
Microsoft Should Have Acquired Oculus Rift, Not Facebook - batoure
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2014/03/25/microsoft-should-have-acquired-oculus-rift-not-facebook/
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devindotcom
It seems to me like if they wanted to buy it, they would have done so at a
much earlier stage. Their hardware and labs teams seem pretty on the ball to
me and would likely be already experimenting with this stuff. I have to guess
that they already have something in the oven (VR is a natural match for
Kinect) and didn't feel like shelling out a ton of money for something their
eggheads were already cracking the code to.

My guess is we'll see a competing VR product from microsoft at _next_ year's
E3 or a little before - watch and learn from Sony's overexposed rollout and
maybe even nab a few dudes from the Oculus team who want to continue hacking
and don't like the Facebook creep.

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jpwright
> maybe even nab a few dudes

Hate to nitpick, but let's not forget about the awesome women engineers and
designers out there, including at Oculus.

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devindotcom
I use the term dude to refer to people of all genders, sexes, and persuasions

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jpwright
To be honest, I was in a bad mood when I wrote that and made a negative
assumption about what you wrote. I'm sorry. I wish HN would let me take that
one back.

~~~
devindotcom
well since it was directed mainly at me and I've done the same thing plenty of
times, consider it taken back!

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epmatsw
Weirdly enough, I find myself wishing that Microsoft had purchased them
instead of Facebook. They've got the hardware experience, and they've proven
they're willing to put their money where their mouth is with the Kinect. Never
would have though that I'd be sad that a company I liked didn't get bought up
by Microsoft...

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erichurkman
Plus, Microsoft has had some great hardware on the market. Aside from high-end
gaming/graphics peripherals (where other manufacturers excelled better than
Microsoft), Microsoft hardware has always been top notch.

However, had Microsoft bought it, I'd be concerned that it would end up being
some Xbox/Xbox-live only type item.

~~~
epmatsw
Definitely would be something to worry about. But Microsoft did provide PC
drivers for the Kinect, which would at least have given me hope for what
they'd do with this

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hershel
There's rumors microsoft is working on VR. They also have an amazing 3d game
creation platform for beginners called "project spark", very good at building
developer communities a and would be happy to sell more PC's. Assuming they
can create decent VR glasses, they seems to have the winning combination of
hardware + content.

Even better - project spark content would be free, which is a powerful tool to
achieve mass appeal.

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snarfy
After they abandoned XNA, I would be hesitant to use something like spark.

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ephemeralgomi
This was exactly my thought, too. Upon investigating Project Spark, it seems
like something more akin to a pumped-up LittleBigPlanet than an actual game
development framework. I'm sure folks will have fun playing around with it,
but not much more than that.

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hershel
The interesting thing to do is to look at the progression. Project spark is a
huge improvement over little big planet 1 both in graphics and game variety ,
and maybe programming model/power. Why won't this kind of improvement continue
, or maybe there will be some collaborative model between spark and some
framework ?

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Aloha
There will be a flood of "Should X have bought Oculus Rift" articles - almost
anyone should have bought Oculus, but I suspect Facebook has a plan, and while
I don't know what Facebook is planning, but I suspect its going to be just as
much of a surprise as this purchase was.

For what its worth, I'm more comfortable with the relationship I have with
Facebook that with Google, because at least its clear on the surface what that
relationship is - in the same vein I'm more comfortable with my relationship
with Apple, compared to Google, for the same reasons.

~~~
psbp
Facebook has been much more flippant with privacy policies and their use of
data than Google has ever been. I only see unfavorable comparisons of google
to facebook on HN and it really baffles me. It couldn't be farther from the
truth.

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Aloha
Google is still outrunning their 'don't be evil' motto from years ago - and
the relationship between Google and my data is murkier, or 'feels' so, because
Google just started out with search, then added all this other 'stuff' and the
associated privacy difficulties thereof.

With Facebook, from day one, I knew what my relationship with them was, I knew
they were out to make a buck with my data, and I needed to be careful what I
let loose into their platform.

With Apple, the relationship is even clearer, I buy things from them, they
sell me a device, and some minimal services with it, for a fixed price, and
the relationship doesnt generally change over the term of me owning that
device.

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ethana
I'm pretty sure Microsoft already has its own VR product in development. That
internal leaked doc a couple of years ago about xbox 720 revealed something
similar to a wearable headset.

Combine VR with the holodeck Microsoft has going could be interesting in term
of VR GUI.

