Oculus Go unlock software released for hardware freedom

An Oculus Go unlocked OS build was released today, courtesy of John Carmack. After a prolonged period of time and a whole lot of work in securing the rights to release the software, Carmack and crew made this build a reality. It's a surprise, honestly, now that Oculus is owned by Facebook. It IS a welcome surprise, in any case.

The Oculus Go software unlock is relatively simple to enact. The most difficult part of the process will be your decision to push the software, given the agreement you must make with Oculus. You'll effectively be agreeing that they are no longer responsible for any part of the device's software or any future software updates.

SEE TOO: Our original Oculus Go review

Per Oculus, "this process will not work on any other device or OS," and "please note that unlocking your device is not reversible and you will no longer receive OTA updates." So why would you want to initiate such an unlock?

Because once you unlock you Oculus Go, you can install any software you like. Per Oculus, this process will give you access to the OS build so that you might "repurpose Oculus Go for more things today."

Per Carmack, this process "opens up the ability to repurpose the hardware for more things today, and means that a randomly discovered shrink wrapped headset twenty years from now will be able to update to the final software version, long after over-the-air update servers have been shut down."

Take a peek at the Unlocking Oculus Go page at the Oculus for Developers website. There you'll be taken through the steps that are required to unlock the device and open your software door to the future. And if you happen to find a very awesome use for this headset and would like to share, let us know! Or just let me know over on Twitter – let's chat!