Lighthouse permissions are open, is open source technology the future of VR?

Abstract: There are many examples of open source in the VR field. Carmark has previously open-sourced the underlying code of Rift, OSVR has released the Hacker Dev Kit, and Facebook has disclosed the related technologies of Surround 360. Their actions have promoted the development of the market to a certain extent.

As one of HTC's major partners, Valve announced a new resolution last Friday that HTC Vive's core positioning technology Lighthouse will have the opportunity to be opened to third-party manufacturers.

When people were confused about Valve's unilateral behavior, HTC came out to clarify that they were not open source but only open permissions. Although there are certain differences between the two, everyone speculated that it was only a matter of time before Vive's technology was open source.

This move undoubtedly stimulated the third-party market. Once HTC's authorization is approved, developers will be able to obtain hardware tool kits including circuit boards and sensors, as well as software-oriented production tools.

In addition, HTC also provided reference materials such as hardware design and circuit schematics. The developer of Black Shield announced on the same day that it was ready to start making accessories for HTC Vive, and in the future more and more third-party manufacturers will enter the Vive hardware platform.

In this case, both HTC and Valve can gain certain benefits. The increase of third-party accessories has the opportunity to increase the exposure of Vive devices, promote the sales of the main body, and also help build the overall ecosystem. The Steam platform can also expand the support range of devices and attract more users and developers.

For most companies and developers, open source is undoubtedly exciting news. There are many examples of open source in the VR field. Previously, Carmark open-sourced the underlying code of Rift, OSVR released the Hacker Dev Kit, and Facebook disclosed the related technology of Surround 360. Their actions have promoted the development of the market to a certain extent.

However, both open source and closed are business models, and neither is better or worse. Open source may become the mainstream of the market, but it is not suitable for everyone.

Open source helps improve the overall VR industry’s technology

The importance of open source to the overall technology of the VR industry is self-evident. The maverick John Carmark is a pioneer in this direction.

Carmark is an advocate of open source software. Between 1995 and 1997, he released the source code of three complete game works, which almost directly contributed to the development of the game engine industry. When he joined Oculus as CTO, his habit of open source remained unchanged.

About 70% of the underlying code of the first generation Oculus Rift was completed independently by Carmark, and he naturally published these codes. The birth of low-end and mid-range virtual reality devices almost all benefited from the underlying open source technology of Oculus DK1. The open source of Google Cardboard directly led to the explosion of mobile VR and revolutionized the overall device form.

The emergence of these two open source technologies has made a huge contribution to the entry of VR devices into the consumer market. Although the effect of screenless VR has always been criticized, it has at least brought forward the monetization time of the virtual reality industry by several years, so ordinary consumers can also complete the initial experience earlier.

In addition to the open source technology of VR devices themselves, the development of peripheral products is equally important. Facebook officially open-sourced the hardware and software technology of the Surround 360 camera in July. The software code can be easily found on GitHub, and anyone can make their own panoramic camera according to the corresponding specifications.

Although panoramic technology is relatively mature at present, Facebook's open source can help developers to improve the technology to a certain extent. How to render quickly and ensure the quality of graphics? How to improve the changes in width and depth? Teams with insufficient R&D capabilities can refer to the Surround 360 system to make better panoramic cameras.

Electric Night Owl shared its technology on VR exercise. Their ArmSwinger system can replace the conventional blink movement in HTC Vive with alternating movements of both hands. Compared with the Virtuix Omni treadmill, ArmSwinger can also effectively reduce costs.

For core VR devices, open source has both advantages and disadvantages

In the field of virtual reality, core VR devices usually have the most advanced technology. Once they have the first mover rights and implement licensing and open source policies, it will help build the VR device ecosystem in the short term, thereby attracting more users and manufacturers. As for the Lighthouse technology alone, although its licensing is completely free, it is not ruled out that HTC will lay the foundation for subsequent patent sharing through this policy.

However, this is also based on the control of technical difficulty. Lighthouse's performance has proved its reliability, but some third-party developers have also said that the system construction of this technology is very troublesome and the circuit structure is also very complicated. In short, even if they get the prototype, most developers can only use the fur of it, so open sourcers will naturally not receive any threats.

But in the long run, once the controller of core technology falls into the "innovator's dilemma", their products may eventually lose their advantages as the number of competing products increases. The "innovator's dilemma" specifically refers to the situation where those who are unwilling to innovate again because of their technological leadership are unwilling to do so. Internet Explorer, which has dominated PC browsers for 20 years, is a good example.

The bundling policy of Windows and IE browser allowed Microsoft to successfully defeat Netscape and usher in a period of monopoly dividends. However, IE has since fallen into the "innovator's dilemma" and has not actively transformed itself, but browser technology has slowly developed at this time.

Mozilla gradually gained a foothold in the browser market by leveraging the open source of Linux, while the emergence of Chrome under Google completely reversed IE's dominance, and the WebKit engine led to the birth of more third-party browsers.

For VR core equipment, the open source policy will certainly bring certain benefits in the short term. However, if you want to benefit in the long term, you need to continue to study technology, otherwise you will eventually suffer the drawbacks caused by open source.

Of course, this doesn't mean that we have to rush into the open source circle. The closed policies of console manufacturers such as Nintendo and Sony can also achieve success.

Partial open source may be the mainstream in the future

There are developers who have fully open-sourced their technologies, such as Carmark mentioned above. But for most companies, partial open-source should be the mainstream in the future.

Oculus's method of open-sourcing the underlying code is quite clever. In the developer circle, those who can properly use the underlying code have considerable technical strength. For most third-party manufacturers, it is almost impossible to restore the underlying code to core technology. Even if there is enough time, this also requires a solid R&D foundation and high costs.

The same was true when Google opened up the Android system. As the Android market fully developed, Google's work focus shifted, and it did not affect their overall business.

Although some open source still has many flaws, it is a win-win situation. Technology holders can make profits in stages, and open source technology stimulates the enthusiasm of users and developers. Although they cannot restore the product quality to its original level, there is a great chance that innovative products will be produced, and these products will also drive the development of the entire industry.

The opening of Lighthouse permissions is just a small move in the open source of technology in the VR field. As developers delve deeper into VR technology, I believe that the core technologies on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift devices will also be gradually unlocked. But by then, they may already be the second or third generation of products that integrate new technologies. In general, this is what industry leaders should do.