Live data from Hacker News

Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

oculus.com

701–710 of 1001 posts

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#701

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We're seeing this right now with Epic's Tim Sweeney suing Apple for its mandatory cut on all digital goods. I hope Epic wins this case against Apple. It's amazing how everyone who brings that up avoids this question: Does Epic allow anyone to create and and sell content for Fortnite, without giving Epic any money? Do Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo allow other stores on their consoles?

> Do Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo allow other stores on their consoles? Good idea, let's make that a requirement too. The law could be something like "if you sell a general purpose computing device, you're not allowed to mandate software vendor lockin". That would open up so many possibilities, it would be great for the people who own consoles.

Video game consoles are not general computing devices. Their controlled and curated walled gardens are part of the consumer appeal, and the absence of those would make consoles no different than PCs. If consumers wanted that they'd be buying PCs only.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#702

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you click "Agree" to the new ToS? We told you of the changes and you agreed. Go fly a kite! --Facebook

To be fair, in my case, I did not. I actually received one as a gift last Christmas. I never got around to setting it up (still in packaging). I was planning on trying it out when I had some free time. Now I have a useless device that I can’t even return since I refuse to create a Facebook account.

You can use it for at least two years if you create an oculus account before October, according to the linked statement.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#703
post #13

Palmer Luckey, the original creator had this to say over on /r/oculus: I am already getting heat from users and media outlets who say this policy change proves I was lying when I consistently said this wouldn't happen, or at least that it was a guarantee I wasn't in a position to make. I want to make clear that those promises were approved by Facebook in that moment and on an ongoing basis, and I really believed it w…

[deleted]

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#704

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo allow other stores on their consoles? Good idea, let's make that a requirement too. The law could be something like "if you sell a general purpose computing device, you're not allowed to mandate software vendor lockin". That would open up so many possibilities, it would be great for the people who own consoles.

What about > Does Epic allow players to buy Fortnite content from outside of Fortnite, without giving Epic any money?

This is a disingenuous comparison. Epic does not sell content not made by Epic in Fortnite, while Apple sells content not made by Apple in the App Store. This is like saying a branded clothing store in a mall has to sell things that aren't of its brand if it wants to complain about the mall throttling its sales.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#705

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We're seeing this right now with Epic's Tim Sweeney suing Apple for its mandatory cut on all digital goods. I hope Epic wins this case against Apple. It's amazing how everyone who brings that up avoids this question: Does Epic allow anyone to create and and sell content for Fortnite, without giving Epic any money? Do Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo allow other stores on their consoles?

> Do Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo allow other stores on their consoles? Good idea, let's make that a requirement too. The law could be something like "if you sell a general purpose computing device, you're not allowed to mandate software vendor lockin". That would open up so many possibilities, it would be great for the people who own consoles.

It would be the end of consoles. The economics of the Xbox/PlayStation/NintendoWhatever presume vendor lock-in.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#706

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo allow other stores on their consoles? Good idea, let's make that a requirement too. The law could be something like "if you sell a general purpose computing device, you're not allowed to mandate software vendor lockin". That would open up so many possibilities, it would be great for the people who own consoles.

It would be the end of consoles. The economics of the Xbox/PlayStation/NintendoWhatever presume vendor lock-in.

Not really, the economics are just better for the platform with vendor lock-in. They'd still recoup their costs via their store, which they can gift powerful advantages like making it default, having it be more integrated in various ways, etc. It would likely end up as a power-law distribution of store usage with the platform owner on top, so platforms would still make their profits. Having an option for another store wouldn't be the end of anything, and would improve consumer agency significantly.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#707
I was expecting Facebook to sell off their VR operations, since they're not scaling up much. Zuckerberg says he's not interested in any business with less than a billion users. Facebook Spaces was a bust. Facebook Horizon didn't even launch. John Carmack went off to work on AI.

If anything, Facebook's VR effort is just there in case someone else comes up with a VR or AR threat to Facebook.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#708

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're seeing this right now with Epic's Tim Sweeney suing Apple for its mandatory cut on all digital goods. Yet a large number of people, people who claim to be pro-99%, anti-technocracy, anti-corporatism, are shilling the rhetoric that "it's Apple's platform" and "Epic knew what the terms were." Well, yes, but that's exactly what SV activists and social activists are claiming has to stop. It's absurd that these same…

> We're seeing this right now with Epic's Tim Sweeney suing Apple for its mandatory cut on all digital goods. I hope Epic wins this case against Apple. It's amazing how everyone who brings that up avoids this question: Does Epic allow anyone to create and and sell content for Fortnite, without giving Epic any money? Do Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo allow other stores on their consoles?

Would we accept if the $1000 computer we buy forces us to use only their OS, can install software from their own store only, will receive only 3-5 years of software updates?

Why should we give a smartphone manufacturer(who ever it may be) such overwhelming ownership over their hardware when the computer manufacturers don't get it?

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#709
post #386

This is something that still completely baffles me about the "IoT"/"smart devices"/"connected devices"/"whatever you want to call it" space. If someone advertised a device as capable of doing X without it in fact being able to do X, they'd be liable for false advertising. If someone sold you a device, then took it back or destroyed it, they'd be liable for theft or destruction of property. Nevertheless, if someone se…

Rights are something you need to constantly fight for, otherwise they absolutely will go away. Portland isn't just bored, they're ahead of the curve.

What’s the context of the Portland reference?

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#710
post #13

Palmer Luckey, the original creator had this to say over on /r/oculus: I am already getting heat from users and media outlets who say this policy change proves I was lying when I consistently said this wouldn't happen, or at least that it was a guarantee I wasn't in a position to make. I want to make clear that those promises were approved by Facebook in that moment and on an ongoing basis, and I really believed it w…

Exhibit n + 1 on why when you're acquired you're not in a position to promise anything to anyone despite any assurances from the acquirer. Or, from the consumer's side, why those promises should carry no weight.

He had as much authority as anyone else to make the promise. Consumers shouldn't have believed it from anyone.
Post reply on HN