Removes account requirements and telemetry from Oculus Quest devices

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Re: Oculess – Removes account requirements and telemetry from Oculus Quest devices

#111

Post by phkahler »

rhacker wrote: post #15

Facebook keeps asking Congress to make laws. How about this one: Peripherals, including mice, monitors, keyboards, VR headsets or any other device used to process input or output from a computer, may NOT be connected to any cloud service with an account. Any such cloud connections MUST be for software updates only and software updates MUST be capable of permanent opt-out without any loss of usage. I mean I grew up wi…

Oculus Quest is not a peripheral, it's a standalone device. Having an app store is nice, but tying to Facebook is not needed or wanted.

Re: Oculess – Removes account requirements and telemetry from Oculus Quest devices

#112

Post by Kuinox »

dougmwne wrote: post #17
rhacker wrote: post #15

Facebook keeps asking Congress to make laws. How about this one: Peripherals, including mice, monitors, keyboards, VR headsets or any other device used to process input or output from a computer, may NOT be connected to any cloud service with an account. Any such cloud connections MUST be for software updates only and software updates MUST be capable of permanent opt-out without any loss of usage. I mean I grew up wi…

Great way to make Facebook drop PCVR support and allow standalone apps only. At this point, I think things are going in that direction rapidly anyway. Oculus has already shifted most of it's game development resources away from PCVR.

Virtual Desktop run fines and I never needed the Oculus PCVR support.

Re: Oculess – Removes account requirements and telemetry from Oculus Quest devices

#113

Post by akerl_ »

ghostly_s wrote: post #89
akerl_ wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it desirable for Congress to make laws limiting how electronics manufacturers can design their electronics? If Facebook wants to make a VR headset that requires that you upload a monthly video of you doing the chicken dance, just don’t buy their product. Attempting to use government to make private entities build the kinds of technology you like is a pretty heavy hammer to drop on individual freedoms.

> just don't but their product What alternatives are even available for standalone VR? Vive has something that's about 4x the price...

I think you just answered your own question.

Re: Oculess – Removes account requirements and telemetry from Oculus Quest devices

#114

Post by dylan604 »

14 wrote: post #84
dylan604 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. I don't typically read reddit, so I had not seen this. Starting to contemplate getting a new inkjet for the home office. I now have something else to keep in mind during the researching. This plus all of the ink jet forensic marking, I'm leaning towards the extra cost for color laser instead, and definitely not an HP.

I have the brother 3750 I believe the model is and is great. The starter inks lasted me a long time and I finally bought all new full sized ink I expect they will last years. It was a bit costly to buy all the ink but I know it will last for years and I know if I don’t use it for a few months it will still print perfectly when I decide to. Definitely recommend a brother printer.

I currently have a B&W brother laser, and it has done everything I have asked it to do. However, I've recently started using specialty paper that this particular model has problems pulling from the paper tray, and using the single sheet manual feeder is guarnteed to pull it through at an angle. I do not judge the printer on this paper.

I've used color lasers in the past, but it was a higher end and was very pleased with its results.

I like how we've hijacked an oculus thread on printers!!

Re: Oculess – Removes account requirements and telemetry from Oculus Quest devices

#115

Post by reilly3000 »

rhacker wrote: post #15

Facebook keeps asking Congress to make laws. How about this one: Peripherals, including mice, monitors, keyboards, VR headsets or any other device used to process input or output from a computer, may NOT be connected to any cloud service with an account. Any such cloud connections MUST be for software updates only and software updates MUST be capable of permanent opt-out without any loss of usage. I mean I grew up wi…

I hate to break it to you, but Logitech now runs always-on ‘Cloud Settings’ sync and telemetry software called Logi Options. It comes with a way to use a mouse across devices seamlessly (Flow) which requires low-level networking permissions and a daemon on all participating devices.

It’s not required that you have an account or even use the software, but of course they actively push all of the above and require it to use special device features.

Razer, Steelseries, and the rest do the same, and I think Razer’s account is mandatory.

I don’t like it one bit. Thankfully most of that crap doesn’t work on Linux.

Re: Oculess – Removes account requirements and telemetry from Oculus Quest devices

#116

Post by malermeister »

akerl_ wrote: post #104
ipaddr wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have this backwards. Facebook wants to sell in the US market. There are rules to follow if facebook doesn't want to join this market they are free to choose not to. Same as you are not forced to use facebook.

Facebook is following the rules that exist. The discussion in this thread is whether or not it’s a good idea to add a rule that says whether a keyboard can require a cloud service. Now I think that keyboards that require cloud service are a stupid product, but if somebody wants to make one, I don’t think it’s the government’s job to ban them from making the attempt.

This approach is naive in that it completely ignores the outsized influence a corporation like Facebook has on the market.

This isn't you making a free decision between competitors, like in an idealized econ 101 example. Facebook has already used its money to consolidate its grasp on the standalone VR market - can you think of a viable competitor to an Oculus Quest? Should people just have to put up with privacy abuses or be excluded from VR altogether?

When the market fails, it's time for the government to step in.

Re: Oculess – Removes account requirements and telemetry from Oculus Quest devices

#117

Post by dylan604 »

Tokelin wrote: post #78
dylan604 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do need to sign into MS to use Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.

Why though? Why is that requirement there? Okay, it's nice for me to sync everything and have a seamlessly integrated ecosystem. But what if I have one device and just want to use Word on it and that's it?

It's a subscription, so they have to know it is you to know if you've paid your dues or not. MS is a bit sneakier though as they will allow you to open a document and make changes, but if you are not current in your subscription fees, they disable save functions. Been caught out on this a couple of times.

Re: Oculess – Removes account requirements and telemetry from Oculus Quest devices

#119

Post by akerl_ »

rhacker wrote: post #108
akerl_ wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they’re not dumb and they’re making their own choices differently than you make yours. Oil spills harm the environment. We regulate them because the ocean can’t just choose to not receive the oil, not out of a desire to make sure we can keep eating fish. EDIT: To say the thing out loud: I buy smart TVs on purpose, and I’d like to think I’m a smart person who understands the technology involved. Is the case you’…

Well, I think all of them are dumb, including me. I'm not going to finger point at you specifically and call you dumb because that is rude (unfortunately yes, my subtext is). I'd say half of my choices are dumb, and yes when we find that most of the time people are making dumb choices that put humanity in a worse and worse situation, maybe it's time to drop in some laws to slow that down. I mean go and look at the ot…

I might recommend taking a step back and re-examining this stance and considering the possibility that there are people who disagree with your stance because they hold different opinions and values, not just because they’re dumb.

Re: Oculess – Removes account requirements and telemetry from Oculus Quest devices

#120

Post by malermeister »

akerl_ wrote: post #107
malermeister wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your interaction with facebook is 100% voluntarily It is not. They used their money and power to hire some of the brightest minds in VR to design hardware and to create exclusivity deals with some of the best developers. I either take facebook's offering or I don't have access to those things at all. > With the government you have no room for flexibility. You do. You can "say bye!" as you phrased it and move to ano…

Yes. If you choose not to take Facebook’s offering, you don’t get access to the things they and others build for their product. Do we want to make exclusivity deals between businesses illegal?

I don't think we need to do that, but we do need to make sure corporations don't use the power they gain through those deals to make you endure the privacy abuses that come with a cloud requirement.
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