“Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat, those that do are doomed to watch others repeat it”

In August 1981 IBM did something completely unexpected that solidified the future of personal computing, they introduced the PC. Unlike the products of its time it was an open architecture. IBM published the technical specifications and encouraged other vendors to build compatible systems. This was perhaps THE enlightened decision of the modern era, it enabled the personal computer revolution which paved the way for the Internet as we know it. VR needs a company with vision to create an open standard for headsets and controllers.

I read a lot of discussion about what is holding back VR, is it content, technology, privacy, etc. Based on history I can say that individual walled gardens, whether it be division by hardware platform or software, is definitely holding back VR. Users should be able to explore all experiences regardless of their choice in hardware. In 1981 there were several walled gardens, primarily the Apple II segment. Apple users couldn’t use software developed for the Amiga, TRS-80 and other niche hardware platforms. The makers of these platforms were no doubt sitting around wondering why adoption was so slow, just like todays VR developers. Interestingly the group at IBM in charge of the PC architecture were Apple II users (as was I at the time) but for whatever reason they had the foresight to buck the trend and offer it up as an open standard. For IBM this must have been a huge leap of faith. I can only imagine the internal turmoil around not locking down, patenting or otherwise controlling the PC. Today we have Oculus controlling the market for the most part. The hardware market is so controlled my new Quest is basically useless until I register with Facebook on my phone and configure the headset. We have no open standard for headsets, but what about controllers? Controllers are so specialized that they influence application development. Imagine if the PC on your desk came with different “mice” that were incompatible with each other. If Word required a Microsoft input device? That seems crazy, but is exactly what we are building in VR.

I strongly encourage the big players in the industry to come together on a hardware standard. Let’s learn from history and get past its mistakes so we can go and solve new problems, not repeat the mistakes of previous generations.

PS: Anyone out there that has an open standard they are pushing I would love to hear from you!