Meta will no longer be hiring 300 people for the company's VR/AR operating system project. Will Meta no longer be pushing through with its own project XROS.
Meta Pulls Plug on Custom Operating System
According to the story by The Verge, Meta has just reportedly pulled the plug on its very own custom operating system that was expected to power the upcoming virtual and augmented reality headsets. To add, the full reasoning of the company and its future plans remain unclear.
As per a report by the The Information, the company known as Facebook, now Meta, has suspended the development of a project that the company calls XROS, which is named after XR, back in November. To add, XR is an umbrella term that is used for AR/VR.
Android-Based Operating Systems Expected to be Used
This would leave Meta with the Android-based operating system already being used in Quest or the previous Oculus VR devices. This is something that offers convenience but also makes Meta dependent on the OS of another company.
The article by The Information notes that XROS was initially developed in 2017 and had over 300 people working on it. To add, it is synonymous with the "reality operating system" that Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, and Andrew Bosworth, Meta CTO, have discussed publicly in the past.
Zuckerberg Announces Microkernel-based Operating System
In June 2021, Zuckerberg described the company as making a "microkernel-based operating system" that should give the company tight control over every single layer of its hardware. In addition, the Meta CEO said that the team was "pretty far along" when it came to the initiative pegging its own existence to the "not so distant future."
As of the moment, there isn't any sign that the canceling of XROS will be affecting the plans of Meta to produce new AR glasses that already include prototypes named Project Aria and Nazare. It might, however, still use an Android-based OS.
XROS Development Stopped as Mark Lucovsky Leaves the Company
XROS development reportedly stopped soon after team lead Mark Lucovsky, from Microsoft, announced that he was leaving to work on another similar AR OS project at Google. Lucovsky told The Information that he departed after former Facebook employee Frances Haugen accused the company in public of harmful business practices during a 60 Minutes interview due to "the company's new metaverse-centric focus," which was a reference to Meta's interest in VR and AR-heavy virtual worlds.
Zuckerberg has been looking into VR and AR as a way for them to escape the dominance of both Apple and Google when it comes to mobile phones. The company currently remains interested in building its own OS, potentially including a revived version of the Meta XROS.
Related Article: Apple Allegedly Hires Meta AR Communications Chief for Similar Role in Preparation of AR and VR Headset
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian B.
