Meta Opens Quest OS To Third Parties, Including ASUS and Lenovo (engadget.com) 19
In a huge move for the mixed reality industry, Meta announced today that it's opening the Quest's operating system to third-party companies, allowing them to build headsets of their own. From a report: Think of it like moving the Quest's ecosystem from an Apple model, where one company builds both the hardware and software, to more of a hardware free-for-all like Android. The Quest OS is being rebranded to "Meta Horizon OS," and at this point it seems to have found two early adopters. ASUS's Republic of Gamers (rog) brand is working on a new "performance gaming" headsets, while Lenovo is working on devices for "productivity, learning and entertainment." (Don't forget, Lenovo also built the poorly-received Oculus Rift S.)
As part of the news, Meta says it's also working on a limited-edition Xbox "inspired" Quest headset. (Microsoft and Meta also worked together recently to bring Xbox cloud gaming to the Quest.) Meta is also calling on Google to bring over the Google Play 2D app store to Meta Horizon OS. And, in an effort to bring more content to the Horizon ecosystem, software developed through the Quest App Lab will be featured in the Horizon Store. The company is also developing a new spatial framework to let mobile developers created mixed reality apps.
As part of the news, Meta says it's also working on a limited-edition Xbox "inspired" Quest headset. (Microsoft and Meta also worked together recently to bring Xbox cloud gaming to the Quest.) Meta is also calling on Google to bring over the Google Play 2D app store to Meta Horizon OS. And, in an effort to bring more content to the Horizon ecosystem, software developed through the Quest App Lab will be featured in the Horizon Store. The company is also developing a new spatial framework to let mobile developers created mixed reality apps.
Can we stop calling distributions OSs? (Score:1)
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A distribution is an OS.
Re: Can we stop calling distributions OSs? (Score:4, Funny)
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Aw, shucks! :D
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What's an OS? A kernel and a set of utilities that ship with it, right? The kernel is only one piece of it, like the engine is to a car. You have a set of components in it that enable software to run.
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What's an OS? A kernel and a set of utilities that ship with it, right? The kernel is only one piece of it, like the engine is to a car. You have a set of components in it that enable software to run.
Early operating systems were basically just a bunch of code for starting a main executable, along with runtime libraries that got called synchronously from whatever program was running, which is a far cry from anything that we would call a kernel today. So I wouldn't even say that an OS necessarily contains a kernel, though modern OSes typically do.
Heck, there have even been attempts to do kernel-free OSes more recently [ucsb.edu].
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No one cares about the pedantry, and general consumers especially had their eyes glaze over before they managed to read the end of your first sentence. Saying ChromeOS, Linux, and the Quest have the same operating system helps no one.
So even less MR headsets (Score:3)
Lenovo VRX was one of the last headsets allowing mixed reality development on a VR headset (ie. camera access) without having to beg for institutional access hidden behind NDAs. If they go to Quest that product will likely be ditched.
Lynx R1 last man standing, if they don't die.
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Or this is what allows Meta to give access to the raw camera streams to devs because they can unload all privacy concerns/liability onto the hardware vendors. Meta could even keep their 1st party hardware locked down until it's "safe". ie Let devs figure out how to maek MR software that has a rael world use case worth the privacy concerns/risks on somebody else's hardware. Then when it's the customers demand it just flip the switch so they use it on your hardware too.
A good way to stay ahead of Apple is to
Jumping in on the Microsoft vacuum (Score:2)
This sounds like Meta is trying to jump in on a bit of a vacuum left by Microsoft's announcement that they are giving up on Windows Mixed Reality. This all but kills many of the PCVR headsets which have been released by hardware makers and relied on other people's software. Quite a clever move by them. Extending a kind hand to the poor hardware companies, twice mind you, no doubt one time to pick them up and a second time to receive payment.
Sidenote: How was the Rift S poorly received. The reviewer seems to
This Could Be Huge! (Score:2)
This could be the VR equivalent of the birth of the IBM PC compatible market. The Quest owns the VR market, making Facebook the Microsoft of VR. Opening up to competitors is a smart move in a number of ways I don't have the time to enumerate.
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They're trying to be the Google of VR.
That is an excellent interpretation.
asdf (Score:2)
It's a trick, get an axe.