• commander@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Go Valve go. Screw Facebook/Meta, Google, Apple. I want the future of VR to be standard desktop Linux centric. The iOS/Android state of mobile is annoyingly restrictive compared to even Windows let alone desktop/server Linux

  • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
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    2 days ago

    If a company can dump $100B into failed project and still be profitable they have too much money. Jesus, imagine would would happen if this money went to the workers instead…

    • JensSpahnpasta@feddit.orgOP
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      2 days ago

      It’s actually crazy that you can burn $100B in a project that everybody mocked from the beginnings and still be CEO after that while having earned billions in compensation

    • 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      imagine would would happen if this money went to the workers instead…

      where do you think the money went? I imagine a lot of it went to workers salaries…

      [sweating profusely] Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!

      • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
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        2 days ago

        You’re right, a lot of it probably went to the devs but from what I’m reading the cash burn is so bad because it’s extremely chaotic in there, lot’s of bad decisions, canceled projects, lot’s of directors swapping places. No idea what part of it went to low ranking devs and what went to consultants and building useless prototypes.

        • rothaine@lemmy.zip
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          2 days ago

          My understanding is that Facebook’s culture is very cutthroat. Throw other people under the bus, try to make your rivals’ project fail, do a huge unnecessary refactor to “make a name” for yourself, that sort of stuff.

    • Damage@feddit.it
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      2 days ago

      imagine would would happen if this money went to the workers instead

      imagine if they used it develop poor countries

    • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      My guess is they collected enough unique data from people using the headsets that its a wash.

      • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
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        2 days ago

        No, from what I’m reading they just pump money into it senselessly. VR/AR devices are $1B a year market and they pumped like $18B into it in a year. They just don’t care because they make so much money they can burn it.

  • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    If they can burn a billion dollars on shit everyone else knew was a failure from day 1, they can pay a fucking reasonable tax rate

  • Bongles@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    One more piece of bad news for VR

    VR is doing fine. It’s a niche hobby for people like myself to feel like you’re inside of a game, movie, or porn. If you’re someone who does work on your own device, you can even work in VR.

    The metaverse was a ridiculous idea, that is beaten by VRChat.

    • Gonzako@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      The US economy has devolved from an economy where you gain money by making and selling things to an economy where investing in the stock market and then taking out loans on that stock to keep investing is a better way to keep making money. When was the last time someone rich became poor?

    • hector@lemmy.today
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      2 days ago

      100 billion must be in lost market capitalization, not real money, just like tesla is theoretically worth a trillion dollars, no one could recognize that money.

        • hector@lemmy.today
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          2 days ago

          Good god I figured it must have been wrong as it’s such a large amount of money. I wonder how much of that they borrowed and how much they paid in cash. They might be paying astronomical interest payments on all of that.

          Just goes to show how we have all the wrong people in charge in the west, at every level from government to business from the ceo on down to middle managers. Zuck is case and point. Well, as someone else posted, this article about their failure has legs. Unlike his stupid metaverse, that no one seemed even slightly interested in from the start.

          • jj4211@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Yeah, they bought a modest, niche product with a likely viable business case, and then bet they could make it an everyman’s device for all their socializing and experiencing events like sports and music…

            The people that actually wanted the device got to take a back seat to them chasing non-existent markets for it… Their aspirations so impossibly high that a niche device could no longer justify itself against the money spent chasing that non-existant market… So something that should have been for some VR nerds to be happy and sustain the business while the rest of the world shrugs and say ‘I don’t get it’ becomes an ‘Obviously this is a failure of a concept and no one should bother doing this’.

            • hector@lemmy.today
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              2 days ago

              Classic case of yes men-ism. Everyone around zuck tells him he’s the greatest, smartest, infallible. He likely removed anyone from his life that was willing to tell him he was wrong. He is making money hand over fist, and believes it, he’s special, the laser light of all knowledge shines out of his ass, don’t look directly at it or you can go blind. So he gets an idea, tells his people how he thinks everyone could get into it, they all heartily agree, what a great idea zuck!

              I bet if anyone did tell him it wasn’t, he fired or removed them from his life, and still hasn’t apologized or made amends about it too, and instead doesn’t hold any sort of grudge against the people that told him he was right despite knowing better and being too craven to tell the truth.

      • Rooster326
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        2 days ago

        Bruh they definitely spent real money on developers and marketing.

    • Mark with a Z@suppo.fi
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      2 days ago

      He can afford to do it again and then again again. I guess the idea is to keep gambling in hopes of becoming the dominant comany in a massive industry.

  • db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 days ago

    Lol at all the companies who got rugpulled again because they trusted Zuck’s promises. Get rekt bozos.

  • monad@anarchist.nexus
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    2 days ago

    Great News!

    Nobody should use or support anything Meta. As a matter if principle.

    • clutchtwopointzero@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      The whole concept was dead on arrival. Second Life never took off and it was perplexing to see that Meta thought it could make it work.

      • [object Object]@lemmy.world
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        Second Life never took off

        “In 2013, it had approximately one million regular users.”

        ‘Second Life’ has been chugging along for twenty-two years, with an actual in-game economy and a GDP of 500 million bucks. But clutchtwopointzero here thinks it ‘never took off’.

      • JensSpahnpasta@feddit.orgOP
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        2 days ago

        I mean - it kind of does work. There are millions of people socializing in online games. Playing World of Warcraft with their friends or people they met there. Building crazy things on a Minecraft server while forming friendships. Playing on that Counterstrike Server for decades with the same people. Forming that guild or that clan in an MMORPG. There is something that does work. Not sure why Zuckerberg wanted VR to be part of that and that Facebook touch of poo is also not helping, but trying to build “World of Warcraft for your aunt” is not the worst idea.

        • [deleted]@piefed.world
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          2 days ago

          Games have something to do with socialization as an extra benefit.

          The meta shit was conceived of as 3d advertising with socialization as an extra benefit.

        • thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          i guess, but it woulf require the least likely people to adopt a new and expensive technology. think about how long it took for the older generations to catch on to the internet and smart phones. they may be glued together now but it took 20 years and every single other person on earth getting one to make it happen.

          warcraft for your lonely aunt is a fine idea. making that vr was poorly conceived. it would have to work on a phone AND be more compelling than just taking on call or text.

          but also, the early adopter types that are more or less necessary to get something like this off three ground were never going to like it. that’s us. you can’t create a new tech market segment that wasn’t explicitly asked for without at least considering the nerds. meta has negative trust among nerds. we all saw this as the marketing and data collection tool that it is meant to be.

          it was never going to happen. at least until they have full control of all of our devices and platforms and can just say we need it to continue existing in society now. that or b2b contracts are the only ways i could see this ever taking off. it would take some serious marketing voodoo bullshit to convince any sizable businesses that this would increase profits.