Thread

1. slowin · 1790209204 · focus · HN ↗

   I had an Oculus Quest and it was a really great device. After the "Meta" rebrand, the quality rapidly decreased and now it wants me to upload my ID to Meta to keep using it. Absolutely not! Zuckerberg already has way too much information on me, uploading my state issued identification to them is such an insane ask, I will never do it. While this looks like interesting hardware, the company behind it has unacceptable and user-hostile practices, so I'll pass.

   1. ewild · 1790209908 · focus · HN ↗

      oculus didnt ship a single product not owned by facebook.

      1. slowin · 1790210141 · focus · HN ↗

         Correct, but you didn't have to log into the Quest 1 with facebook until ~2024. They had "Oculus accounts" at first.

         1. Benjamin_Dobell · 1790217832 · focus · HN ↗

            They have Meta accounts now, which are also not Facebook accounts. I went straight from an Oculus account to Meta account. Might be location based, but I most certainly haven't been asked to upload any ID.

            1. jlarocco · 1790229533 · focus · HN ↗

               > They have Meta accounts now, which are also not Facebook accounts.

               How gullible can you be?

               1. Benjamin_Dobell · 1790230031 · focus · HN ↗

                  Well, I was going to point out the distinction between products. But I guess if people like you are able to turn HN into Reddit, anything is possible.

                  1. jlarocco · 1790230378 · focus · HN ↗

                     And I was pointing out that they are one and the same but the "Facebook" name was so tarnished by their terrible privacy practices they had to change it to save face.

                     But I guess if people like you are able to ignore that to make yourself feel better about giving your personal information to Zuckerberg's advertising company then anything is possible.

                     1. Benjamin_Dobell · 1790231094 · focus · HN ↗

                        Phwoar! Thank you. It's 2026, and had it not been for your high quality informative comments. I would have not known anything about this them there Facebook. You saved me.

                        I don't know what conversation you think you're having here, but it's not that.

                        If you'd bothered to read... and then ready for it... stop, take a breath, and process the information. You'd have noticed I was pointing out you can use a Quest headset WITHOUT providing them your personal ID OR having a Facebook account. Almost as if, you know, I was highlighting that giving the company your personal info isn't required. Woe me though for pointing that out.

                        I'm sorry for interrupting the indignant rants. Please continue.

               2. herbst · 1790234434 · focus · HN ↗

                  I got some hate from pointing out WhatsApp is the same evil corp as Facebook recently. People don't want to hear that
      2. gpm · 1790210873 · focus · HN ↗

         Pretty sure DK1 shipped pre-acquisition.

         1. abraxas · 1790211681 · focus · HN ↗

            DK2 also

            1. benatkin · 1790211996 · focus · HN ↗

               Neither qualifies.

               1. bigfishrunning · 1790217278 · focus · HN ↗

                  Why? They were for sale to the public, how were they not a product?

                  1. hamburglar · 1790221586 · focus · HN ↗

                     Because some people find arguing over semantics fun.
      3. cortesoft · 1790211081 · focus · HN ↗

         That is certainly not true.

         I had the Oculus Rift dev kit before they sold to Facebook. It was so amazing at the time

         1. seizethecheese · 1790212688 · focus · HN ↗

            “Dev kit”

            1. ihuman · 1790213257 · focus · HN ↗

               You had to pay for it (Kickstarter), so its 100% a product

               1. joemi · 1790216058 · focus · HN ↗

                  Game console developers always had to (and still have to) pay for their dev kits. That doesn't really make them products in the typical sense of the word, though.

                  The stronger argument for it being a product is that it was available to the public.

               2. cortesoft · 1790217295 · focus · HN ↗

                  I didn’t even get it from the kickstarter.

                  I just bought it on the website.

               3. seizethecheese · 1790222345 · focus · HN ↗

                  Yeah, sure, my point is that obviously the original comment excluded the dev kit in their definition of product, and arguing over it is just splitting hairs.
            2. gpm · 1790213332 · focus · HN ↗

               Non-devs were buying them to play games.

               1. cortesoft · 1790217397 · focus · HN ↗

                  I was one of them.

                  I mean, I was/am a dev, but I had no plans to develop on it, I just wanted it to play with.

            3. cortesoft · 1790217356 · focus · HN ↗

               They called it that, but I just bought it on their website like a normal product. I didn’t write anything for it.

               There was a site that you could download experiences that people created, which is what I used it for.

      4. guiambros · 1790212230 · focus · HN ↗

         Owner of DK2 here, well before Facebook acquisition. It was for developers, but it was a shipped product nonetheless.

         1. benatkin · 1790213136 · focus · HN ↗

            Not really. Pre-release baked into the name.

            1. croes · 1790215193 · focus · HN ↗

               Sold for a full price, so it’s a sold product.

               1. benatkin · 1790216176 · focus · HN ↗

                  It wasn't though, a full price would have been more, to cover not just components and assembly but the cost of R&D.

                  1. joemi · 1790216439 · focus · HN ↗

                     Game console dev kits usually cost more than the consoles they're for, not less. They're not mass produced at the scale that the consoles are, and they're sold or leased to companies expecting to make several orders of magnitude more back off the products they create with the dev kits.

                     1. benatkin · 1790217671 · focus · HN ↗

                        That isn't a very direct comparison of Oculus products to game consoles like PlayStation, Nintendo, XBox, or those in the distant past.

                        1. joemi · 1790219455 · focus · HN ↗

                           There's at least one way where there's a direct comparison: they both have dev kits.
               2. joemi · 1790216219 · focus · HN ↗

                  Game console dev kits are typically _more_ expensive than the consoles they're for. So "full price" isn't a good argument. (The fact that they were available to the public is a stronger argument.)
               3. serf · 1790216296 · focus · HN ↗

                  i've never had the luxury of buying a cheaper dev kit. Ever.
      5. reactordev · 1790215158 · focus · HN ↗

         they shipped 3. DK1, DK2, CV1.

         1. benatkin · 1790216543 · focus · HN ↗

            CV1 was as a Facebook subsidiary. Acquired 2014-07-21, CV1 announced January 2016 and released March 2016. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;techcrunch.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;07&#x2F;21&#x2F;facebooks-acquisition-of-oculus-closes-now-official&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;techcrunch.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;07&#x2F;21&#x2F;facebooks-acquisition-of-o... <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Oculus_Rift_CV1" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Oculus_Rift_CV1
         2. chickenpesto · 1790219098 · focus · HN ↗

            4 if you count the Latency Tester.. but yo.. Mark and Andrew.. pour these ARVR $$$ into CZI instead!!!
      6. georgemcbay · 1790216639 · focus · HN ↗

         &gt; oculus didnt ship a single product not owned by facebook.

         The post you are replying to doesn&#x27;t claim they did...?

         They did change the branding in late 2021&#x2F;early 2022.

         Prior to that the product was called the Oculus Quest, after that it was the Meta Quest.

         And Meta did start heavily enshittifying the product alongside the rebrand.

      7. bigmadshoe · 1790216822 · focus · HN ↗

         Regardless the acquisition took some time to bring down the quality of the products. It doesn&#x27;t matter if their first few products were sufficiently far ahead that they weren&#x27;t enshitified immediately when Facebook bought Oculus.

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.