Facebook buying Oculus VR for $2 billion

[Sternjaeger]

I have this odd idea that Facebook and Google are in an arms race to see who can become Skynet first.

 

L to the O to the L 

[BraveSirRobin]

Sternjaeger, I assume you don't own a cell phone.

[Sternjaeger]

I do, but the best they can do with a phone is geolocating you, not profiling you...

[DD_bongodriver]

I don't believe the rift will have a gps so they shouldn't even be able to geolocate you, so better than a smartphone.

[von_Tom]

So much negativity.  FB signing up OR is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

They have some extraordinarily talented people that could help with the know-how. 

 

They have huge purchasing power so might (and I say might) be able to churn the things out cheaper or with quicker upgrades etc etc. 

 

They may get the thing to consumer release stage earlier.  This in itself might help the competition once the reverse engineer the things to figure out solutions to hardware/programming issues.

 

They will have an interest in making the units lighter and better to help their marketing - non-simmers/gamers might want the experience but not a sore neck of they use i for hours at a time.

 

There is a huge gaming market now - PC/console gaming is no longer niche it's mainstream now that the kids of the 80s are now the parents/grandparents in the '10s, so there will be an interest in maintaining this.

 

And OR isn't the be-all and end-all of VR gaming.  Theer are other systems out there and all you need is some small start up cracking it completely and we're all in a better place.

 

Now if you hate FB then the negativity is understandable.

 

Hood

[Sternjaeger]

well first of all they don't need a gps to locate you, but in any case you think that it won't be the first thing they'll implement? 

[BraveSirRobin]

I do, but the best they can do with a phone is geolocating you, not profiling you...

 

Right, tracking every place you go isn't a privacy issue at all...

[DD_bongodriver]

gps doesn't work very well indoors, I don't believe they have any intention of putting 4g/Bluetooth/wifi in it either, it's just a monitor with a head tracker.

[Revvin]

I was talking about Facebook using the Facebook platform to advertise the Rift, not the other way round!

 

I can't decide if people really genuinely believe that FB will be using the Rift to place pop-up adverts and friend requests over their game of BOS?

 

People are just being intentionally melodramatic for comedic effect right?

 

Actually no, forget that, I bet people do genuinely believe that.

 

lol 

 

I thought being British you understood sarcasm

[Matt]

Unless you need to login to FB when using the Rift (i doubt that that will be the case), i'm really curious how they can manage to profile you at all.

 

It's also news to me, that every smarthphone has a GPS sender, but ok.

[Aracno]

Of course they will, but you simply decline if you don't want to allow that level of access.

 

It's OK to be paranoid, it's up to us how our data is used.

 

Melodramatic, paranoid, do you have any other compliment for us?

I really don't like FB and his philosophy, what's wrong being worried?

[von_Tom]

Melodramatic, paranoid, do you have any other compliment for us?

I really don't like FB and his philosophy, what's wrong being worried?

 

 

Nothing is wrong with being worried.  It's ultimately the question of whether or not that worry is misplaced.

 

And I was musing, all FB have to do is provide various militaries with VR systems to couple with drones and that'll recoup the $2bn.

 

Hood

[=69.GIAP=RADKO]

You know what.....I'm so chuffed I was the first one to break the news on here. It's generated so much activity it makes me feel important. 

 

On a serious note I'm not sure if it's necessary a bad thing. A lot of knee jerk reactions going on here. I'm not sure if anyone agrees with me but I was picking up the scent that OC was struggling a bit recently when comparing it to their competition (Sony). They did need the money and now they've got it. We'll see huge advancements now and I'm sure they will keep to their word in regards to focusing on gaming but for how long......I don't know.

[VBF-12_Stick-95]

 

According to a person involved in the deal who was not allowed to speak publicly because he was not authorized by either company, Facebook eventually plans to redesign the Oculus hardware and rebrand it with a Facebook interface and logo.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/26/5549186/facebook-rebrand-oculus-rift-headset

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/technology/facebook-to-buy-oculus-vr-maker-of-virtual-reality-headset.html?hpw&rref=business&_r=3

[Sternjaeger]

Right, tracking every place you go isn't a privacy issue at all...

 

that's "on demand", and it's not quite the same thing.

 

gps doesn't work very well indoors, I don't believe they have any intention of putting 4g/Bluetooth/wifi in it either, it's just a monitor with a head tracker.

 

It's just that NOW, we don't know what Faceculus Rift is gonna release.. 

[SvAF/F19_Klunk]

Minecraft has discontinued their cooperation with Occulus after the news.... Markus Person say's Facebook scares him, or as he says on twitter: "We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus. I just cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out."

