Oculus Rift Development on OS X 'Paused' to Focus on Strong Windows Launch

[danielsutton]

I'd be surprised if Windows 10 didn't end up with more installs than all versions of all non-Windows OSs running on computers within 3 months of its release. It sounds like a pretty solid upgrade over both 7 and 8, plus it's a free upgrade from 7 or 8.

Within 3 years of the release of Windows 10, I'd expect it to be installed on 70% of all computers (and for some small percentage to be running 7 and 8.) OS X may be growing every year, but going from Windows 7 or 8 to 10 is going to be a pretty easy transition (download and install, for free) compared to moving to OS X (buy an expensive computer, then figure out how to transfer all your old stuff). So I'd expect Windows 10 will grow far faster than OS X.

Having said that, I'm surprised Oculus Rift thinks that OS X is such a small market as to not be worth targeting. I can't find any numbers on the matter, but I'd expect a large number of people in game development (less than half, but more than you see for general computer usage) using OS X. So they're shooting themselves in the foot.

OS X is also a free upgrade, and will be free in perpetuity, while Windows 10 is only a free upgrade for the first year it is on the market. And judging by the Technical Preview, which is available, it is chock full of bugs, and it may take more than a year for these to be worked out. So by then, it won't be a free upgrade anymore.

The latest version of OS X, currently 10.10.3 Yosemite, will run on hardware a few years older than the current models, which allows for a sizable percentage of Mac users to install it. So, I don't think this will be much of an issue, but I do agree with you that there is a big installed base of OS X gamers, more than the tech media is talking about.

 

[Yojimbo007]

Oculus is too far behind now anyway. I don't know how they messed up the enormous lead they initially had and after all the wait only release a PC product.

Besides that point, there are too many VR hardware sets these days and no good content for them. Thats the void that needs filled, not another company with a viewer.

Which other products are you referring to?

 

[mw360]

What they can't copy is the branding. VR is virtually (hah!) synonymous with Rift these days.

I wouldn't say they have a 'brand' at all. They have a following and even a buzz, but what they don't have, is loyal customers, unlike many huge and influential brands. I wish them well, but geek buzz does not always translate into success. Sometimes it just turns sour. Marketing will be everything, but dumping platforms indefinitely is dubious marketing and a sign of weakness.

 

[boast]

Hopefully the HTC + Valve headset won't disappoint.

 

[horsebattery]

To me OR is synonymous with VR vaporware.

The first 3D headset I personally demoed was in the '90s. I don't need to tell you how that worked out.

And supposing it makes it to market will it actually be good enough to be anything more than a gimmick?

It's beyond obvious that we could use something more than a fixed-size 2D rectangle into computing devices. So I know that eventually the technology, software, and business models will come together to make some kind of stereo viewing device a practical reality.

But what reason is there to think OR is that device?

Tangent aside, what you say is why Facebook/the Rift folks will need to show us why we need this in our lives, i.e. same scenario as with any technological device ever created before.

I wouldn't say they have a 'brand' at all. They have a following and even a buzz, but what they don't have, is loyal customers, unlike many huge and influential brands. I wish them well, but geek buzz does not always translate into success. Sometimes it just turns sour. Marketing will be everything, but dumping platforms indefinitely is dubious marketing and a sign of weakness.

Correct, which is why many (including myself) see it as a niche product at the moment. I wish Rift and Co. the best in trying to prove to us that this is something we will really want.

 

[kmanmx]

Of course it is.

If Second Life taught us anything, people don't want to live in a virtual world. They want to live in the real world with bits of the digital world around them at their convenience. Living with the virtual in your primary field of vision will not fly.

Fad.

Ditto Google Glass.

Who said people are going to live with a VR HMD strapped to their head ? It's an entertainment and education device, and possible even a productivity device. It's not something you wear 24/7.


I'm not saying the first version of VR like the CV1 will sell hundreds of millions and everyone will love it, of course not. But it won't be long until it's the size of a pair of glasses, and wearing it will allow you to replace your bulky monitors at a desk because you can simply render your desktop to as many 'virtual' screens as you want of any size, all around you.

Take a look at this application for the Rift, called Virtual Desktop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JynN5mmZ0KQ

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

The latest version of OS X, currently 10.10.3 Yosemite, will run on hardware a few years older than the current models

You don't need to tell me that. My 2007 iMac is running the latest version of everything acceptably well. The only modifications I've made since getting it is I upgraded from 2 GB of RAM to 4 GB (which was a BTO option when I got it in 2007, but I didn't need that much RAM until ~2012.) I'm not sure Yosemite would be running as well as it is if I hadn't gotten that upgrade.

Planning on replacing it with a 15" rMBP w/ Skylake whenever Intel & Apple want to get around to releasing that, whether it's later this year or not until sometime next year.

