In an exciting development, Meta has decided to open up their Meta Horizon OS to 3rd parties. This means that Meta will be allowing their operating system to work on VR headsets that aren’t a Meta Quest.
What does this mean for Meta Horizon OS?
This means that, in the future, we could see Meta’s VR operating system take a similar role to what Microsoft Windows has taken in the world of computers. Despite alternatives such as macOS, it’s limited to Apple-made computers. This has allowed Windows to dominate the market, being installed on around 72% of PCs worldwide.
A similar thing could happen with Meta’s operating system, a mass adoption of the OS as an industry standard.
In a recent blog post, Meta has already announced some companies that will be using their OS to build new devices and VR experiences.
These include:
- ASUS Republic of Gamers making a performance gaming headset
- Lenovo creating a mixed-reality device
- Xbox creating a limited edition Meta Quest
VR headsets manufactured by different companies all running the same OS means there will be a shared ecosystem for hardware and software to thrive.
Building applications on a common platform saves developers time as they won’t have to develop them for multiple platforms. Additionally, it will benefit the end user because they will be able to take advantage of a wider library of apps.
This could be one of the biggest pieces of XR news all year. A shared platform for VR devices is something that hasn’t been done before, with each manufacturer usually developing their own Android-based OS.
We look forward to seeing how the industry develops following this exciting announcement.
