As evidenced by Apple’s success, being in control of your own hardware and software will let you do things that you might not necessarily be able to do if you were to rely on tech developed by someone else. A good example would be Apple’s Mac computers, which used to be highly reliant on Intel’s processors for upgrades.However, after switching to their own custom chipsets, Apple now has a greater degree of control over upgrades, choosing when they want to launch it, and also choosing what future chipsets can do. This is why it is a bit odd that Meta has apparently cancelled their plans to launch their own operating system for its future VR and AR devices.
This comes from a report from The Information (paywall) in which they cite sources who claims that Meta has scrapped their plans. The project was called XROS and was apparently in development for years. It also involved hundreds of employees, suggesting that it was quite a monumental project that the company was working on.
In fact, it was just back in June 2021 that Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and CTO Andrew Bosworth were talking it up, saying how XROS could give them tighter control over its hardware. It has now been suggested that Meta could turn to a modified version of Android to power its Oculus and future VR/AR devices.
That being said, this report should be taken with a grain of salt. This is because Meta communications manager Sheeva Slovan has since issued a statement to The Verge where it seems to refute the article. “We are not halting or scaling back our operations in building a reality operating system. The team continues to make progress and we continue to invest in building for future computing platforms like AR glasses and wearable devices to help realize our metaverse vision.”
Filed in . Read more about Android, Augmented Reality (AR), Google, Meta and Virtual Reality (VR). Source: arstechnica