Facebook Reportedly Working On Its Own Operating System

Various tech giants like Google and Apple currently take the lead in the market with their operating systems. Many tech companies such as Samsung rely on Android, while popular devices such as the iPhone and iPad run on Cupertino's operating systems. Microsoft also dominates the computer segment with its Windows operating system, which powers many laptops and desktops globally.

Facebook, the world's leading social media company, also relies on these operating systems for its offerings to work. Its social media app runs on every one of those systems. Its Oculus headsets, despite their popularity, also rely on Google's Android platform, but the company doesn't want that anymore.

And so, it's building its own operating system from scratch, a report from The Information (via TechCrunch) revealed.

“We really want to make sure the next generation has space for us,” Andrew "Boz" Bosworth, Facebook’s VP of Hardware, said. “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.”

The Zuckerberg-led giant reportedly tasked Mark Lucovsky, a person known for co-authoring Microsoft's Windows NT, to create an operating system for it. The new OS, which will allow Facebook to have more freedom to do what it wants with its hardware, will be built entirely from scratch.

The new OS will also prevent disagreements between Facebook and Google, which could lead to its ambitious plans being derailed, delayed, or ultimately canceled. All this, Facebook told TechCrunch, is to prepare the way for the company's upcoming augmented-reality glasses.

Not the only project

The new OS simply indicates Facebook's serious intention of gaining and establishing control away from the operating systems currently dominating the market. By creating its own OS, the tech giant will be able to prepare a platform designed for its upcoming hardware.

The Information revealed that Facebook is “doubling down” in hardware and has teams working on its own custom silicon chips, its own voice assistant which will be powered by artificial intelligence, and new technologies that can read a person's thoughts. It is also working on a new campus that can accommodate about 4,000 employees, all of them working on the company's new hardware.