Oculus No Longer Lets Customers Move Purchased Software To Non-Oculus Hardware (boingboing.net)

AmiMoJo quotes a report from Boing Boing: As recently as 5 months ago, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey was promising his customers that they could play the software they bought from the Oculus store on "whatever they want," guaranteeing that the company wouldn't shut down apps that let customers move their purchased software to non-Oculus hardware. But now, Oculus has changed its DRM to exclude Revive, a "proof-of-concept compatibility layer between the Oculus SDK [software development kit] and OpenVR," that let players buy software in the Oculus store and run it on competing hardware. The company billed the update as an anti-piracy measure, but Revive's developer, who call themselves "Libre VR," points out that the DRM only prevents piracy using non-Oculus hardware, and allows for unlimited piracy by Oculus owners.

Comments

PC master race!

[Anonymous Coward]

Totally open platform with no restrictions, except for Windows 10 spyware, Oculus DRM, Origin DRM, Blu-ray DRM...

Re:PC master race!

[NIGGERpenisgoodPENIS]

In my opinion ... Sounds like a great reason to never do business with Oculus under any circumstance. Apparently they are proven liars. "We will never have this restriction!" ... "okay we have this restriction, because piracy!" "No we don't care about piracy as long as you had to buy our hardware" Liars. Anyone who made the decision to buy from them, wholly or partially, because of the former promise has just been the victim of a bait-and-switch.

Re:PC master race!

[Anonymous Coward]

You go, girl! Show that straw man who's boss!

Re:PC master race!

[AK Marc]

Yeah, 'cause when people did that after sony's issues, they've since closed, as the boycott by 0.01% of DRM haters has such an effect.

Re:PC master race!

[NIGGERpenisgoodPENIS]

Yeah, 'cause when people did that after sony's issues, they've since closed, as the boycott by 0.01% of DRM haters has such an effect.

The company closing down is about a visceral desire for vengeance.

Recognizing and not buying from liars - and not taking this risk at all by not buying DRM in general - is about looking after your own interests.

While it's possible that both desires can be satisfied, the latter is definitely more achievable (thus more rational) than the other. Since I did not specify, interpreting my previous comment as the former alone would be an assumption on your part.

Re:PC master race!

[janoc]

The big difference is that the 0.01% of DRM haters were a drop in a bucket of Sony customers but they are pretty much *all* the clients Oculus has at the moment.

Outside from the early adopters who have pre-ordered the device, developers and some journalists nobody else has Rift. And these are the people who are getting hosed - first by getting the SDK closed, Linux/Mac versions cancelled, then shipping being delayed, the preorders not being honored/devices given to retail first, now the DRM BS.

Pissing off your only and very vocal customer base while there is a competitor with a better product is a seriously daft move.

*bullet burn* That was a close one.

[Pezbian]

Wow. Looks like I definitely made the right decision cancelling my Rift preorder and spending the extra dosh on a Vive.

VR is supposed to be about getting up and moving anyway. I've been looking forward to this for 20 years now.

Re: *bullet burn* That was a close one.

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's not forget the Linux users who kick-started the project, and then got told they were dropping Linux support later.

Good products, but shady management is probably ruining the company

Oculus is worse than microsoft

[NotInHere]

* Only supported OS is Windows
* Always connected to the internet, constanly spying on you
* Now this

Re:Oculus is worse than microsoft

[dmbasso]

Yes, MS loves UNIX standards. Like when they decided to use \ as folder delimiter, just to be different. And instead of using about any-fucking-thing else, they had to pick exactly the escape character. The Devil himself was envious of their ingenuity, which was eclipsed only many years later, with the launch of IE6.

Re:*bullet burn* That was a close one.

[WilliamGeorge]

You made the right choice. Having used both, the Vive is a much more fun and rewarding experience. Room scale makes *all* the difference :)

Re:Palmer Suckey

[PPH]

Palmer Luckey: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it further."

This simplifies the choices.

[Thanatiel]

As many among you, I plan to buy a VR set in the next few months.
The choice between the brands was kind of difficult.
Thanks to this, it just became one brand easier.
So, thanks, I guess ...

Re:This simplifies the choices.

[MrDoh!]

As someone who got a Vive last Friday, you won't regret it. Being able to get up and wander around makes this a whole new experience to behold.

