Of course it is. And so is their purchase of Instagram, Whatsapp, Giphy, and the entire way they've cornered the market with abusive and coercive practices
Downvotes from shills
Report may suggest that login requirement for Oculus Quest 2 is anticompetitive
21–30 of 185 posts
Re: Report may suggest that login requirement for Oculus Quest 2 is anticompetitive
#22The problem with antitrust enforcement w/ Big Tech will be users actually want vertical integration in a lot of contexts. And this vertical integration aligns consumers with the large tech companies in a way that hasn't been true with previous antitrust cases.
Yes we could have more open standards, but the cartesian product of every integration eventually doesn't scale. What Microsoft did with Windows in this regard in the PC ecosystem is actually quite phenomenal
But I know my Airpods will integrate seamlessly with my iPhone, which integrates seamlessly with my Apple Watch, etc in a way that's clearly very intentional, works, and saves endless headaches. I also know that there's entire companies going out of business because a company like Apple will gobble up prominent accessory markets.
Re: Report may suggest that login requirement for Oculus Quest 2 is anticompetitive
#23Re: Report may suggest that login requirement for Oculus Quest 2 is anticompetitive
#24Re: Report may suggest that login requirement for Oculus Quest 2 is anticompetitive
#25The problem with antitrust enforcement w/ Big Tech will be users actually want vertical integration in a lot of contexts. And this vertical integration aligns consumers with the large tech companies in a way that hasn't been true with previous antitrust cases. Yes we could have more open standards, but the cartesian product of every integration eventually doesn't scale. What Microsoft did with Windows in this regard…
I think you're conflating "able to do" vertical integration with "must do" there, fwiw.
Re: Report may suggest that login requirement for Oculus Quest 2 is anticompetitive
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm way less concerned about those software platforms being with Facebook. there's plenty of room for competition. gdpr grants decent citizens rights to take their data away. there is zero escape from this nightmare platform however. hardware we end up forever hard locked into.
one place I am not sure how I feel is game consoles. microsoft & sony both require accounts to use the mandatory platforms their consoles come with. is this ok? how us this different from Facebook demanding users use the Facebook platform with the Facebook face console?
I think the difference is that the Microsoft and Sony accounts are only used for authentication/account purposes. Facebook accounts are for much more than ensuring you have access to a game or Office, etc. plus, as others have said — you can have different Microsoft/Sony accounts. So you can split your professional and personal lives. This isn’t possible with Facebook.
The Facebook/oculus situation would be like if Microsoft required you to use a LinkedIn account to play the newest version of Halo. That would be equally strange.
Re: Report may suggest that login requirement for Oculus Quest 2 is anticompetitive
#27> The report states that, “conditioning access to a product or service in which a firm has market power to the use of a separate product or service is anticompetitive.” I agree with this. I shouldn’t have to have a social media account in order to use a product that isn’t directly related to social media. Accounts like Microsoft aren’t the same as Facebook IMO because they tie products and services I’ve purchased to…
Tangentially related: newly-created Facebook accounts are a whole lot harder to keep up these days if you’re just using them for a single purpose, like following events.
I created an account last year to get more socially involved in my community but I didn’t want to post any personal information and my account kept getting disabled unless I added pictures and filled out certain sections of my profile. Not sure if it was anti-automation technology or what, but I wound up giving up after trying twice because I didn’t want to give them what they asked for.
Knowing that this is required to use a product like Oculus is unacceptable.
Re: Report may suggest that login requirement for Oculus Quest 2 is anticompetitive
#28While sign in with apple is totally fine. I hate Facebook like any normal person but this is ridiculous.
Re: Report may suggest that login requirement for Oculus Quest 2 is anticompetitive
#29The Xbox requires that you have a Microsoft account, right? This seems like an inconvenience but I have a hard time understanding why it’s worth Congress’s time. Isn’t the world full of products that have to be registered by making an account in some system or another? I guess I could understand if somebody didn’t have internet access and wants to use Oculus, but they wouldn’t be able to download any games either eve…
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe microsoft doesn't care if you have multiple accounts while facebook will ban "non real" accounts. This is the part that makes it anticompetitive, I would imagine.
I'm not sure what about that has to do with competition.
Re: Report may suggest that login requirement for Oculus Quest 2 is anticompetitive
#30The problem with antitrust enforcement w/ Big Tech will be users actually want vertical integration in a lot of contexts. And this vertical integration aligns consumers with the large tech companies in a way that hasn't been true with previous antitrust cases. Yes we could have more open standards, but the cartesian product of every integration eventually doesn't scale. What Microsoft did with Windows in this regard…
Vertical integration already existed before they decided to force people to log in. You could already log in using your Facebook account. I just don't want to be forced to do so.