Well a lot of people seem to be scarred of facebook, I admit I do not like it either (and do not have an account). But at the end of the day big cooperates are all around us, there is no escape. What about Google? Every thing we read, write and post on the internet is monitored by them, our mobile phones are totally bound to them etc etc.
If we want to be paranoid we may as well throw the computer and our phone out of the window, disconnect the cable TV, internet connection, never travel and basically hermit! Even then I am sure we will think somebody is watching us through the trees!
I am pretty sure that Facebook is interested in Blender because they realize that the future of internet will be in 3d, and that the better tools that are freely available to create content, the more beneficial it will be for them and other businesses. Also Blender evolves at a pace that is already worrying to many big companies. Blender is a program that has a massive potential user base (-creator base) and exponential growth.
Should Blender not take part in the future virtual world internet will become?
I think we are already taking an active part.
As for malicious add-ons, well do any of us really know who is behind the add-ons we already have? Do we all check the code of the add-ons we download from git-hub ect?
To cut short (sort of!) Blender does need funding and in my opinion this is positive news.
I did not say that all FB users will turn to Blender.
Hardly anyone draws but most people look at drawings of some kind.
There are many millions that play video Games and not so many that create them.
Blender org estimates a user base of about 1-3 million.
The internet will be in 3d and VR will become widespread- yea «Matrix».
People will be immersed in VR worlds, and at the same time there will be others (much fewer who will help create them.) Tools like Blender will contribute to the process.
It is obvious that FB are interested in the possibilities of this technology.
Will this be good for humanity?.. I think Iâll go for a walk, in the countryside tomorrow
Many previous Oculus headset owners suddenly hear boss music.
@John4 All addons are open source. You can easily just search and replace any spying functionality. Yes, you can use binary modules, but when you download closed binary modules from Facebook you already know what youâre going to get.
If I would need to guess Facebookâs intention to participate in blender development, itâs not about Oculus, but about future 3D advertising. Facebook will eventually integrate this into their ad-network. They are already part of the Khronos 3D Commerce initiative and are contributing e.g. to definitions for how variants of products can be represented in gltf (https://www.khronos.org/3dcommerce/, https://www.khronos.org/blog/streamlining-3d-commerce-with-material-variant-support-in-gltf-assets). I assume they would more likely utilize blender server-side to e.g. optimize those 3D ads. With the contribution to the blender development fund they ensure, that the tool they have as a dependency will continue to be supported.
Additionally Facebook has quite a successful open source strategy. They developed in-house React, which is currently the largest application infrastructure framework for web applications, since itâs made open source in 2013. Facebook also contributed e.g. Jest a Javascript test framework, PyTorch a deep learning framework, GraphQL a query language for non-tabular data, etc. to the open source world. You can get an overview here: https://opensource.facebook.com/projects. Pretty many quite famous and extensively used projects in the open source world. So I wouldnât be worried, that they âintentâ to kill the openness of blenderâŠ
OK, so I didnât read through all those countless replies here, just one thing: @bartv: May I inquire why was this post made sticky? Are there ceartain kinds of âextra importantâ news items which need to be made so? If so, on the basis of what? A well-known companyâs name?
Iâm not sure I can see how this thread would have died on the vein quickly, had it not been sticky. And even if it had, whatâs the matter?
I can see why sth. like e.g. the âHow to be a positive member of the communityâ-thread is sticky, but this? Feels very arbitrary.
It was made sticky because this is a joyous event. Every âbigâ corporate sponsor that joins the developer fund is great news for the BF and its community.
Are we forgetting Facebook owns Oculus and is thus an important player on the 3D market. Of course they have a benefit when people are creating content. And well, Blender is the cool thing now so there you go.
That is just black and white. There are lots of ways to get around a lot of âevilâ companies. It takes effort and some sacrifice, though.
Some others are nearly impossible to avoid.
But facebook can be easily avoided as can google to a certain degree.
Amazon is really difficult because they own so many of the internets servers.
That is, at best, a far reaching assumption. Also, the BF would have to be willing to go along with that, which, letâs be honest, they would not. Also, from a strictly logical POV, what on earth sort of addon would Facebook even think of building for a 3D application?
What happened to no hate for profit? It was so heart warming to see letter from community to regarding Belarus protests solidarity. What happened now? What happens to UN investigations finding FB responsible for Rohingya genocide? What about right wing groups let off in US? What happened to FB India executive found pushing ruling party Hindu right wing narrative? Data privacy? What happens to democracy & freedom being allowed to be trampled? Doesnât open-source teach us to care about human rights? Is it only about writing few lines of code to give away and thatâs all? Dissapointing.
