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I expect Carmack is the sort of guy to say "fuck your golden handcuffs, I'd rather work on interesting problems". If it turns bad he'd go.

briantakita 13y ago
I expect he will have a similar situation that Ray Kurzweil has at Google.
- mkull 13y ago
  What does that mean?
  - zacharypinter 13y ago
    Presumably that having the resources (servers and infrastructure, devs, designers, researchers, business connections, data, etc) available at the parent company is a bigger incentive than running things yourself (even if you have the financial means to do so).
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- enneff 13y ago
  Ray Kurzweil was hired by Google's current management to work at Google. How is this in any way analogous to Carmack's situation at Oculus, now Facebook?
  - briantakita 13y ago
    The similarities are they are legendary & forward thinking technologists given a large amount of capital to pursue their passion and scale their vision. Corporate title & organizition wise, they are different. Though I doubt Kurzweil worries too much about the current Ads, Search, Email, & Android platform. I would expect his role to be more forward thinking. I get the impression Carmack has a forward thinking role as well.
    - psbp 13y ago
      I'm not sure how true this is, but I recently watched an anti-google documentary about their book-scanning business and they said sources familiar with Larry Page claim that he had no interest in Google as a business but rather was attempting to achieve advanced AI through Google.
    - enneff 13y ago
      Carmack is the CTO. He's in charge of the technical direction of the company as a whole. A company whose mission is pretty clearly defined. This is very, very different from what Kurzweil is doing at Google.
      - briantakita 13y ago
        True, Oculus has more focus & a narrower scope. Though, we will see what a $2B valuation does to a "clearly defined" mission. The VR market has to be grown, after all. Google is expanding it's efforts in new markets that require substantial technical vision. Same with Oculus. Kurzweil is the "Director of Engineering" at a company without a CTO. Surely, there's some similarities in their roles. Not a 100% match, but some interesting similarities.
        enneff 13y ago
        "Director of Engineering" is a title. Google has literally hundreds of engineering directors. (I work at Google.)
    - 72deluxe 13y ago
      But where are his keyboards now??????
krick 13y ago
This is why I'm astonished: it also seemed to me that Carmack is that sort of guy, you know, real programmer. idealistic, stubborn. Maker, not businessman. But whatever be all that "Mark and his team share our vision for virtual reality’s potential to transform the way we"… blah blah — I cannot really imagine why he would do so if not only for the sake of business. Well, it might be easier to make stuff when company with infinite resources parents you for sure, but still… No, I definitely have to reconsider if that idealistic picture of Carmack in my brain is correct. Not that I ever knew him, anyway…
- 72deluxe 13y ago
  What makes a "real programmer" though? Do you think he'd be programming in a hut for no money? He isn't daft.
  - aeberbach 13y ago
    I'd say there are certain programmers, who after reaching a certain financial security threshold, would do exactly that. Just as there are people who would happily sail a yacht around the world indefinitely, though it would bore me silly. Is Carmack one of those? Who can say. This kind of programmer can be disguised by the fact that code hermits often make money by accident! When you love what you do, what you do tends to be good.
    - jhartmann 13y ago
      I have met Carmack before at Siggraph many years ago and I can say that he struck me as someone who was a 'Code Troll' because he loved it. That he made money was great, but I think he has such a deep love of the technology for technologies sake.
- imron 13y ago
  I would bet that yes your picture is correct. He posted on twitter: "I suppose I will get a FB account now, so that may lead to some writing a little longer than tweet length..." Never signing up for FB account indicates to me that he's got as much disdain for Facebook as many people here. He also tweeted: "I have a deep respect for the technical scale that FB operates at. The cyberspace we want for VR will be at this scale." Which hints to me that he's at least intrigued by the possibilities that partnering with Facebook will offer, and he sees some potential in this partnership. Carmack has earned enough of my respect over the last few decades that if it turns out he's ok with the acquisition and stays with the company, then as much as I dislike Facebook, I'm going to trust his judgement and be confident that he's hard at work on something 'game-changing'.