 

 

or more about his reasons on his blog

http://notch.net/2014/03/virtual-reality-is-going-to-change-the-world/

 

 

First a lot of praise for occlusus team and a recollection from when he met the team a few weeks back, scetching on some development for Minecraft,...

 

 

"And then, not two weeks later, Facebook buys them.

 

Facebook is not a company of grass-roots tech enthusiasts. Facebook is not a game tech company. Facebook has a history of caring about building user numbers, and nothing but building user numbers. People have made games for Facebook platforms before, and while it worked great for a while, they were stuck in a very unfortunate position when Facebook eventually changed the platform to better fit the social experience they were trying to build.

Don’t get me wrong, VR is not bad for social. In fact, I think social could become one of the biggest applications of VR. Being able to sit in a virtual living room and see your friend’s avatar? Business meetings? Virtual cinemas where you feel like you’re actually watching the movie with your friend who is seven time zones away?

 

But I don’t want to work with social, I want to work with games.

Fortunately, the rise of Oculus coincided with competitors emerging. None of them are perfect, but competition is a very good thing. If this means there will be more competition, and VR keeps getting better, I am going to be a very happy boy. I definitely want to be a part of VR, but I will not work with Facebook. Their motives are too unclear and shifting, and they haven’t historically been a stable platform. There’s nothing about their history that makes me trust them, and that makes them seem creepy to me.

 

And I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition.

I have the greatest respect for the talented engineers and developers at Oculus. It’s been a long time since I met a more dedicated and talented group of people. I understand this is purely a business deal, and I’d like to congratulate both Facebook and the Oculus owners. But this is where we part ways.

Edited March 26, 2014 by F19_Klunk

[DD_bongodriver]

Minecraft never had any cooperation with Oculus anyway, they had a dev kit before anyone else and did bugger all with it.

[Sternjaeger]

This is starting to sound crazy. I'm waiting for raaaiiidd to come in and start selling tin-hats! (No offence raaiid! )

 

Facebook is as evil to me as I allow it to be.

 

The data it has access to is controlled by me.

that's what you think mate, the reality is much, much grimmer than that. 

 

Sure, if I were really careless it could learn some really nasty stuff like, what my favourite drinks are and ... erm ... my address? erm...

 

I mean, what do you DO on Facebook that has you so worried about what they know about you?

 

They only care about you so they can advertise to you. They are in business to make money, advertising is how they make money.

 

If you don't want to see the adverts for cross-dressing services then don't Like these services on a Facebook, or only browse those dodgy websites you go to when you're logged out of Facebook.

 

I guess people have already made their minds up that Facebook is in league with Satan or something.

Personally I'm not particularly susceptible to advertising so their business model has no impact on my life, therefore I'm not especially afraid of them.

I frankly find it disturbing that they blatantly publicise pyramidal schemes, scams and other stuff that you and I might not fall for, but many others could. I don't like the fact that they subtly and constantly change their policies and rules, I don't like the fact that they do not do a good job at removing pages that promote nazifascism, hatred and other questionable content, which is easily accessible by anybody.

[Bladderburst]

Facebook can profile you if you feed it. That's it.

 

There is no big brother, you are your own big brother.

[J2_Trupobaw]

 

Seriously guys? Don't you really see what Facebook has become?

 

As of today, it's the biggest planetary human database, whose users voluntarily populate with personal information and commercial preferences (every time you put a "like" on a product, person etc.. you are commercially profiling yourself), and which subtly uses your internet searches to profile ads on your Facebook page.

 

[...]

 

And to give you an example: Mrs. Sternjaeger and I have finally bought a house, and the day we finalised the sale, the house popped up as suggested ad on my facebook feed.. not any house, the house I just bought, probably because I visited the page several times in the previous 48 hours... I find it quite frankly disturbing.

 

Which is bad in what way? Remember that from their point of view there is no "you", just an entry in database of millions that no person in Facebook ever heard about and that is indistinguishable for facebook machines from millions of other banal entries. They use this entry to personalise what *your* computer displays to *you* when visiting facebook, which may look very personal to you but is no more personal than knowing whether to put "sir" or "madam" before your name to machine that greets you, in milisecond before machine stores and forgets information that you were even visiting. "You" exist only as statistical error for them, at best.

 

75 years ago many British farmers believed that since Mr. Hitler is expanding air force, he must be doing it to bomb their farm, house, barn and outhouse out of existence, personally. Nowadays people believe that if site remembers to put advertising of new flight sim they like instead of BDSM tools they don't when greeting them, all machinery behind it has been build to stalk them, personally. Or that NSA invested billions just to find out about *their* petty extramartial affair, which is another story . The fallancy is the same.

