John Gruber on Apple's headset.
I'd call this a stroke of informed lucidity from John, reacting to an article by Wayne Ma for The Information about a few rumoured details around Apple's headset device.
I remember feeling heady this time last decade, watching Oculus make its first moves into a new chapter of VR that felt real in a way that nothing before had. Virtual reality headsets were always a realm of exciting possibility seldom still resonating across any basic computing frontiers today. But in the end, I would say neither Oculus's work so far, which is now better considered as Facebook's acquisition and presentation of its work, nor those of its competitors, "took." It's great work done by great minds, worthy of the interest and study of laypeople. I tried a Vive and relaxed into each program like a hot tub.
But these devices sure aren't the next NES, or the next iPhone. I don't guess many people would say they knew someone with a VR headset, let alone that they were thinking of buying one.
John's final paragraph is the important one, reminding us that a device for the ages needs a clear purpose, identity, and care in its user-centricity.