Source: news.google.com
As we await new Meta VR hardware, including the Oculus Quest 3 and the mysterious Project Cambria, there’s news of some internal changes on the software side that could have an impact on these upcoming devices.
According to a report by The Information (opens in a new tab) (via The Edge (opens in a new tab)), the company formerly known as Facebook is disbanding the team working on an all-encompassing virtual reality and augmented reality operating system by the name of XROS.
Apparently that team was made up of about 300 people, so this is a pretty major restructuring on Meta’s part. Those team members are reportedly parting ways with other projects within the company, including work on augmented reality glasses.
Hyper-tuned solutions
In a statement, Meta did not confirm the dissolution of the XROS team, but said it wanted to “accelerate the development of solutions that are hyper-tuned for each product line,” which appears to be no unification. OS that covers all the company’s products at the moment.
It’s unclear where this leaves the follow-up to the Oculus Quest 2 or higher-end Project Cambria headsets, but it seems like a safe bet these devices won’t come with a new software platform on board.
Quest 2 runs an Android-based operating system and it looks like Meta will stick with that software for now. However, one change has already been confirmed: the Oculus brand will be removed from future hardware as it all falls under the Meta umbrella.
Analysis: The future of AR/VR remains unclear
With the Oculus Quest 2, VR has finally gone mainstream: it’s relatively affordable, it’s easy to set up (no connection to a computer required), and there are plenty of great games available for it.
Then there is augmented reality, the overlay of digital graphics on the real world. This is more ubiquitous than VR (you can play with it on any modern smartphone), but we haven’t seen many compelling uses for it so far.
Meanwhile, the biggest names in tech seem interested in blending VR and AR into what’s often called mixed reality, or XR. Apparently, Apple is working on software and hardware that go in this direction, and other companies are likely to follow.
If the internal restructuring of Meta has happened, it is evidence that there is still a lot of uncertainty about what AR and VR have, both separately and combined. It may be some time before we see a genuinely compelling mixed reality device.
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