this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2024
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Tech Used to Be Bleeding Edge, Now it’s Just Bleeding | After a decade of scandals and half-assed product launches, people are no longer buying the future Big Tech is selling.::After a decade of scandals and half-assed product launches, people are no longer buying the future Big Tech is selling.

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[–] Meowoem@sh.itjust.works 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Complex tech takes time to develop, who'd have guessed!

[–] HandBreadedTools@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I'm sorry homie but VR is going nowhere. No one outside of a small, niche community even cares about it anymore.

[–] Death@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think VR is doing OK
According to Steam has more number users than either Mac or Linux
And just Quest 2 alone has 20 millions unit sold, same number as XBOX Series X/S that released on the same year
I don't think the situation is that bad

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

20 million sold. 19 million units covered in dust in some box you never check

[–] crimsonpoodle@pawb.social 5 points 9 months ago

Seems anecdotal at best— I play beat Sabre at least a few times a week with the family, which is ironically, still anecdote.

[–] Meowoem@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Ha ok, we'll see how that prediction pans out.

Yes the expensive and complex products available today limit the audience which in turn lowers the attractiveness of the market to creators which further inhibits uptake, the exact same thing is clearly visible in the home computer adoption curve and many similar developments.

First adopters create an ecosystem of markets which results in a growing diversity of established use cases - many ideas fail but some prove to be very efficient and effective as part of a workflow which over going becomes the standard way of doing things.

As there are more things for which vr becomes established it transitions from being something major creators don't really bother with to something that they make a show of supporting - especially as the general ecosystem has become established so things like which menu style to use or how to orientate views have become easy choices. This changes vr from being niche special use to a fairly general tool that a lot of people are used to using.

At that point we'll see a lot of cheap consumer devices which results in a lot more development on the market, especially as natural language input through LLMs make control interfaces easier and similar generative ai make creating vr environments easier.

Vr is going to be something that most people are used to using somewhat regularly, I don't think it'll replace screens but there's a lot of things that we currently do on a screen that will just make more sense in vr

[–] Shadywack@lemmy.world -3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Ha ok, we will see how that prediction plays out, indeed. VR is a dumbass joke that very few people care about. If anything it's been made the butt of even more jokes since Ready Player One came out and emphasized that the dregs of society will just use it as escapism, if we're lucky enough to have a universal basic income.

Trailer trash using it for stupid purposes, and getting real work done with it is still pathetic.

VR is going no-where fast, and the fad has moved on. Even Valve has a shiny new toy to play with as the Steam Deck keeps selling. Nobody cares, and that's ok, because it's a stupid useless tech still.

[–] soEZ@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This sound like a take from some one who never tried vr games or used a vr headset... Once you use even current quest 2/3 you will quickly realize the possibilities and advantages vr can have...the issue is the tech is still not quiet there yet for average consumer (and it was not even close for last 20 years for sure)...we need better compact graphics processing units, and denser screens with better optics designs..these will all happen in time. Assuming we don't die from global warming or ww3. Once the hurdle of high cost/low dpi/relatively limited processing power of now is overcome, vr/ar will be defacto standard for PC gaming and work, as using fixed screens will be inefficient/more expensive. I would use my quest pro for work if it had 40% higher dpi/clarity and I cn easily see the tech getting there in 2-3 years time. Mobile GPU power will take a decade to run games with graphics of today ( I am referring to stand alone headsets, as pcvr is to cumbersome for casual gaming, this will improve with better software and wifi development but wifi 6 is bearly good enough today, so we likely see wifi7 come along and usher in dedicated headsets with console coupling (e.g. wireless VR headset + PlayStation ) (better mobile processors for faster decoding will help a ton as well). Vr/Ar will continue to grow and once it gets critical mass will explode as we are seeing with electric cars.

[–] Shadywack@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I bought a Rift cv1, Rift S, Quest and Quest 2, so much for your pretentious first sentence.

You’re droning on about how it’s still just around the corner “if only we had” with reference to smaller processing units etc. VR is still bullshit until all those “if only we had” things are here.

[–] FellowEnt@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You think VR is a joke but bought 4 HMDs?