~~~
devindotcom
Yeah I just commented to the same effect. Natural fit for the Kinect
ecosystem, and their hardware labs _love_ this kind of stuff. And they can
even keep a secret!

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Zenst
The whole VR thing has been around for a while and every now and then a jump
in screens and sensors make it better and smaller and lighter as well as
cheaper. That aside Oculus from what I can tell have nothing beyond that, a
development kit for a device they made, and from what I know and probably
wrong, that is it. Ok they have some talented people, but what is stopping
Microsoft reproducing what Oculus already have to get a headset that does the
next flavour of 3D.

But the only consumer VR affair was maybe a Sega affair and who knows, maybe
they have some patents waiting to bite. But it is one of those techs that has
been around for a while just waiting to go mainstream. Same was teh case with
touchscreens, had them in the 80's even, just better on many levels now. As is
the tech for VR headsets.

So should Microsoft of brought Oculus, No as they already have experience in
that whole area and or the talent to make a something happen if a market is
deemed there. Facebook on the other hand, are not as well rounded in the
software and hardware as Microsoft and with that easier to borg in the skills
needed and if you can get that as a package bundle, all the better.

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eddanger
Oh god no. I might be just too old. But back in my day Microsoft would buy a
company and kill their product. They were referred to as the "Evil Empire"
back then, they'd consume companies left, right and center. I still have a bad
taste in my mouth and wish they would go away rather than this slow painful
death.

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jmspring
I recall many a purchase that was killed. Modern day, Google has taken over
that role.

Look at Microsoft acquisitions of late - Yammer and Skype being two of the
larger ones that come to mind. Still there and running.

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ekianjo
Skype may still be running but their service has become significantly worse
after the centralized all the servers instead of the previous P2P
architecture. At least I can clearly tell the difference.

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Aloha
I've had the opposite, the service has improved since MS bought them, I
suspect thats because I'm in the continental US, and networkwise close to the
datacenters Microsoft/Skype is using.

~~~
neolefty
It seems more reliable in China too.

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techwatching
That was my first thought. MS or Google. Certainly moreso either of those than
FB. At least there's some product & competency fit. For FB, it just seems like
"we need something other than social, lets throw this at the wall and see if
it sticks."

Who is next?

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plicense
Err, seriously people, the deal is done. It irritates me to see such pointless
articles being posted on HN. Can Microsoft go back? No. Is there anything they
can do about Oculus? No. They why the heck are we reading this article?

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bane
Probably not, a better solution would be for various companies to license the
tech from OVR, put some kind of value-add or design into their version of the
device and sell it themselves.

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jfoster
Feels like it was more of a missed opportunity for Apple.

Gaming is a weakness of Apple's Mac line. The situation is a lot better than
it used to be, but is still a weak area. In one swift move they could've made
gaming on a Mac better than anywhere else, and any developers who were not
already developing for the Mac would have very good reasons to reconsider
their position.

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mathattack
The question on Microsoft is really what type of games... Is it $50 a game, or
free games with lots of social upgrades?

Either company could also do things like putting you ringside at a football
game.

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blueskin_
I don't think so, as MS would promptly ruin it by closing it and folding it
into the xbone rather than being available for PCs.

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shmerl
No. Neither Facebook should have.

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stutsmansoft
Who?

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PostGreHipster
Absolutely. The XBOX division has shown their dedication to this field and
Facebook has only shown that they love advertising and collecting data.

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smacktoward
Not unless you think changing the device's name to "Microsoft Windows Rift Pro
Edition 2015, Powered By Azure" would be a plus.

