Meta's push to incorporate computing into a headset will result in tears
In its financial filings, the company that used to be called Facebook describes the Metaverse as "an embodied internet where people have immersive experiences beyond two-dimensional screens." It's basically another try at Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), a standard file format for 3D graphics that dates back to the mid-1990s, and the naive idea of competing companies running federated spaces.
The Web3D Consortium, which was founded to advance VRML and now promotes X3D, a royalty-free open-source file format, recently weighed in on the Metaverse with its own definition [PDF]. "The 'Metaverse,' in our opinion, will emerge as a property of the current primarily two-dimensional World Wide Web (WWW), with interconnection and interoperability between online, networked microcosmic'microverses' created by individuals, corporations, and institutions, as is the Web. The Web will provide interconnection between microverses. "
Meta's definition says that the Metaverse has been around for decades, and that seeing it with VR goggles and 3D graphics isn't always more interesting than seeing it on a flat screen. The Metaverse of interconnected environments could become a reality at any time. After all, it's the web and the internet. We understand how to make links. Users of Minecraft could click on an object and be transported to another game with a VR interface, such as Eve: Valkyrie. If crypto assets can be transferred via buggy blockchain bridges, there's no reason why two or more games couldn't work together.
The reason this isn't happening isn't because of technical barriers; it's because companies aren't attempting to make it happen. It's simply not in their best interests. However, if fees can be charged for moving VR outfits and other digital dross, Meta may try to get a piece of the action. Its Diem fiasco demonstrated the company's interest in digital currency transactions.
To date, Meta's contributions to the Metaverse have been evangelism, billions of dollars in investment, and the creation of VR headsets, software, an app distribution platform that takes up to 47.5 percent of revenue, and now legs—something missing from Horizon Worlds avatars.
Mark Zuckerberg, who started Facebook and is the founder of Meta, keeps talking about making an open ecosystem for Metaverse-focused companies. This is in contrast to what is thought to be Apple's totalitarian vision once it gets into the head hardware business.
It's a vision born of the need to sell investors on growth—with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatApp, as well as competition like TikTok, growth opportunities appear limited—and the lack of an operating system on Meta (still evidently an aspiration).
Through the products that rely on their software to function, Apple, Google, and Microsoft have gatekeeping and distribution power. On the other hand, Meta, a platform supplicant, has a massive audience thanks to those who use its social apps. But the advertising industry has seen how Apple's App Tracking Transparency technology on iOS devices has stopped it from getting access to ad targeting data, making its business less valuable.
The company is focusing on partnerships to bring its embodied internet to life until it can set up a functioning Metaverse toll booth. Partnerships are what tech companies do when they don't have the goods, which in this case are applications that people will pay to use.
The company's developer event this week, Meta Connect 2022, featured a deal with Microsoft to make Windows 365-a streamed version of Windows-available on Meta Quest devices, as well as Microsoft 365 apps and Mesh for Teams.
It's perplexing that anyone would want to try out any Microsoft software using a Meta Quest headset. Consider that Vishal Shah, Meta's VP of Metaverse, recently chastised employees for their disinterest in the company's own Horizon Worlds environment. Managers have apparently been told that if their teams do not use Horizon Worlds, they will be held accountable. Things aren't going well when your marketing consists of gavage.