[–] Shadywack@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

IKR! I bought in on its future, and it was always "Welllllll the NEXT one will be the big breakthrough!" and it keeps being screen door effect, fatigue issues, light leakage, and just left wanting. I'm an opponent over it because it's always been overhyped. Some of the best killer apps abandoned the platforms due to the lack of revenue, and the dream has just been a dream this entire time.

I'm viciously opposed, BECAUSE I was so vested in it and watched generation after generation of the same bullshit "next time it'll be the real breakthrough" when it's always just janky.

Looking at how stupid people look wearing Apple Vision Pro's, it just reminds me of big tech promising a revolution with Google Glass only to become a mockery of itself. There are some curious architecture and art applications alongside drone flights, but that's very niche.

[–] Meowoem@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Ah I should have guessed your opinion comes from a weird type of elitist nonsence but I can play that game too if you like...

You're only thinking about the world you know which appears to be shitty movies and being a gamer that's decided you're not like the degenerate games you're high class, ok bud but I doubt that's how s casual observer sees it and I think you know that which is why you put on such a show to p distance yourself from what you recognise if your set. So shove your classism up your ass and grow up.

People with actual important things going on have been using vr for years, they did fucking surgery on a grape for fuck sake! While the surgeons were extoling the wonders of VR for complex remote surgery using hyper advanced robotics what the fuck were you doing? Bitching that the console noobs don't have the same high culture as pc gamers?

When the USAF flies the F-35 and the pilot puts on his HMDS with the Distributed Aperture System do you think it's because they're trailer trash junkies looking for a distraction or maybe because billions of dollars of research went into creating the absolute best control system and it turned out that's very clearly VR?

And the drone operators, the architects, the astronauts at nasa who use it... They just haven't realised it's stupid and useless, only an enlightened pc gamer like yourself is wise enough to realise there's no use for it.

  • well that was cathartic, hope you don't take anything I said personally and that you have a lovely day but I felt it appropriate.

Vr has proven to institutions that have the money and tech to use it that it's incredibly useful, as tech improves and ecosystems get established we will see it move towards ubiquity there's no doubt about that.

[–] Shadywack@lemmy.world -1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Lol, the only grapes here are your sour grapes that people don't give a fuck about VR except for shiny toys and things that run up medical bills for equipment surgeons don't need, making healthcare costs worse.

Also don't make me laugh about the F-35. Look up "Boondoggle". As for professional uses, drone operators are about your only successful use case. Everything else is just an expensive toy looking for a purpose.

You wouldn't be so salty if you weren't insulted that VR is a ridiculous joke.

[–] Meowoem@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

F35 went over budget and behind schedule but it's an incredibly effective combat aircraft

[–] Shadywack@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Sure, no argument there. There's just stuff like this

Not living up to top billing The company building the F-35 has made grand claims. Lockheed Martin said the plane would be far better than current aircraft – “four times more effective” in air-to-air combat, “eight times more effective” in air-to-ground combat and “three times more effective” in recognizing and suppressing an enemy’s air defenses. It would, in fact, be “second only to the F-22 in air superiority.” In addition, the F-35 was to have better range and require less logistics support than current military aircraft. The Pentagon is still calling the F-35 “the most affordable, lethal, supportable, and survivable aircraft ever to be used.”

But that’s not how the plane has turned out. In January 2015, mock combat testing pitted the F-35 against an F-16, one of the fighters it is slated to replace. The F-35A was flown “clean” with empty weapon bays and without any drag-inducing and heavy externally mounted weapons or fuel tanks. The F-16D, a heavier and somewhat less capable training version of the mainstay F-16C, was further encumbered with two 370-gallon external wing-mounted fuel tanks.

In spite of its significant advantages, the F-35A’s test pilot noted that the F-35A was less maneuverable and markedly inferior to the F-16D in a visual-range dogfight.

Source: https://theconversation.com/what-went-wrong-with-the-f-35-lockheed-martins-joint-strike-fighter-60905 (sub sources cited as well including military journals and declassified documents from the Air Force).

There are other gems out there about the F35 including how obsolete weapons from 1999 can penetrate its stealth capabilities, hone in on its radar cross section, and shoot it down.

But y'know, kinda like this VR pipe dream, don't let facts get in the way of delusion. Let's just pretend it's all great.