Oculess – Removes account requirements and telemetry from Oculus Quest devices • Hacker News Board

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

#181

Post by pm90 » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 3:59 AM UTC

dTal wrote: post #37

So, what can you do with a (de-Facebooked) one of these then?

Opt out of an identity system that you don't want to associate with in any way. Make it more difficult for Facebook to track you in their identity graph.

They're everywhere and its a problem. Google taught humanity that its OK to have tracking everywhere, if that's used only to enhance user experience. However, now other identity ecosystems are using that power for purposes which people may not be ok with. It should be easy to opt out of it [0].

EDIT: Apologies, I re-read your question and it appears to be a genuine one which I did not answer i.e. if doing this hampers the usage of the oculus device. I'll leave my answer up though, if anyone else is interested in this aspect of the discussion.

[0]: Facebook does appear to have an opt out page. Try going there and opting out. Just go there, please, before responding: https://www.facebook.com/ads/settings

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

#182

Post by thebigman433 » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 4:00 AM UTC

superkuh wrote: post #165

thebigman433 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Vive is all but irrelevant. It's specs are wildly outdated. It also doesnt have more game support, since Quest can play everything thats native to it and all the PCVR titles the Vive can.

> It's specs are wildly outdated. The original v1 release vive specs still exceed the quest and quest 2 in all ways related to hardware except maybe comfort and peripherals. Framerate, resolution, diopter adjustment, external tracking, the ability to actually use a real PC and video card without extra latency. The vive wins. And later vives and valve headsets like the index win more.

The Quest 2 framerate goes up to 120, it has significantly higher resolution. The original vive doesnt have diopter adjustment. If you meant IPD, then it has an extra 2mm over the Quest 2, not particularly important. The Quest 2 also has FAR superior lenses. The original Vive lenses are the second worst (WMR being the worst) lenses to ever ship in a major consumer HMD. The Quest 2 also only has a minor (unnoticeable) latency jump when wired to a PC, and can function as a wireless headset. There is a reason the Quest 2 is by far the most popular headset on PC

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

#183

Post by thebigman433 » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 4:00 AM UTC

mhh__ wrote: post #173

thebigman433 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Vive is all but irrelevant. It's specs are wildly outdated. It also doesnt have more game support, since Quest can play everything thats native to it and all the PCVR titles the Vive can.

The vive may be outdated but it's still some of the best fun you can have on a PC. I will upgrade eventually now that I can afford it but except for high res applications the vive still holds it own. The tracking is excellent to this day.

No doubt its still tons of fun. My comment was just relating to buying one now

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

#184

Post by lostgame » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 4:01 AM UTC

mhh__ wrote: post #173

thebigman433 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Vive is all but irrelevant. It's specs are wildly outdated. It also doesnt have more game support, since Quest can play everything thats native to it and all the PCVR titles the Vive can.

The vive may be outdated but it's still some of the best fun you can have on a PC. I will upgrade eventually now that I can afford it but except for high res applications the vive still holds it own. The tracking is excellent to this day.

Setting up all those stupid sensor boxes is a massive chore that takes away the immense joy of throwing it in a backpack and bringing it to the cottage for a round of Beat Sabre.

Honestly, I hated setting up, packing up and re-setting up my Vive. As a VR dev, I had to do it so often that the benefits of the sensor-free, wire-free, and; of course, most importantly computer-free operation of the Quest - combined with its ability to mimic 90% of the experiences I’d had on the Vive without the need for that extra PC - far far outweigh anything the Vive has to offer.

And if I want what the Vive has to offer, I can just plug in to my PC.

This is speaking from years of experience as a VR dev and user. This external sensorless experience means everything.

Say what you will about the need to register with a Facebook account. I need to register with PSN to get a lot of serious leverage out of a PlayStation console. That’s been consoles for decades. It’s obvious people just pick on this because of its attachment to Facebook. I’m just glad it’s opening up the experience of VR to more people in a massively low cost and practical way that did not exist before.

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

#185

Post by polyomino » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 4:06 AM UTC

This reminds me of the time that Steve Ballmer did an Q&A with Microsoft interns saying basically that he's happy everyone in China pirates Windows because then Microsoft sets the standard.

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

#186

Post by 41209 » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 4:07 AM UTC

lostgame wrote: post #180

41209 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just saw the announcement for the new HTC Vive standalone. I'm going to wait until someone figures out a way to run games on the thing, and then I might consider dropping $600 on that setup. It's not a great idea to buy products which require you to hack them.

I just use Unity and create my own experiences - I don’t find the SDK limiting in any way as it is. There’s nothing I’d like to create that I can’t, beyond maybe a custom home room?

I'll wait until someone else creates a sort of marketplace, or at least clear methods to install games.

A 500$ Quest 2 without Facebook spying sounds great.

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

#187

Post by pm90 » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 4:09 AM UTC

fastball wrote: post #166

LegitShady wrote: post #67

Just a reminder Oculus is a company founded on taking tech from other companies and getting away with it. Don't give them money, don't buy their devices. Getting acquired by facebook and turning the VR sets into spyware and facebook funnels just makes them worse. If you want to be ethical get an HMD from someone other than Oculus/Facebook. I wouldn't give them a dime. Sources: alan yates (posting as vk2zay on reddit)…

It's not stealing if it's given to you.

Not legally, sure. But it sure is quite shady.

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

#188

Post by pm90 » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 4:11 AM UTC

LegitShady wrote: post #136

HWR_14 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with the explanation that hardware is just so worthless anyway compared to online software sales, there was no other choice. This is especially strange since Apple makes tons of money off online software sales tied to their hardware. I believe several other companies (like all the console manufacturers in the game space that Valve is in) do to. It's fundamentally a very bad call.

valve is very differently structured and has had a very tough time pivoting to hardware. We can see this obviously with steam machines where they just didn't want to get involved. Then the steam controller, steam link, and now steam deck... they're getting there but they're not exactly there yet. I think oculus taking their research tech and turning it into a $2b acquisition and a threat to steam because of its close…

So why are they having such difficulty with hardware?

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

#189

Post by filoleg » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 4:12 AM UTC

Ph0X wrote: post #127

system2 wrote: post #7

Why not HTC Vive though? Better development, better privacy, more game support.

> more game support Is that true? From my understanding, Oculus has exclusive games, as well as supporting all open games, so Oculus basically supports all Vive games + a bunch of exclusives Vive doesn't. What games do Vive support that Oculus doesn't?

Yeah, I am not sure either. Unless there is some Vive Store (similar to Oculus Store), that doesn't seem right.

I know for a fact that on my Quest 2 I can play any games from Oculus Store (both for Quest and Rift), as well as any SteamVR games (played halfway through Half-Life:Alyx with Quest2). Wasn't aware of any Vive-exclusive SteamVR games though.

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

#190

Post by LegitShady » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 4:21 AM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #106

LegitShady wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

standalone VR is pretty garbage running off a phone graphics card. The quest is only interesting where you connect to PCVR, and then its not standalone.

Have you used the Quest 2? I've owned the original rift dev kit, a vive, a vive pro, and a quest 2.... the stand alone quest 2 experience is actually pretty amazing. I was skeptical, too, but it is quite impressive.

I won't spend money with oculus, as they're a company based on stolen technology who tried to consolize the VR market with exclusives they purchased.

Paying them money is cutting your own throat.