briantakita 13y ago

I expect he will have a similar situation that Ray Kurzweil has at Google.

mkull 13y ago
What does that mean?
- zacharypinter 13y ago
  Presumably that having the resources (servers and infrastructure, devs, designers, researchers, business connections, data, etc) available at the parent company is a bigger incentive than running things yourself (even if you have the financial means to do so).
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
enneff 13y ago
Ray Kurzweil was hired by Google's current management to work at Google. How is this in any way analogous to Carmack's situation at Oculus, now Facebook?
- briantakita 13y ago
  The similarities are they are legendary & forward thinking technologists given a large amount of capital to pursue their passion and scale their vision. Corporate title & organizition wise, they are different. Though I doubt Kurzweil worries too much about the current Ads, Search, Email, & Android platform. I would expect his role to be more forward thinking. I get the impression Carmack has a forward thinking role as well.
  - psbp 13y ago
    I'm not sure how true this is, but I recently watched an anti-google documentary about their book-scanning business and they said sources familiar with Larry Page claim that he had no interest in Google as a business but rather was attempting to achieve advanced AI through Google.
  - enneff 13y ago
    Carmack is the CTO. He's in charge of the technical direction of the company as a whole. A company whose mission is pretty clearly defined. This is very, very different from what Kurzweil is doing at Google.
    - briantakita 13y ago
      True, Oculus has more focus & a narrower scope. Though, we will see what a $2B valuation does to a "clearly defined" mission. The VR market has to be grown, after all. Google is expanding it's efforts in new markets that require substantial technical vision. Same with Oculus. Kurzweil is the "Director of Engineering" at a company without a CTO. Surely, there's some similarities in their roles. Not a 100% match, but some interesting similarities.
      - enneff 13y ago
        "Director of Engineering" is a title. Google has literally hundreds of engineering directors. (I work at Google.)
  - 72deluxe 13y ago
    But where are his keyboards now??????

krick 13y ago

This is why I'm astonished: it also seemed to me that Carmack is that sort of guy, you know, real programmer. idealistic, stubborn. Maker, not businessman. But whatever be all that "Mark and his team share our vision for virtual reality’s potential to transform the way we"… blah blah — I cannot really imagine why he would do so if not only for the sake of business. Well, it might be easier to make stuff when company with infinite resources parents you for sure, but still… No, I definitely have to reconsider if that idealistic picture of Carmack in my brain is correct. Not that I ever knew him, anyway…

72deluxe 13y ago
What makes a "real programmer" though? Do you think he'd be programming in a hut for no money? He isn't daft.
- aeberbach 13y ago
  I'd say there are certain programmers, who after reaching a certain financial security threshold, would do exactly that. Just as there are people who would happily sail a yacht around the world indefinitely, though it would bore me silly. Is Carmack one of those? Who can say. This kind of programmer can be disguised by the fact that code hermits often make money by accident! When you love what you do, what you do tends to be good.
  - jhartmann 13y ago
    I have met Carmack before at Siggraph many years ago and I can say that he struck me as someone who was a 'Code Troll' because he loved it. That he made money was great, but I think he has such a deep love of the technology for technologies sake.
imron 13y ago
I would bet that yes your picture is correct. He posted on twitter: "I suppose I will get a FB account now, so that may lead to some writing a little longer than tweet length..." Never signing up for FB account indicates to me that he's got as much disdain for Facebook as many people here. He also tweeted: "I have a deep respect for the technical scale that FB operates at. The cyberspace we want for VR will be at this scale." Which hints to me that he's at least intrigued by the possibilities that partnering with Facebook will offer, and he sees some potential in this partnership. Carmack has earned enough of my respect over the last few decades that if it turns out he's ok with the acquisition and stays with the company, then as much as I dislike Facebook, I'm going to trust his judgement and be confident that he's hard at work on something 'game-changing'.