Did Oculus rip off Valve?

[Melmix]

Read this article:

http://uploadvr.com/valve-shared-vr-oculus/

So according to this article, Oculus stole pretty much everything from Valve and are more or less doing everything wrong in regards to having an open VR platform. Does anyone know if this is correct? I must admit after reading the article I started thinking about selling my Rift and buying a Vive instead 😞

[jon]

Gigantoad said:

CharlieHobbes said:

But considering they have different takes on tracking methods, controllers and styling I have to conclude just about the only similarity between the two devices is that they have screens.

I'm not in the camp who thinks anyone got ripped off, but come on now. The notion that the only similarity is "both have a screen" is very silly. They have the same resolution, both use a screen per eye, use the same type of lenses, generally work the exact same way except maybe one has ATW and the other doesn't.

I'm not sure I'd argue that they use the same lenses, and that is an element that was copied.  There's nothing magical in the decision to use fresnel lenses over what was in the DK2, and Valve certainly isn't the first company to use such a lens in a head-mounted device. The Rift's fresnel lenses are arguably better to boot, due to way the they're constructed.  I think the decision to use non-fresnel lenses in the DK2 was more driven by keeping costs on development units down as opposed to not being aware of them.

[Hanover]

I think a Vive employee coming out and saying this in public says more than anything else.  

Something is making Steam/HTC nervous.  Animals generally lash out when they are backed into a corner.

[jon]

Anonymous sources report that Yates is just 'jelly' Oculus chose Abrash instead.

[Inscothen]

Are you all still going on about this? Yes, Oculus copied with permission and then built on the tech to make the Rift using their own design considerations. Abrash said that they were helping Oculus, so why does even one person disbelieve?

Look. See.They did!
http://i.imgur.com/7mOS7SF.jpg
But that was the whole point to Valve sharing with Oculus.

 

[CharlieHobbes]

Gigantoad said:

CharlieHobbes said:

But considering they have different takes on tracking methods, controllers and styling I have to conclude just about the only similarity between the two devices is that they have screens.

I'm not in the camp who thinks anyone got ripped off, but come on now. The notion that the only similarity is "both have a screen" is very silly. They have the same resolution, both use a screen per eye, use the same type of lenses, generally work the exact same way except maybe one has ATW and the other doesn't.

The fact that they use the same resolution has little to do with copying and more with the state of technology and the limits of the videocards that have to drive them. 
Please also note that there were 2 Oculus DK versions before CV1, each with different resolutions.
So if you say Oculus copied Vive I will say that Oculus iterated on it's DKs and Vive when finding out the final specs for CV1 copied the CV1 to retain parity. 

I dare you to provide anymore proof for your statement than I can prove for mine. 

The fresnel lenses are no industry secret, it's currently the easiest way to solve many of the contstraints of the hardware. 

I'm glad you mention ATW because this is by far the most impactful element I found when comparing both sets. 
ATW really does add value and Vive would do well to get their counterpart of ATW up to scratch soon.

It's probably also one of many factors as to why Oculus isn't allowed to address the Vive on a hardware level, because how incredibly embarrasing would it be if software run from Oculus Home on the Vive benefits from ATW and the exact same game bought on Steam and running through OpenVR runs like shit. 

No Oculus, you are not allowed to drive the Vive directly, you have to go through OpenVR/SteamVR untill we fix our software, otherwise people may choose to buy Elite Dangerous from you instead of Steam. 

No? Maybe?

Whatevs, it's Friday, I'm gonna pour me a drink and play some Rift games.
Judder free, without crashes. 

[Inscothen]

"So if you say Oculus copied Vive I will say that Oculus iterated on it's
DKs and Vive when finding out the final specs for CV1 copied the CV1 to
retain parity."

Both Rift and Vive are iterations of the Valve prototype. Abrash said in one of his talks(Steam Dev Days) that Valve helped Oculus(with DK2 and Rift) by sharing research, collaboration, and demoing their 2013 prototype.

