Facebook is hoping to gain independence from Google and Android, making its own Operating System for its growing family of Facebook, Oculus, and Portal devices. This could be Facebook's next step into making its own independent, integrated social ecosystem, especially after integrating Facebook into the Oculus Rift.
Facebook OS
According to a report by The Information, Facebook is developing its own Operating System (OS) as well as investing billions of dollars in further developing the technology of Augmented Reality. Facebook has tapped on to Microsoft Engineer Mark Lucovsky, who co-authored the Windows NT operating system. To put this into perspective, Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 are all still part of the Windows NT family, and the latter is still labeled with the Windows NT 10.0 user agent.
This is not to say that Facebook's OS will be based on Windows, as the limited information that the report contains only really says that Facebook will be making their own OS. Ficus Kirkpatrick, one of Facebook's AR and VR executives, said that Facebook's future hardware devices, along the lines of the Oculus Quest and Portal perhaps, will no longer rely on Google and Android.
Augmented Reality Hardware
One of the hardware devices that Facebook's planned OS is designed for is a pair of Augmented Reality Glasses, something Facebook has confirmed way back in 2015. More recently, news broke out that Facebook has partnered with eyewear giant Luxottica, the parent company of Ray-Ban, to develop AR glasses that would eventually replace smartphones. The hardware for the AR glasses, codename "Stella", is likely in the works with the help of Luxottica today, and Facebook has finally begun work on developing its software.
"We really want to make sure the next generation has space for us," Andrew Bosworth, Facebook VP of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, told The Information. "We don't think we can trust the marketplace or competitors to ensure that's the case. And so we're gonna do it ourselves."
Alongside Facebook, further development in AR technology is being spearheaded by other tech giants such as Google, which released the Glass Enterprise Edition 2, and Apple, which is planning to release its own device by 2020.
Facebook Mind Reading Devices
"So what if you could type directly from your brain?" asked Regina Dugan back in 2017 when she was VP of engineering and head of Building 8, the research and development department of Facebook. While she has since then moved on from Facebook, Facebook has continued to develop the technology.
According to The Information's report, they've shrunk the technology from the size of a refrigerator to something that fits in your hand. It's still very far from small enough to be integrated into a smartphone, but Facebook plans to continue with its progress.
Much of the work is expected to continue once Facebook migrates its Oculus, AR/VR offices in Burlingame, California. The new 770,000-square-foot campus will house its AR/VR team by late 2020.
