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Oculus CEO says selling to Facebook convinced big developers to build for it

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Re: Oculus CEO says selling to Facebook convinced big developers to build for it

#21

Post by selmnoo »

gjjhjjjhhh wrote: post #8
DerpDerpDerp wrote: post #6

I mean, I hope things go well for them and their partnership brings nothing but good things. From what I've seen, they've put a lot of work in to their device and made significant gains. But Facebook doesn't and won't have a device in my life, and I refuse to buy an Occulus product because I don't believe that Facebook won't get access to usage data (or be involved as a platform middleman).

Oculus complete source code is available. That still doesn't guarantee their transparency; I'm certain when the next version( when under Facebook ) is released it won't have any facebook integration, and its protocols will be checked and revealed by the community anyway.

> I'm certain when the next version( when under Facebook ) is released it won't have any facebook integration, and its protocols will be checked and revealed by the community anyway.

That doesn't necessarily mean anything. Lots of hip tech companies open source a lot of things, that doesn't make their rent-seeking, dark-patterned, scammy operations any better for the end consumer.

Facebook is one of those companies who's done so much public bad that I personally can never forgive them - it doesn't matter if they open source Oculus code, I just simply will not participate in anything that will make Facebook richer.

Re: Oculus CEO says selling to Facebook convinced big developers to build for it

#22

Post by flogic »

dkarapetyan wrote: post #11

Yes, a big corporation with big pockets means more money and stability but it comes at a cost. The cost being whatever you do must at the end of the day feed back into the pockets of your parent company. Twitter used to be a platform too but how many third party applications do you see now? A lot less than what it used to be. What do you think will happen to Oculus applications? Those that are sanctioned by Facebook…

While I don't trust facebook, they do seem like one of the more benign buyers possible. Any of the large gaming companies would have incentive to do some sort of "our products only" deal. Facebook just doesn't have any viable products to do that with.

Re: Oculus CEO says selling to Facebook convinced big developers to build for it

#23

Post by rtpg »

dkarapetyan wrote: post #11

Yes, a big corporation with big pockets means more money and stability but it comes at a cost. The cost being whatever you do must at the end of the day feed back into the pockets of your parent company. Twitter used to be a platform too but how many third party applications do you see now? A lot less than what it used to be. What do you think will happen to Oculus applications? Those that are sanctioned by Facebook…

>What do you think will happen to Oculus applications? Those that are sanctioned by Facebook will thrive and those that aren't will be brutally shut down.

Does Facebook have a history of doing this? Instagram is still completely seperated (there's fb integration but twitter is the one that broke instagram integration, not the other way around).

Not even mentioning the fact that the Oculus is not a SaaS, it's a screen. How is Facebook going to "shut down" calls to a device driver (if it's even that)? Why would they do that?

People here seem to think that Facebook the company can only consist in Facebook the website, but they have a lot of money to invest in other things.

Re: Oculus CEO says selling to Facebook convinced big developers to build for it

#24

Post by agildehaus »

rhizome wrote: post #5
bobbles wrote: post #2

I was one of the people disappointed with the acquisition.. but to be honest as long as they put out a decent bit of kit and I actually get to experience VR the way they're demoing it I'll be one happy dude

Looking forward to the Facebook App Store launch. What do you think its name will be?

Facebook Alternative Reality Trove

Re: Oculus CEO says selling to Facebook convinced big developers to build for it

#26

Post by acgourley »

mikeryan wrote: post #19

FFS Selling to Valve would have convinced developers to build for it too.

Serious question - could Valve buy a company of more than a few people? Their company structure depends on having certain types of employees who are local in bellevue. I would also speculate those employees need to be added in a steady drip and not a huge rush. Maybe you're thinking 'What if they left Occulus alone and in LA?' - well... who would manage them from Valve's end? A self organizing committee?

Re: Oculus CEO says selling to Facebook convinced big developers to build for it

#27

Post by gjjhjjjhhh »

selmnoo wrote: post #21
gjjhjjjhhh wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oculus complete source code is available. That still doesn't guarantee their transparency; I'm certain when the next version( when under Facebook ) is released it won't have any facebook integration, and its protocols will be checked and revealed by the community anyway.

> I'm certain when the next version( when under Facebook ) is released it won't have any facebook integration, and its protocols will be checked and revealed by the community anyway. That doesn't necessarily mean anything. Lots of hip tech companies open source a lot of things, that doesn't make their rent-seeking, dark-patterned, scammy operations any better for the end consumer. Facebook is one of those companies w…

Can you give a couple of argumentative examples of their "public bad" actions? Maybe something else that dark design patters, which aren't exclusively limited to facebook. I'm honestly unfamiliar with their other nefarious behaviour, but I would love to know more about that.

Re: Oculus CEO says selling to Facebook convinced big developers to build for it

#28

Post by swasheck »

tormeh wrote: post #20
boomzilla wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook Virtual Reality Platform with Realtime Social Communication for Facebook Certified Users (TM)

Nono, this isn't Microsoft. It'll be something like Facebook Matrix Feed.

If it was Microsoft, it'd have to go through multiple rebrands before landing on something like Oculus 3.

Re: Oculus CEO says selling to Facebook convinced big developers to build for it

#29

Post by allenschen »

rtpg wrote: post #23
dkarapetyan wrote: post #11

Yes, a big corporation with big pockets means more money and stability but it comes at a cost. The cost being whatever you do must at the end of the day feed back into the pockets of your parent company. Twitter used to be a platform too but how many third party applications do you see now? A lot less than what it used to be. What do you think will happen to Oculus applications? Those that are sanctioned by Facebook…

>What do you think will happen to Oculus applications? Those that are sanctioned by Facebook will thrive and those that aren't will be brutally shut down. Does Facebook have a history of doing this? Instagram is still completely seperated (there's fb integration but twitter is the one that broke instagram integration, not the other way around). Not even mentioning the fact that the Oculus is not a SaaS, it's a screen…

Just to nitpick about your Instagram integration comment - Instagram broke the integration, not Twitter. See: http://status.twitter.com/post/37258637900/instagram-photo-r...

Re: Oculus CEO says selling to Facebook convinced big developers to build for it

#30

Post by dkarapetyan »

rtpg wrote: post #23
dkarapetyan wrote: post #11

Yes, a big corporation with big pockets means more money and stability but it comes at a cost. The cost being whatever you do must at the end of the day feed back into the pockets of your parent company. Twitter used to be a platform too but how many third party applications do you see now? A lot less than what it used to be. What do you think will happen to Oculus applications? Those that are sanctioned by Facebook…

>What do you think will happen to Oculus applications? Those that are sanctioned by Facebook will thrive and those that aren't will be brutally shut down. Does Facebook have a history of doing this? Instagram is still completely seperated (there's fb integration but twitter is the one that broke instagram integration, not the other way around). Not even mentioning the fact that the Oculus is not a SaaS, it's a screen…

That's not sustainable. Facebook is not buying these companies because they are adhering to some kind of moral code. Facebook is a corporation like any other that needs to justify things to investors and analysts. That's the model as far as I know. So if they're pouring money into Oculus and its ecosystem then surely they expect to get something out of it. Ultimately they control the technology and as a profit driven corporation they are going to drive the technology in the direction of profits. They are not going to drive it in the direction of sustainability. Facebook is not in this to break even and they are not going to subsidize more benevolent but unprofitable uses of the technologies they acquire.

Like I said in my original comment. I don't think this is a good or bad thing. My philosophical stance on technology is different and I'd much rather see a sustainable ecosystem of technologists that are not always driven by profits and quick payoffs from acquisitions.

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