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Comment by playpause | Hacker News Reader

The Oculus isn’t just a monitor, it’s a complete computer system with its own OS. If you just want a VR headset that is purely a monitor, buy one of those.

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I agree with OP for regular wired Oculus devices. They are essentially monitors, and I wouldn't expect to have to have an account in order to use a dumb peripheral. For the Quest, you're right, it's more like a computer system with OS, apps, etc. I'd still rather be able to use it without an account, and only create an account if I wanted to interact with online services like apps and games.

Still! why must I log in to simply download an app!? Perhaps publishing an app is a more sensitive matter, then maybe it's worth validating things strictly behind closed doors... but to simply download and use software on a device I own, I can't fathom how we've slipped so far.

> Still! why must I log in to simply download an app!?

You have to pay them, they have to remember you paid them.

And an app store. It obviously needs some kind of login.

I can use an Android or iOS devices without logging into their respective app stores easily, hopefully they allow similar on Oculus.

What would you do with it? Side load apps? The games in the app store are presumably the reason 99% of people buy it.

On android - yes.

Specifically I would sideload fdroid, and then install (free) apps from there since it doesn't need a login.

Or maybe I'd (say, on windows) "sideload" steam, and install apps from there instead of from Oculus.

The idea that the only place I can get apps from is the "official" appstore is ridiculous.

This wouldn't change if it were a store account instead of a device account. Most people use google's play store but this doesn't mean every android device needs a mandatory google account.

Also MacOS and Windows have “App Stores” that you certainly don’t need to be logged into.

The MacOS "App Store" (as in the thing they call the app store, rather than all the other ways you can pay for and install apps) does require you to login. Worse, they block updating the non-os software that came with your computer with logging into that app store.

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