 

[coolfactor]

I hope eventually the computer will be contained in the Rift itself. No external dependency.

If Apple were making it, that's how it would be. But Facebook and others aren't Apple.

 

[LordVic]

Who said people are going to live with a VR HMD strapped to their head ? It's an entertainment and education device, and possible even a productivity device. It's not something you wear 24/7.


I'm not saying the first version of VR like the CV1 will sell hundreds of millions and everyone will love it, of course not. But it won't be long until it's the size of a pair of glasses, and wearing it will allow you to replace your bulky monitors at a desk because you can simply render your desktop to as many 'virtual' screens as you want of any size, all around you.

Take a look at this application for the Rift, called Virtual Desktop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JynN5mmZ0KQ

Id more rather see, instead of ramming the current 2d paradigm of a UI into VR, someone come up with a fully manipulatable 3d UI to take full advantage of 3d depth of field in vision and interaction.

Combine a VR and leapmotion together and I think it'll be awesome.

 

[NotJamesCameron]

So, the headset will be wireless? How will that not be laggy as hell?

John Carmack has been tweeting a lot about going to great lengths on the software side to eliminate/minimize lag, saying that even tiny amounts of lag completely ruined the experience.

Yet, as anyone who's ever used a wireless controller, keyboard, or mouse for gaming can tell you, wireless has enough lag that I don't see how a wireless Oculus Rift headset would be nearly as good as a wired one.

 

[swarmster]

Having said that, I'm surprised Oculus Rift thinks that OS X is such a small market as to not be worth targeting. I can't find any numbers on the matter, but I'd expect a large number of people in game development (less than half, but more than you see for general computer usage) using OS X. So they're shooting themselves in the foot.

I'm not so sure this is because Oculus has decided OS X is too small a market. Oculus has proposed NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 and a 3.3GHz i5 CPU as their Rift platform. Almost all of Apple's computers use weaker mobile graphics chips. The Mac Pro, meanwhile, has dual FirePros, which are hard to compare.

Even when the specs improve there will be architectural considerations. As Oculus has said, "many discrete GPU laptops have their external video output connected to the integrated GPU and drive the external output via hardware and software mechanisms that can’t support the Rift". So with no consumer-grade hardware from Apple to support their platform, why push development?

 

[MikhailT]

It's good they have a spec requirement done now, which means they will tailor that as the baseline and by the time Rift comes out next year, cheaper and more powerful hardware will be out by then.

I hope Apple includes Vulkan support in the next release of OS X. It would be nice if the same game could perform as good in OS X as it does in Windows, but that isn't currently the case. Not even for Blizzard games which are developed in parallel with the Windows version.

Given Apple's history of updating OpenGL drivers, I wouldn't expect to see Vulkan in OS X for another year or two.

Vulkan has the potential to be a big gamechanger for Apple, it should encourage a faster adoption of cross-platform games and better performance assuming Apple gives a crap about gaming on OS X.

iOS on the other hand is more likely to gain Vulkan sooner as it already have Metal that's similar.

 

[kmanmx]

Id more rather see, instead of ramming the current 2d paradigm of a UI into VR, someone come up with a fully manipulatable 3d UI to take full advantage of 3d depth of field in vision and interaction.

Combine a VR and leapmotion together and I think it'll be awesome.

Oh absolutely. But it's incredibly difficult. For a start, the Leapmotion is simply not good enough. The field of view is too low, the occlusion issues too problematic, and it's range too low. Not good.

Creating a 3D UI that's functional and efficient is a task being tackled by a lot of people. No one is really sure how to do it. Just like it took a while for people to design a good UI for monitors, and then smartphones, the same will be true for VR.

So, the headset will be wireless? How will that not be laggy as hell?

John Carmack has been tweeting a lot about going to great lengths on the software side to eliminate/minimize lag, saying that even tiny amounts of lag completely ruined the experience.

Yet, as anyone who's ever used a wireless controller, keyboard, or mouse for gaming can tell you, wireless has enough lag that I don't see how a wireless Oculus Rift headset would be nearly as good as a wired one.

The headset is not wireless. It uses HDMI 1.3. The motion to photon latency is under 20ms.

 

[swarmster]

So, the headset will be wireless? How will that not be laggy as hell?

John Carmack has been tweeting a lot about going to great lengths on the software side to eliminate/minimize lag, saying that even tiny amounts of lag completely ruined the experience.

Yet, as anyone who's ever used a wireless controller, keyboard, or mouse for gaming can tell you, wireless has enough lag that I don't see how a wireless Oculus Rift headset would be nearly as good as a wired one.

The headset will not be wireless. HDMI and two USB 3 ports required.

 

[MikhailT]

Also, someone mentioned about VR being the next social network and how Rift is the harbinger of it.

