Linking to The Verge, because the original report is stuck behind a paywall:
Facebook is developing its own operating system that could one day reduce the company’s reliance on Google’s Android, according to a new report by The Information. Development is currently being led by Mark Lucovsky, a Microsoft veteran who co-authored the Windows NT operating system.
The report provides a limited amount of information about how the new operating system could be used, but it notes that both Facebook’s Oculus and Portal devices currently run on a modified version of Android. According to one of Facebook’s AR and VR heads, Ficus Kirkpatrick, “it’s possible” that Facebook’s future hardware won’t need to rely on Google’s software, which would reduce or remove entirely the control Google has over Facebook’s hardware.
Yeah, as if anyone with half a brain would get a phone with facebook’s OS.
But then again, half the world has a facebook account, and the rest have instagram.
I am a member of a really stupid species.
The article is specifically about the OS on AR/VR devices and specifically mentions that this is not meant for a phone
Similar article: https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/19/facebook-operating-system/
avgalen,
Yeah, that’s true. From a marketing and control perspective it probably make sense for facebook to ditch android to distance itself from google in this space. However from a purely technical perspective, I don’t think it makes much difference that a VR headset runs android or not.
These companies have loads of money to spend on the “next big thing”, but demand isn’t necessarily there.
I can remember VR going as far back as the 80s, but it never had mass appeal. Obviously graphics have gotten better, but most people don’t like headsets. “Google glass” was a bit different but didn’t really catch on either. It’s hard to say if any of these VR devices will have long term appeal or just end up like all the others.
They don´t need a operating system for scratch. You only need a Linux kernel+C libraries+Development kit. I don´t know why the hell they used Android.
I think the ‘from scratch’ bit was just added by OS News, because clearly Facebook won;t bother with their own kernel. They probably won’t bother with their own much else either. Except a badge and trackers.
I don’t’ know how much you’ve followed people’s attempts to create a different Linux operating system for mobile devices (tablets, phones, etc), but getting non-android drivers from vendors is a pain.
1. It’s their own hardware.
2. They can use libhybris.
No, its not “their own hardware”. Unless you’re talking about Samsung, oems don’t create all of their own chips. You drivers for every blessed chip for every blessed function you cram on a device. Motorolla when it was a google subsidiary couldn’t convince qualacom to update its driver for one of the odd chips it made for them.
Several of those attempts have been from device manufacturers, and they can obviously get the driver issue sorted.
The much larger issue in squeezing yourself into an existing ecosystem is getting application writers to support you. There are two options: provide a compatible API (eg Posix) so that authors don’t have to do any work. Vis Linux, chromeOS. Counter-example: boot-to-Gecko phones. Or you can make your own API and try to get app authors to port or write new code. Vis Windows Phone. Or Apple.
Perhaps there’s a third option, of owning an application ecosystem already. Then you only need to be compatible with that. Not being a Facebook user I don’t know if they’re in that situation or not.
A plan that depends on the actions of other people is clearly harder than one that you can control yourself. Which is why Fuschia is interesting…
areilly,
+1 for insight. However in practice users don’t actually spend much time outside of a dozen or so major apps.
https://techcrunch.com/2015/06/22/consumers-spend-85-of-time-on-smartphones-in-apps-but-only-5-apps-see-heavy-use/
So although facebook would have trouble coming up with millions of apps, they probably wouldn’t have much trouble either creating or licensing the apps that most users want. I’m not a fan of facebook, it’s a negative brand in my eyes, but then I’m not really representative of facebook’s users. A facebook phone may not have apps, but they still could be able to convince consumers on the basis of better social media integration (not to mension facebook’s upcoming crypto currency https://www.newsbtc.com/2019/03/11/facebook-crypto/ ).
It’s true they’re starting the race very late (both phones and crypto), which realistically guaranties failure for startups, but facebook is no startup and they have a huge leg up in terms of consumer influence already. Of course they could fail like microsoft did, but facebook has more loyal users and has a much more influential advertising platform than microsoft ever had. Facebook’s sheer market scale is a pretty big advantage. If they come in with an affordable option, it could make a dent in apple’s shrinking share.
Hey, I remember Ficus from the BeOS days!
If successful, I can see the privacy TARFU coming.