Facebook has a pretty good record of non-interference with acquisitions, especially in the user-facing sense that you're describing. It will be even more true for Oculus, because Oculus was not a competitor to Facebook like Instagram, and, to a lesser extent, WhatsApp.

Facebook buying Oculus was a two-billion dollar bet on virtual reality being the next big platform, and to have that bet pay off, Facebook has to play the long game, and let Oculus and the virtual reality market grow.

Facebook isn't stupid or myopic enough to require a Facebook login to use Oculus products. It makes absolutely no sense when you consider the reasons that Facebook bought Oculus.

I don't tend to make bets on large companies with dominant market positions acting in their own best long term interests.

Why not? That's a very strong statement. I could think of a countless number of bets that trivially match your criteria (i.e. even odds Facebook will not stop selling ads this year), that you'd be crazy not to take.

There are lots of reasons. But I looked at your comment history and decided not to jump on the "interpreting discussion threads as logic statements" train with you. Apologies.

Fair enough. Do you think informal discussions benefit from a focus on thematic engagement, rather than logical minutiae?

You're comparing something known (the Rift as offered up for pre-order by FB-owned Oculus) with something unknown (the Rift as it might have been offered up for pre-order by an independent Oculus).

Many details might have been different in this alternate history: price, timeline, quality, bundled games, future games as funded by Oculus, and more.

Unfortunately I don't know if any of us really have the information necessary to make a truly correct comparison.

Of course we don't have that information. If Oculus had not been bought by Facebook, it could have been bought by anyone include shudder Disney. Who knows.

My excitement for and willingness to spend money on the Rift was greatly decreased by the Facebook acquisition. It is of course still quite possible that the Facebook acquisition was a good move that will benefit everyone.

The device will stand alone without Oculus software (besides drivers), so you definitely will be able to use it without a Facebook login.