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Why no webvr with a browser?


Steve973

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Hello, all.  I'm pretty new to the Vive (late adopter) and this is my first post on this forum.  I see articles from January of this year claiming that Firefox Reality will be available for the vive this year.  I see that the standalone vive headsets can use it, but not the regular vive that is tethered to a computer.  Are they still going to adapt it to work with either viveport or steamvr for the standard vive headset?  Although we can use apps like virtual desktop and supermedium, it would be a whole lot more convenient to have a browser that can handle both 2d and webvr/webxr content, just like FF Reality will do on mobile headsets.  Do any of you have any insight into this, or if there is still an ETA for a FFR release?  By the way, I have also read that FFR is the default browser for the headset, but that can't be true unless I'm missing something extremely obvious.

Thanks in advance.

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We'd have to defer to Mozilla on this. They did make an offical blog post formally announcing Firefox Reality for SteamVR (desktop). It doesn't seam like it's been released yet based off their support page. Perhaps it's just slightly delayed? FFR is the default on Vive Focus - it does not appear to be available on desktop at all currently pending their previously announced desk release.

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  • 1 month later...

But you guys still understand that makes your product subpar? Referring to another company's short comings means your product is still a short coming whether that company delivered or not. As of now, I may have been fooled buying this product, but that mistake will not be happening again as a lot of  reviewers have already stated. 

 

You guys need to get to work making sure you actually have content and an appropriate experience. If you give us hardware but you're lacking content we have giant paperweight

Edited by Cappy1
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@Cappy1 I unfortunately think you're confused about the current status of WebXR/WebVR.

  • The Vive has full WebVR/WebXR support via Chrome, and Firefox - and has enjoyed WebVR support for almost 2+ years since the very first beta releases. We've collaborated with both organizations since before the release of the first Vive to help pioneer VR web browsing.
    • You can go and try WebVR today with Chrome or Firefox on any desktop Vive - I recommend trying Sketchfab.com as it has over 1 million scenes to explore.
  • Firefox Reality is a VR native web browser which is wholly developed by the Mozilla Foundation (although we partner with them). It currently is only available on mobile devices - they haven't released it for any desktop headset regardless of the manufacturer.
    • We were proud to partner to be the first HMD/platform that the mobile version of Firefox Reality was released on and we're proud to have Firefox Mobile ship as our default browser on all of our mobile devices globally. In other words, we're a very proud partner of Mozilla Reality.
  • Only Mozilla can make decisions about how their product is released - in this case the SteamVR/Desktop release of Firefox Reality.
  • Creating a web browser that is fully security compliant and enjoys steady updates is a very laborious process - the VR component adds to that complexity. In this case, we'll be deferring to both Google and Mozilla and their expertise in Web browsers as they'll be able to produce a very high quality deliverable.
    • The Oculus web-browser is a fork of Chromium. In other words - Oculus entirely relies on Google's expertise in creating web-browsers. Their browser experience suffers from from some UX limitations (see below).
    • Using the Oculus browser by definition opts you into Facebook's data collection practices 😉
  • There are very very real limitations when it comes to browsing the web in VR right now - especially around input - text input is pretty frustrating. There is lots of advancements in input and UX that will need to be ushered in to make it a compelling experience and websites simply aren't designed to be experienced in VR or AR currently.
  • There is currently very little WebVR/WebXR content due to the very real limitations of OpenGL rendering, especially on mobile chipsets. It doesn't make financial sense for most developers to develop for WebXR quite yet.
  • You can always use Virtual Desktop to get a pretty decent 2D browsing experience that has the full capabilities and featureset of a modern desktop browser.

@Cappy1 - Please keep it civil - if you're going to going to come here to make a point, at least back it up with facts so you further the dialog for everyone . I'm one of the biggest VR nerds you'll never meet but I'm going to wait until Mozilla and Google irons out some of the UX and does a proper desktop release before I expose myself to unoptimized UX, especially when I have a killer experience already browsing the web on multiple monitors at 144hz & 4K or on a multi-meter sized projector screen with a mouse and keyboard. The wait will be worthwhile 😛

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Excuse me? You have a web browser that can be accessed in VR? Am I missing something here? What are you talking about facts .. you either have a working VR web browse or you do not ...

Edited by Cappy1
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If you feel the need for a good browser in VR, that also doubles as a good video viewer, I recommend buying Virtual Desktop on Steam for ~$10-15.  Works great imho.  Still would be nice if Vive had its own easy to use desktop viewer like my Oculus Rift has.  Maybe it will someday.  SteamVR has its own desktop viewer but it's not all that great to use imho.

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