A Facebook response to a story this week leaves one with a question: Did we get bad information from The Information, or is Facebook trying to fool us?
Earlier this week, The Information reported that the social network had scrapped plans to build its own operating system for augmented reality and virtual reality devices. It would instead continue to use customized versions of Android for future Oculus hardware and other hardware of its ilk.
Now, a piece from 9 to 5 Mac says Facebook has refuted that story. Gabriel Aul, VP of Reality Labs Engineering for the company, took to Twitter to say:
There are several technical directions we’re pursuing in our efforts to build @RealityLabs operating systems, we’re still working on a highly specialized OS for our devices – we remain very much invested in this work and continue to dedicate the resources necessary to build this.
We are growing this team, not shrinking it.
Sounds like an outright refutation to me, though not to the folks at 9 to 5 Mac. They say:
…“a highly specialized OS for our devices” could easily describe the same approach used on current Oculus devices, namely a very tailored version of Android. So the statement may mean nothing more than that the company continues to work on this path, having indeed abandoned plans to build its own OS from scratch.
I can’t help wondering whether 9 to 5 Mac reads it that way because of a total trust in The Information, or a total lack of trust in Facebook. Anyway - that’s where the story stands now.
