Facebook To Build ‘Eye OS’, Its Own Operating System To Ditch Google
Much of Facebook’s hardware relies on the mercy of Google and its operating system that’s used widely across billions of devices. Facebook is no longer happy about depending on its competition for some of the most important components of their products.
With that in mind, the company put Mark Luckovsky, the co-author of Microsoft’s Windows NT) in charge of building a brand new operating system from scratch. Even though Facebook will soon have its own operating system, all of its smartphone apps will remains available on Android devices as well.
“We really want to make sure the next generation has space for us,” says Facebook’s VP of Hardware, Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth. “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.”
Moving Toward Eye OS
Relying on its own operating system known as Eye OS will allow Facebook more freedom and opportunities to integrate social interactions and better security in their gadgets. Besides, this tech giant will no longer have to worry about disagreements with Google hindering the growth and potential of their products.
Besides building their own operating system, Google is exploring other options such as partnering with different companies to build custom operating systems specifically for augmented reality devices. The focus is put on Facebook’s augmented reality glasses and their most popular AR/VR hardware known as Oculus.
Investing in Better Opportunities
With the goal to improve their AR/VR sector, Facebook has invested quite a large sum of money into a new office for their AR/VR team. The office will be opened in Burlingame, only 15 miles north from the company’s headquarters. With 770,000 square feet in size, the building will host over 4,000 employees, along with spaces with advanced technology such as new labs, prototype areas, and testing fields.
Facebook is also considering to add a retail space in the new building in Burlingame where customers could test out their products before making a purchase. The company has been open to the idea of providing a public experimental space for quite a while now. This will be a space that anyone could visit to test and play with the company’s AR/VR products.
Among all the projects that are currently in place, it is important to address Facebook’s efforts to improve the hardware experience for enterprise level communication. The company is prototyping its own VR video conferencing system that features a smart camera that auto-zooms to keep everyone in the frame. The Facebook Worklplace video call camera will help enterprises change the way they hold meetings in virtual reality.
Rising the Overall Experience
There is no doubt that Facebook has been busy throughout 2019 with planning and executing some of the most ambitious tasks in today’s tech space. They are also working on improving the overall experience across their devices, as well as analyzing user data to target customers with the right ads.
Interestingly, Facebook has also reported progress on their brain-computer interface project. They are designing hardware for controlling interfaces with our minds. As much as this sounds like science fiction, the actual technology that will allow humans to control gadgets with their minds already exists in Facebook’s labs.
On top of that, even though the size of these sensors has shrunk significantly, the hardware is not ready to be placed in smartphones just yet. Overall, Facebook is expected to generate enormous amounts of profits after improving both hardware and social components of their products. More importantly, their innovative projects will pave the way for new technology in 2020 and beyond.
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