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Comment by alcari | Hacker News Reader

But Valve hasn't locked out the Oculus. Plug one into a computer with Steam and it'll pop up a prompt to setup SteamVR just the same as plugging in a Vive. It even includes a link to Oculus-specific instructions: you need to set it up with the Oculus app and change a setting there to enable the Oculus device for use outside the Oculus store.

(Source: anecdotal experience from plugging a Rift into a computer that didn't have a real GPU; no idea if there are any other issues.)

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True right now they are compatible, however it seems like that Facebook and Valve are on a collision course over what they think the ecosystem should be (and who is going to be the "winner").

Sounds to me more like the Apple Vs. Google "ecosystems".

Sure, Google has a Play store and a competing OS, but it's not like you can't find Chrome in the iOS store.

its interesting that you picked chrome as an example, with it being a wrapper around Apple's webkit on the iOS platform

Chrome has had more than one JavaScript engine. They're all still Chrome to the user, and that's all that really matters. If they decide to rewrite the UI in Lisp and use Servo, it will still be Chrome in the ways that count, just like nobody cares if a game has DirectX and OpenGL versions.

Different HMDs are arguably more similar than different GPUs, and they manage to support the same software, but in the early days there were plenty of Glide-only games. That didn't work out so well. Most people will probably just use tools that optimize for any popular HMD with little enough effort that only contracts will make exclusives make sense.

There's a lot of features that Chrome on Android supports but that can't be added to Chrome on iOS because of Apple's policies. Important features, like fully offline-capable webapps.

I can see your point, but every platform has its own restrictions. Desktop Chrome can do a lot that Android Chrome can't. There are real security benefits to not allowing downloaded code to run on a device without passing through Apple's JavaScript engine. Of course security and features are often at odds. Outside of tech forums, I've never heard anyone complain about missing features in iOS Chrome, so I'm just saying that to most people, the interface, bookmark sync, etc. is what makes it Chrome, not the JavaScript engine, and the tech it's built on will continue to change over time, bringing new features and new restrictions.

Yes, because it shows Google's dedication to not leaving people out. Apple doesn't allow Google to use the real chrome rendering engine, and instead requires that every webview be webkit-based. Google would absolutely use their own if they were allowed.

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