 Iribe has told the story of Valve sharing in 2013 and if you look at my image above you can see Mark Zuckerberg trying Valve's prototype in January 2014 before the Facebook acquisition. Oculus then hired Atman Binstock and Abrash among others to help make that prototype into an affordable consumer VR headset. Alan Yates mentioned that Valve helped spec out the initial needed displays suitable for VR with Samsung.

HTC went to Steam Dev Days in January 2014 and afterwards decided to partner with Valve. The Vive is also an iteration of that Valve prototype, but used further research(Lighthouse tracking and controllers).

[CharlieHobbes]

Inscothen said:

"So if you say Oculus copied Vive I will say that Oculus iterated on it's
DKs and Vive when finding out the final specs for CV1 copied the CV1 to
retain parity."

Both Rift and Vive are iterations of the Valve prototype. Abrash said in one of his talks(Steam Dev Days) that Valve helped Oculus(with DK2 and Rift) by sharing research, collaboration, and demoing their 2013 prototype.

 Iribe has told the story of Valve sharing in 2013 and if you look at my image above you can see Mark Zuckerberg trying Valve's prototype in January 2014 before the Facebook acquisition. Oculus then hired Atman Binstock and Abrash among others to help make that prototype into an affordable consumer VR headset. Alan Yates mentioned that Valve helped spec out the initial needed displays suitable for VR with Samsung.

HTC went to Steam Dev Days in January 2014 and afterwards decided to partner with Valve. The Vive is also an iteration of that Valve prototype, but used further research(Lighthouse tracking and controllers).

Excellent, way to miss the point...

[Zenbane]

After that great link was posted that tells the whole story, there are only 2 options:

1) Accept it and close the debate
2) Ignore it and continue to "spin" the facts

We all know what internet forums perfer  😄

[Inscothen]

CharlieHobbes said:

Inscothen said:

"So if you say Oculus copied Vive I will say that Oculus iterated on it's
DKs and Vive when finding out the final specs for CV1 copied the CV1 to
retain parity."

Both Rift and Vive are iterations of the Valve prototype. Abrash said in one of his talks(Steam Dev Days) that Valve helped Oculus(with DK2 and Rift) by sharing research, collaboration, and demoing their 2013 prototype.

 Iribe has told the story of Valve sharing in 2013 and if you look at my image above you can see Mark Zuckerberg trying Valve's prototype in January 2014 before the Facebook acquisition. Oculus then hired Atman Binstock and Abrash among others to help make that prototype into an affordable consumer VR headset. Alan Yates mentioned that Valve helped spec out the initial needed displays suitable for VR with Samsung.

HTC went to Steam Dev Days in January 2014 and afterwards decided to partner with Valve. The Vive is also an iteration of that Valve prototype, but used further research(Lighthouse tracking and controllers).

Excellent, way to miss the point...

I understand your point. It's just that what you said is nonsense.

[Zenbane]

Inscothen said:

CharlieHobbes said:

Inscothen said:

"So if you say Oculus copied Vive I will say that Oculus iterated on it's
DKs and Vive when finding out the final specs for CV1 copied the CV1 to
retain parity."

Both Rift and Vive are iterations of the Valve prototype. Abrash said in one of his talks(Steam Dev Days) that Valve helped Oculus(with DK2 and Rift) by sharing research, collaboration, and demoing their 2013 prototype.

 Iribe has told the story of Valve sharing in 2013 and if you look at my image above you can see Mark Zuckerberg trying Valve's prototype in January 2014 before the Facebook acquisition. Oculus then hired Atman Binstock and Abrash among others to help make that prototype into an affordable consumer VR headset. Alan Yates mentioned that Valve helped spec out the initial needed displays suitable for VR with Samsung.

HTC went to Steam Dev Days in January 2014 and afterwards decided to partner with Valve. The Vive is also an iteration of that Valve prototype, but used further research(Lighthouse tracking and controllers).

Excellent, way to miss the point...

I understand your point. It's just that what you said is nonsense.

High level math looks like nonsense to a pre-schooler as well.

History and facts are not nonsense.