Oculus will sell a Quest 2 headset that doesn't need Facebook for an extra $500

[staz]

https://www.pcgamer.com/oculus-will-sell-you-a-quest-2-headset-that-doesnt-need-facebook-for-an-extra-dollar500/

[boojums]

>There's also an annual fee of $180.

It sounds like this model is targeted at business users. I expect most VR enthusiasts that care about privacy to the extent of $500 + $180 per year would never buy something from Facebook anyway.

[nacs → boojums]

I'm pretty sure it's priced to actively dissuade normal people from buying it.

I doubt charging $500 more to a business affects FB's revenues any meaningful amount.

[m463]

I wonder if this is a firmware patch that can be applied to the cheap/evil version.

It is also interesting in that it places a dollar amount on privacy.

[jtsiskin → m463]

This doesn’t place a dollar amount on privacy, the author makes that up for a headline. This is just differential pricing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination) targeting business buyers. It’s a bit of an embarrassing article for the journalist

[Rebelgecko → m463]

I think there's some confounding factors since this version comes with other features that the consumer version doesn't even (e.g. dedicated support)

[simcop2387]

Along with a $180/yr service charge.

[blueking]

Funny I just setup my Quest 2 today. Made a fresh facebook account with a new email and chose a fake name and birthday. Breaking the FB ToS is NOT a crime. Why would anyone pay an extra $500, and then $180/yr when the worst that can happen is the $300 headset gets bricked/banned? This is a stupidity tax.

[jobigoud → blueking]

Your FB account will most likely be flagged/ banned if you don't use it as a normal person, unless you are lucky. Not respectiing the TOS is not a crime but them enforcing them is also not a crime...

[blueking → jobigoud]

I don't think that's true. They don't have time to police billions of facebook accounts for 'normal' behavior. I'll friend a few random people. In the super unlikely worst case I'm out $300 but probably so is FB. It's in their interests to collect data and sell it under the fake name I gave. Only if I explicitly state to them the name is fake do they lose out. They don't ask and I won't tell and the advertisers will purchase shit. Win, win, win.

[jobigoud → blueking]

They don't need "time", it's automated, as part of the spam protection. A real profile is much more valuable to them than a fake one.

[blueking → jobigoud]

I'm saying that their automated tools can't tell the difference between 'normal' and 'fake' use. And the fact that I'm still using my dummy account is proof

[croes → blueking]

So planes can't crash because I fly regularly and never crashed. There are enough people whose new account got banned exactly because the tooks can't tell the difference. If they decide you're account is a bot or fake you are done. It can happen to you anytime. The main problem is that you lose access to paid software if they ban you.

[senkora → blueking]

Was your account not immediately banned? It seems like people had a lot of problems with that strategy in practice when the Quest 2 first came out.

[blueking → senkora]

I created an email alias on my domain to start the FB account. Works fine, not banned. If they get data to sell, probably they don't care. I can run credit card payments on the store as well.