Rift definitely will not be the one for socializing, it's already lost in that area. I believe Microsoft has it right with the AR set, HoloLens. That got more people excited than Rift.

 

[seamer]

OS X is also a free upgrade, and will be free in perpetuity, while Windows 10 is only a free upgrade for the first year it is on the market. And judging by the Technical Preview, which is available, it is chock full of bugs, and it may take more than a year for these to be worked out. So by then, it won't be a free upgrade anymore.

The latest version of OS X, currently 10.10.3 Yosemite, will run on hardware a few years older than the current models, which allows for a sizable percentage of Mac users to install it. So, I don't think this will be much of an issue, but I do agree with you that there is a big installed base of OS X gamers, more than the tech media is talking about.

There's nothing to say Win10 won't become permanently free after release.

 

[gprovida]

In general, I find playing the focus on PC for games or similarly iOS for mobile, and other platforms later is an indicator of challenges in business model, execution, and/or technical challenge.

Therefore, I suspect Oculus is skating on thin ice and a lot more fragile and vulnerable than they are publicly admitting.

 

[LordVic]

Oh absolutely. But it's incredibly difficult. For a start, the Leapmotion is simply not good enough. The field of view is too low, the occlusion issues too problematic, and it's range too low. Not good.

Creating a 3D UI that's functional and efficient is a task being tackled by a lot of people. No one is really sure how to do it. Just like it took a while for people to design a good UI for monitors, and then smartphones, the same will be true for VR.

Oh no doubt. I've got the leap motion (was an early backer) and have been... dissapointed? in it.

I was hoping for some new UI that leveraged air gestures, but so far the best I've seen is making your screen mimick "touch" screens... poorly.

I'm just hoping that by the time the Rift hits 1.0 and sells retail. a leap motion style trackign will be inclusive.

The fact that the Rift is taking so long as well is also something weird. It seemed that more was accomplished before Facebook's aquisition than after. once facebook got involved, Occulus went quiet. it seems to have dissapeared into development hell.

the last week when they announced retail for 2016 was the first out of them in a long time. And i worry that it might be too late. With HoloLense (yes, different tech), HTC's whatever, and Samsung in the game of VR, it's very possible that Facebook has taken too long to get the Rift going. The first DK was in 2012 already. For the Billions facebook has allegedly had to put into this project, it's sure taking them a long time

 

[Kavok]

Yep! It sounds like Bungie and Halo all over again. Microsoft delaying the Mac development means "Never."

P.S. Woohoo! Post #69! lol

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Oh no doubt. I've got the leap motion (was an early backer) and have been... dissapointed? in it.

Yes, I agree. The apps for the thing have been lackluster. Great idea, but proving to be disappointing. I used it for a total of 2 days.

 

[guzhogi]

I'm still waiting for this.

 

[ToroidalZeus]

I'm not surprised about the OSX pause, but im shocked over the linux pause. With steam machines coming out later this year, along with steam and htc's vive headset, and vulkan in the mix. I would imagine you would be missing a big boat by not concentrating on windows and linux for a VR product at the moment.

Games on Windows use the DirectX API. Games on Linux and Mac OS X use OpenGL. What'd be shocking is if they support Linux without Mac or Mac without Linux as coding for both is almost identical.

----------

To me OR is synonymous with VR vaporware.

The first 3D headset I personally demoed was in the '90s. I don't need to tell you how that worked out.

And supposing it makes it to market will it actually be good enough to be anything more than a gimmick?

It's beyond obvious that we could use something more than a fixed-size 2D rectangle into computing devices. So I know that eventually the technology, software, and business models will come together to make some kind of stereo viewing device a practical reality.

But what reason is there to think OR is that device?

Well IMO gaming has gotten really stale. VR can open a whole new dimension to gaming.

OR only needs 1 killer app, what excel was for IBM or halo was for MS. Just one game to make it truly successful.

 

[D.T.]

Besides that point, there are too many VR hardware sets these days and no good content for them. Thats the void that needs filled, not another company with a viewer.

Agreed. We're working on it

 

[cube]

So, the headset will be wireless? How will that not be laggy as hell?

Do you realise how cumbersome cables are for real VR?

If anything, it should be 60GHz, I don't know about the lag of that.

 

[twilo]

Sticking to Windows makes perfect sense actually... it has the biggest "gaming" community overall.

I recently looked into reddit's community of PC/gaming, etc. and its thriving to say the least. There are people spending 3-4k on PCs out there..

http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/
http://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/

John Carmack has been tweeting a lot about going to great lengths on the software side to eliminate/minimize lag, saying that even tiny amounts of lag completely ruined the experience.

The fact that Carmack is on their team is the only reason I am remotely interested...

 

[Hastings101]

The number of people that play any games at all on Windows is probably larger than all the Mac users combined lol, makes perfect sense.