The accusation that Palmer was incapable of creating the Rift without Carmack's help and that he had a barely functional prototype, if true, is pretty insulting to Carmack. Carmack is a smart guy and I every much doubt he'd have joined on at CTO if the prototype was as awful as ZeniMax says it was.
I don't think it was the prototype itself that was barely functioning, it was the software side that wasn't great. I remember when Palmer first showed off the device, it seemed to track just fine. When they introduced actual content, though, it became disorienting really quickly. I backed them on Kickstarter so I got to see the DevKit1, DK2, and the CV1. The difference between the early versions and the end versions…
Facebook Ordered to Pay $500M in Oculus Lawsuit
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Re: Facebook Ordered to Pay $500M in Oculus Lawsuit
#22Re: Facebook Ordered to Pay $500M in Oculus Lawsuit
#23Facebook bought Oculus for $3B [1] 16% of the purchase price for infringing on an NDA is pretty damaging. I believe that'll be a good deterrent in the future. [1] http://uk.businessinsider.com/facebook-actually-paid-3-billi... (thanks for the correction, Cozumuel)
Zenimax wanted 15% of company. 16% one time payment is cheaper.
Re: Facebook Ordered to Pay $500M in Oculus Lawsuit
#24Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg told CNBC's Julia Boorstin that she was "disappointed in certain elements of the decision." Sandberg added she was "considering our options to appeal," and the verdict was "not material to our financials." Sure, FB has a lot of money. But still -- $500M is "not material" to their finances?
For example, suppose they set aside 1B legal reserve for this case. That hit was already taken. Now they would reclaim 500M of that, which would be accretive.
Re: Facebook Ordered to Pay $500M in Oculus Lawsuit
#25Good to hear that the jury made the right decision on the ridiculous charges against Carmack. Sad to hear that they think a bunch of litigious assholes deserve $500 million for getting a signature on an NDA.
Re: Facebook Ordered to Pay $500M in Oculus Lawsuit
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think it was the prototype itself that was barely functioning, it was the software side that wasn't great. I remember when Palmer first showed off the device, it seemed to track just fine. When they introduced actual content, though, it became disorienting really quickly. I backed them on Kickstarter so I got to see the DevKit1, DK2, and the CV1. The difference between the early versions and the end versions…
Personally I have no interest in Oculus and it's equal parts Facebook and the vendor lock-in BS.
Re: Facebook Ordered to Pay $500M in Oculus Lawsuit
#27That being said, Facebook doesn't really seem to have its R&D figured out. It's poisoned by bad leadership. Palmer Luckey managed to disgrace himself in public opinion in a way that seems hostile to recruiting the kind of progressive, free-thinking talent that makes up most R&D teams. John Carmack, besides his political leanings, speaks derisively of "Hollywood people" (Oculus users) and came out of this lawsuit looking like a real jerk chasing a huge check at any cost. At the end of the day, he betrayed a video game company.
Mark Zuckerberg has a lot of leadership faults disguised behind an amateurish ownership structure that puts him outside of public accountability. Despite its huge head start, Oculus is seriously threatened by HTC, Sony, Google and Samsung. Paper and Facebook payments didn't really go anywhere. Though Instagram and WhatsApp seem to be good acquisitions, even at their extraordinary prices, a broken clock can still be right twice a day. And it doesn't really take leadership to spend huge amounts of money on acquisitions—that's the easy way out. Outside of Facebook, his New Jersey schools efforts were not well regarded. Will his $3 billion commitment to a SF Biohub be marred by similar issues? I'm just nervous is all.
I think market sentiment will catch up with this ruling. Eventually someone's going to ask if he's the right guy to be in charge of Facebook. The public investor may never actually have the power to do something about it.
Re: Facebook Ordered to Pay $500M in Oculus Lawsuit
#28Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg told CNBC's Julia Boorstin that she was "disappointed in certain elements of the decision." Sandberg added she was "considering our options to appeal," and the verdict was "not material to our financials." Sure, FB has a lot of money. But still -- $500M is "not material" to their finances?
Related: I believe you can take offset such a settlement from profits to reduce taxes. Never really understood the rationale for this. Seems pretty arbitrary and another example of how corporations are often favored over humans.
Re: Facebook Ordered to Pay $500M in Oculus Lawsuit
#29This wasn't something I knew, but it appears that Carmack used to indirectly work for Zenimax, who became the parent company of id.
Re: Facebook Ordered to Pay $500M in Oculus Lawsuit
#30So their biggest claim, surrounding Oculus being built on trade secrets, is found false but they get a half-billion dollar payout anyway?
Considering the purported fines could be traced back all the way to practically the original Kickstarter...I wonder if Zenimax would have gotten such a sum had Oculus not been bought by FB for $3B[1]...
...or am I misunderstanding something?
[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-actually-paid-3-bill...