this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2025
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Privacy
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I backed the original Oculus Rift, and felt massively betrayed when they sold to Meta. :(
For years since I've been waiting for A VR solution that plays nice with Linux and is at least somewhat privacy-respecting, and I have been absolutely unwilling to buy a Quest device or anything else. I want to play VR but I'm not willing to sell my soul for it. So it's been an unhappy but conscious boycott from me.
I too then am super looking forward to the Steam Frame because it's the device I need to get back into VR and feel happy and excited about it, rather than disgusted.
This has been such a depressing trend over the last few decades.
Fresh bright-eyed startup with a passionate creator develops some interesting and innovative product.
Gets bought out by FAANG, turns to shit and stops working properly or gets discontinued, and primarily functions as a spyware device.
That's just the inevitable endgame in a capitalistic society. Most startups' end goals at inception are to sell out to a corporation.
Most people's goals are to not have to work for a living. Selling a successful startup allows for that to happen. Unfortunately, the startup needs to start making money after someone pays a lot of money for it, and we all know what happens next.
Fortunately, GabeN shows no interest in selling Valve to anyone.
Yeah they're largely an anomaly in that regard.
I think the cure is identifying that it's all bullshit every time (especially nowadays!) and so not putting any hope in their tech any more. See it for what it is, just another corporate distraction among infinity of such.
I guess this is how I arrived at calling myself an "anti-technology technologist", because new technology is so reliably the promise that never delivers, an exercise in frustration, disappointment and being ripped-off for shit I don't even need. Of course I still enjoy tech things but I'm so fuckin over any "next big thing" because it's invariably such hype, and I'm middle aged and so wasn't born yesterday like I used to be.
I'd rather be staring at the hills and the river, VR got nothing compared to magic mushrooms anyway so I just don't care for it. Gimme a joint, a musical instrument and a couple of friends over that, any day! I don't want to inhabit virtual (or any) corporate spaces even for money, it has nothing at all that I want, and very many things I don't want.
All encounters with corporations are designed to sap our life-force and pump up their stock prices. Best to limit exposure!
Is also dangerous to associate emerging technology with big tech, sure they make some and sell some at tempting discounted prices BUT they are not the only ones and when aiming so you leave then an open field.
I mean that's great but it doesn't stop everyone else from falling for it, and you having to pay the price accordingly.
I just call myself a Luddite at this point. Any technology developed outside of FOSS just completely disinterests me. Everything else is assumed to be malware.
I got into cycling a few years' back. But of course technology is coming for bicycles too and all my riding buddies are just so amped about it and can't understand why I want absolutely nothing to do with it.
Went from e-bike to fixie and ironically enough this isn't a joke. I'm happier and healthier now.
That makes it sound like these startups have no choice in the matter. The funny thing is, you don't have to sell your company to an enormous evil corporation if you don't want to.
Depends on who your initial investors are and the contract you signed with them. They can and will force a sale if their RoI isn't met in a specific time-frame, or if the buyout price reaches a certain valuation.
Partly true but Amazon has been known to make dupes of a product and sell it at a loss to drive the competitor out of business. I'm sure that threat lingers in some peoples' minds.
They probably also promise the management team "you'll still have creative control after we buy you". Then turn around and replace each of them one by one
Yeah, I worked for an amazing company for 13 years, a big corporation bought it, and now I have my own business and my soul back. Same shit, "you'll still have full operating control" and then they moved everything to India.
In capitalism you do. Society demands it.
No, not really. But if you don't sell you don't get a lot of money and mostly that's what people want, that's why the startup exists.
Palmer Lucky turning into a Bond villain wasn't exactly something I expected when I first saw him pushing the original Kickstarter Oculus
Same, still got the devkit 1 and 2 in my cellar.
Really looking forward to the Steam Frame to finally get standalone VR without Meta involvement.
Have they sent out Dev kits yet? I know a game dev who is making a VR game on steam and he's had nothing but radio silence from valve.
Haven't heard anything yet.
Steam creator is also a Linux fan boy btw