Facebook's acquisition of Oculus Rift

You've seen the Hollywood portraits of the future, all the gadgets and tools which today look like the stuff of overactive imaginations. However, if computers today have taught us anything it's that these sci-fi fantasies can lay in wait just around the proverbial corner. That's the dream that many people have had for the device called the Oculus Rift, and now it's in the hands of Facebook.

What the Oculus Rift was supposed to be was a virtual reality headset, and by many accounts from developers, it was going to be very good at this. Back in 2012 a kickstarter for the, at the time, independent company raised nearly $90 million. This year, Facebook has now acquired the technology for $2 billion.

This has put a very bitter taste in the mouths of initial backers of the project. Some have expressed worry that Facebook will not have in mind the full scope of what this device is capable of. Others do not see why the social media company Facebook has an interest in the Rift VR technology in the first place. 

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has expressed that Facebook has no interest in hindering the work that Oculus Rift has already done and that it will oversee the product to completion. This is good news at least for the consumers who have been waiting for years to see a hint at a finished product, however one wonders whether the device we expect and the one we end up with will be the same, not to mention as well the way in which Facebook intends to use the new product. Will it be a Facebook exclusive device or will other companies be able to use the equipment as well? 

In any case, management at Oculus Rift have been rumored to release the product sometime later in 2014 or next year in 2015. The time draws nearer for the Rift to make it's debut so this may assuage some worries about the direction this product will go, and hopefully how it will transform our future in interacting with the digital world.