News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer servic... by jrm4 on Monday August 02, 2021 @07:16PM (#28043897)
Microsoft saw the concept of touchscreens and bought out "Surface" around 2003ish; and as a result, we didn't get widespread touchscreens until about a decade or so later.

FB buying Oculus feels exactly like that for VR.

Re:FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer servic... by MathYouF on Monday August 02, 2021 @07:26PM (#28043993)
This is more of an alternative statement for anyone interested since your statement didn't give anything concrete.

Oculus is far far ahead of where any VR developers thought it would be in 2021. In January of 2019 the Rift was still running on cables connected to a $2000 laptop and confined to a 5x5ft square play area with 7 foot tall poles holding scanners on each corner,also plugged into the same computer. If you wanted to experience VR, you had to have all those things and set them up.

Now for $300 I can (and have) experience VR on a beach with no Internet or electricity for a couple hours.

The opinion of most VR developers I know is that Facebook have unequivocally advanced VR headset progression more than any other company and better than we couldve ever hoped.

Re:FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer servic... by jimmySixDOF on Tuesday August 03, 2021 @12:22AM (#28045692)
So right! A lot of it comes down to the availability of Qualcomm's XR2 chip but Oculus has made VR accessable to anyone for half the price of a mobile phone and that is a game changer. Lot of noise lately about the death of VR [1] or PCVR [2] but my money says things in 3D are just about to lift off.

[1] https://www.wired.com/story/virtual-reality-rich-white-kid-o...

[2] https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1421545550407630849?s=19

Re:FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer servic... by jimmySixDOF on Tuesday August 03, 2021 @09:55AM (#28049199)
testing why this comment chain stem from jrm4 is invisible on www browser (jrm4 > MathYouF > jimmy6dof)
Re:FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer servic... by aphroz on Monday August 02, 2021 @10:40PM (#28045178)
Is doing VR on the beach really a progress though?
Re:FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer servic... by 1270018080 on Monday August 02, 2021 @10:47PM (#28045215)
Read his entire comment
Re:FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer servic... by polyomino on Monday August 02, 2021 @07:31PM (#28044035)
VR is more widespread than it would have been had FB stayed away and not subsidized it. They make up over 50% of VR hardware on steam now.[1]

[1]https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

Re:FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer servic... by whywhywhywhy on Tuesday August 03, 2021 @07:14AM (#28047849)
Have you used the product and the software and games they've been publishing?

Honestly they're the only players in the industry treating it as more than a hobby and the only viable headset for mass consumers. I think without their pressure Valve would have never bothered with the Index or HL:Alyx.

Re:FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer servic... by seumars on Monday August 02, 2021 @07:26PM (#28043999)
Because Microsoft slowed down the development of tablets? Sorry, I’m not familiar with the story of the Surface
Re:FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer servic... by jobigoud on Monday August 02, 2021 @07:37PM (#28044074)
The original MS product called "surface" was a big table computer with a touch screen costing around $8K.
Re:FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer servic... by seizethegdgap on Monday August 02, 2021 @09:07PM (#28044643)
Ahh yes, the big-ass table.

https://youtu.be/t2ty_QIWspE