Re:Any official word from Oculus yet?

[janoc]

Actually Oculus admitted that they added checks to "curb piracy and to protect the integrity of their platform":

http://motherboard.vice.com/re...

Re:Kickstarter "Investing"

[safetyinnumbers]

At least the backers who paid for the development headsets are getting a free consumer version.

You have been royally fucked !

[Taco Cowboy]

... Sounds like a great reason to never do business with Oculus under any circumstance ...

Face it! Oculus Rift has screwed all of you and Facebook has is laughing at your idiocy ... and if that's not enough ... you can't do shit about it, except for whining over here and in reddit

You guys are no longer 'movers and shakers' of the tech world, them media heads, aka 'journalists' at CNN or BBC have taken over

Right now they have much more influences than all of you combined

Over at BBC and CNN those so-called 'tech-savvy journalists' are still heaping hosannahs at Oculus Rift, and on their reports, they get some 'researchers' from 'universities', to foretell the 'wonderful future of Virtual Reality', with Oculus Rift

Another fishy thing is that you never hear any mention of "Vive" or any other alternative to Oculus Rift on the same media channels

I smell massive ad campaign looming

Re:*bullet burn* That was a close one.

[zurmikopa]

Because I'm insane, I actually own both of them and have spent a fair amount of time using each. (Was an original kickstarter backer so they sent me a CV1, then I also bought a Vive)

I like the actual headset part from Oculus better, and they currently have more games that are actually fleshed out games instead of tech demos.
Built in headphones are also way less of a pain than providing your own as well.

However, the Vive room-scale & hand controllers makes it a better overall experience. Standing, walking around, and using your hands just makes it vastly more immersive. It will be interesting to see if any of this changes after the Oculus touch controllers are released, but I am skeptical that they will be able to do room-scale tracking that's as accurate as the vive just by adding another camera. Even though I don't think they will, I'm hopeful they do, however, because I really do like the greater level of polish the Oculus device has.

Amusingly enough, I ordered a Vive after it was released and got it about 2 weeks ago. A friend of mine who preordered a Rift very early (possibly first day?) still hasn't gotten his.

Re:*bullet burn* That was a close one.

[Saffaya]

I have an Oculus DK2 (and DK1), and have been doing room-scale with the DK2 for month, which actually uses an off-the-shelf webcam.
I have no doubt that the CV1, that uses a custom camera with higher resolution and wider field of view, will give even better results.

Using the Leap Motion in addition to the DK2 already gives you unbelievable presence in VR. You have to experience it. You truely have your hands in VR, down to the individual flex of any finger.

My killer-app for VR is MocuMocuDance, which is available from the author (and thus out of oculus shop DRM) and runs on both Oculus and Vive.
Thus I believe my best option is to use the Oculus CV1 (slightly better headset) coupled with Leap Motion.
However, this kind of oculus DRM restriction that is implemented as discussed in the article sure isn't pleasing me, and I would advise anyone to do like I did : determine what your killer-app is before choosing your VR hardware.

Re:*bullet burn* That was a close one.

[ultranova]

However, this kind of oculus DRM restriction that is implemented as discussed in the article sure isn't pleasing me, and I would advise anyone to do like I did : determine what your killer-app is before choosing your VR hardware.

Actually, didn't we see this with 3D cards when they came out? We're currently in the Glide phase and will eventually move to OpenGL/Direct3D phase of common interfaces decoupled from hardware (or the whole thing will die off). Combined with the frankly ridiculous price for a niche entertainment product with just a few games or apps, I'd say the best option is to simply wait (or use Google Cardboard if you must).

Being an early adapter is a suckers game unless you're so rich the price is pocket change for you and you enjoy new technology for its own sake.

Re:Palmer Suckey

[Guppy]

Palmer Luckey: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it further."

"Emperor Zuckerberg is not as forgiving as I am."

Linux? Yes! I mean no. I misspoke.

[wjcofkc]

If I remember correctly, initial funding was largely provided by Linux users with the promise their product would work with it. Now it's Windows only. How many times can they backtrack? Is there no end to this bullshit?

Re:Class action lawsuit

[janoc]

I don't think you can sue over a company trying hard to commit corporate suicide, at least unless you are a shareholder.