As of Occulus Rift, good news I suppose. Perhaps they will even turn technology to application that will work instead of recreating gadgets that work mostly in 80s science fiction flicks. 

Edited March 26, 2014 by Trupobaw

[peregrine7]

Anyone making a knee-jerk reaction based on the announcement is setting themselves up to have egg on their face.

 

FB has an audience of 1.2billion users!

 

FB can advertise to those users for free, and in very targeted ways.

Only a tiny fraction of FB users will need to buy the hardware in order to make a return.

 

With the independent structure of Oculus (likely stipulated VERY strictly in the purchase, or else they'd never have agreed to the acquisition) I don't think the biggest plus will be advertising, but rather the HUGE amount of funding Oculus now has. Never before has it been cost effective to commission an entirely unique screen for the Rift, however now we may see this. Whilst 1st Gen may make a smaller profit due to accellerated tech being motivated by larger scale purchases I think this would still be the right strategy for VR. For Oculus to release a working and effective VR unit before other companies would solidify the future of VR and allow many, many more years of profit from any investors.

 

A purchase like this secures the future of VR, no longer is it being consined to the gimmick pile a possibility.  

 

That said it erks me that this security has to come from the likes of FB, sure they've maintained independence of previous purchases but then so did Google, and look at the nuisances starting to crop up in the likes of youtube. So long as any FB advertising/software/interaction is purely optional this is still a good thing for VR.

[BraveSirRobin]

that's "on demand", and it's not quite the same thing.

 

 

What does "on demand" mean?  Does it mean "all the time", because they are tracking you all the time and everywhere you go.

[Sternjaeger]

Nobody has yet been able to explain rationally why they don't like Facebook.

 

I find it amusing when people have irrational fears and phobias, I heard of someone being afraid of Oranges recently.

 

Unless you're really gullible and literally buy everything that is advertised AT you, I see no reason for you to worry about Facebook, or any other company that shares a similar business model.

I thought I made it quite clear.

 

It all started as an "innocent" way of linking up with people, especially those you hadn't seen in a while, but they have now reached a stage where you have tailored advertising, scam/ponzi scheme ads, inappropriate content, games that become addictive and were free at first, whereas now they milk money out of you, continuous changes to privacy settings.. if that's irrational fear, then I assume we live by different standards. Again, you don't have to think of just yourself, but also kids, people that are not IT literate, elderly people, or just dumb people who think the internet is a fancy place that is not real and that once you switch it off it's fine (think of all the idiots that still throw abuse and threats over FB/Twitter and end up in court...).

[DD_bongodriver]

 (think of all the idiots that still throw abuse and threats over FB/Twitter and end up in court...).

 

 

 

too right, the internet is still public domain and people shouldn't act like total dicks.

[LLv34_Flanker]

S!

 

 Time to order a Track IR 5 it seems.

[Streiff]

Well there is nothing wrong with it if you actually have a rational reason.

 

Nobody has yet been able to explain rationally why they don't like Facebook.

 

I find it amusing when people have irrational fears and phobias, I heard of someone being afraid of Oranges recently.

 

Unless you're really gullible and literally buy everything that is advertised AT you, I see no reason for you to worry about Facebook, or any other company that shares a similar business model.

 

 

Here is a start why one should view FB as "fishy". FB is a humongous balloon worth diddly when push comes to shove. How that will affect OR/VR, in this case, in the long run, only time will tell.

[Sternjaeger]

What does "on demand" mean?  Does it mean "all the time", because they are tracking you all the time and everywhere you go.

it means that your positioning can be determined if there is a request for it by the authorities, it's not like there's some sort of subterranean base with a huge map and millions of dots moving about... and if your intentions really are malicious, you can easily get rid of your mobile device.

 

Facebook creates a "rough" identity which tells your commercial preferences, habits, places you visit, people you know, work you do.. this information can either be used "on demand" as above (but then if you're an honest person you have nothing to fear), or it can be used in bulks to profile market trends, influence products, propose offers etc... it's a dangerous game, and it's even more dangerous when people don't see the "evil" potential behind it, and again I'm not talking about the individual user, but the whole community..

 

And this is the point, whenever I see people replying to these concerns with: "But I dont do that!", I wonder whether they really can't see past their individuality and realise that it's not just about you, is it?

