Facebook is Making an OS Since it Does Not Trust Google; But Who Would You Trust?

Facebook could be working on its own operating system for smartphones and computing devices. The idea being, to reduce the reliance on Google’ Android operating system. This has been reported by The Information and it is believed that the development of this new software is under the watchful eyes of Mark Lucovsky, a Microsoft veteran, who was part of the Windows NT operating system development. Simply put—Facebook doesn’t really seem to trust Google.

While details remain sketchy about what sort of hardware and devices the new operating system or software platform will work with, there seems to be some understanding that Facebook’s Oculus virtual reality hardware and the Portal line of smart displays could benefit from the new software. Both these pieces of hardware are currently dependent on modified versions of Google’s Android software.

“We really want to make sure the next generation has space for us. We don’t think we can trust the marketplace or competitors to ensure that’s the case. And so we’re gonna do it ourselves,” Andrew Bosworth, Facebook’s head of hardware, said to The Information.

It is believed Facebook is also working on augmented reality glasses, though they are still in the early stage of development. There have been persistent reports that Facebook is also looking to compete with the likes of Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Siri, with its own virtual assistant. Facebook has even approached Microsoft to license data from its Bing search engine to train the assistant, according to people close to the matter.

That’s all fine and dandy. But would you really trust Facebook and the software it wants you to use? After all the persistent data leaks, the dodgy data privacy policies and the serious sense of mistrust that comes with it, we can only wonder how many users and for that matter app developers, will be comfortable with the idea of Facebook’s operating system as the basis for whatever product they use-smartphones, smart glasses, virtual reality headsets and smart speakers, to name a few.