Edited March 26, 2014 by Sternjaeger

[Tektolnes]

Good bit of business by FB buying the most commercially viable and close to market release VR product for just $400m cash + stock. If it takes off they're in from day 1 getting a headstart on expanding into the areas that they're interested in and can make money from. It's in their interest to see OR blow away the PC gaming world and they've got the financial muscle to make it happen. It's also in their interest to not make an irritating to use platform as if VR does take off the way we think it will there'll be lots of players coming to the market. So for me I'll just wait and see what comes with CV1.

[BraveSirRobin]

it means that your positioning can be determined if there is a request for it by the authorities

 

That simply is not true.  You are being tracked at all times.  You can shut it off, but most people don't.

[Aracno]

Well there is nothing wrong with it if you actually have a rational reason.

 

Nobody has yet been able to explain rationally why they don't like Facebook.

 

I find it amusing when people have irrational fears and phobias, I heard of someone being afraid of Oranges recently.

 

Unless you're really gullible and literally buy everything that is advertised AT you, I see no reason for you to worry about Facebook, or any other company that shares a similar business model.

 

 

Rational reasons, just a couple alredy in this thread:

 

 

Facebook is not a company of grass-roots tech enthusiasts. Facebook is not a game tech company. Facebook has a history of caring about building user numbers, and nothing but building user numbers. People have made games for Facebook platforms before, and while it worked great for a while, they were stuck in a very unfortunate position when Facebook eventually changed the platform to better fit the social experience they were trying to build.

 

But I don’t want to work with social, I want to work with games.

 Their motives are too unclear and shifting, and they haven’t historically been a stable platform. There’s nothing about their history that makes me trust them, and that makes them seem creepy to me.

 

 

 

It all started as an "innocent" way of linking up with people, especially those you hadn't seen in a while, but they have now reached a stage where you have tailored advertising, scam/ponzi scheme ads, inappropriate content, games that become addictive and were free at first, whereas now they milk money out of you, continuous changes to privacy settings.. if that's irrational fear, then I assume we live by different standards. Again, you don't have to think of just yourself, but also kids, people that are not IT literate, elderly people, or just dumb people who think the internet is a fancy place that is not real and that once you switch it off it's fine (think of all the idiots that still throw abuse and threats over FB/Twitter and end up in court...). 

 

 

About 40 percent of the time that people spend online on computers is on gaming, Mr. Zuckerberg said, and 40 percent is on social communication.

“You need to fuse both of those together,” he said.

 

 

 

According to a person involved in the deal who was not allowed to speak publicly because he was not authorized by either company, Facebook eventually plans to redesign the Oculus hardware and rebrand it with a Facebook interface and logo.

 

 

I want a piece of hardware allowing me to enjoy VR, stop.

If their plan was only about using FB with oculus, than a collaboration was enoght.

I really hope i'm wrong, but hopefully oculus will be just ONE of the competitor in the near future.

[Sternjaeger]

I'm surprised you don't see this mate, especially as you are from a country which really does care about privacy matters, and again, you're thinking of your own individuality, whereas the strength of Facebook is in its collective value.

 

When they know what you like, they'll bombard  you with tailored ads, and it doesn't really matter whether you click on them or not, because millions of other people do, generating a revenue that you're unwillingly contributing to, no matter what you do. 

 

Your individuality is just a token of exchange which is exploited by a phishing website masqueraded as a social network. 

 

Before Facebook hit the stock market, you have no idea how much money Oracle had been offering to Zuckerberg to access the information they had, and that's what really triggered the idea of the wild advertising. 

 

Think about it: how can Twitter survive without the wild advertising as we have on Facebook? "But Facebook offers more!" you might say, to which I would reply "yes, but do you really need ALL the features that Facebook introduced?"

Edited March 26, 2014 by Sternjaeger

[DD_bongodriver]

I use facebook, honestly I don't get bombarded by anything from them, I do hate the invites to Farmville, a single click cured that problem permanently.

[Sternjaeger]

...mind you, it's not exactly a perfect science, for some fcuked up reason I keep on getting ads for mature dating! 

[DD_bongodriver]

'Grannybook'

[BraveSirRobin]

WrinkledFacebook

[DD_bongodriver]

Granny bash saga....

[Sternjaeger]

Har har, very funny chaps... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...now what was I saying? 

[DD_bongodriver]

 

...now what was I saying? 

 

Did you just walk in and forget why?.......that explains a lot.

Edited March 26, 2014 by DD_bongodriver

[BraveSirRobin]

Faceliftbook

[Bladderburst]

youre not paranoid for thinking facebooks spying on you gathering your data

 

what makes you paranoid its if it upsets you

Wisdom.