Firefox to bring virtual reality to the web

Firefox is adding native support for virtual reality devices such as the Oculus Rift to its Web browser, developerÂ Vladimir VukiÄ‡eviÄ‡ said this week in a blog post.

“We are adding native support for VR devices to early experimental builds of Firefox, so that Web developers can start experimenting with adding VR interactivity to their websites and content,” he wrote. “This is only the first of many steps that we’ll be taking over the coming weeks and months.”

Cloud Party, which ran in a browser, was closed when Yahoo acquired it earlier this year.

In particular, that means support for WebGL — which was used most recently by the Cloud Party virtual world to create a Second Life-style immersive experience right in a Web browser, no download required.

The end result should make it easier to create Web-based virtual world browsers without worrying about making it work with particular equipment.

“For example, in the case of the Oculus Rift, content should not need to apply the Rift-specific distortion rendering effect,” wroteÂ VukiÄ‡eviÄ‡, who isÂ Mozilla’s engineering director in charge of gaming and special projects.

Google Chrome might follow soon, as well, according to a post by Google developer Brandon Jones.

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Maria Korolov

Hypergrid Business editor and publisher Maria Korolov is a science fiction novelist. During the day, Maria Korolov is an award-winning freelance technology journalist who covers artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and enterprise virtual reality. See her Amazon author page here and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, and check out her latest videos on the Maria Korolov YouTube channel. Email her at maria@hypergridbusiness.com. Her first virtual world novella, Krim Times, made the Amazon best-seller list in its category. Her second novella, The Lost King of Krim, is out now. She is also the publisher of MetaStellar, a new online magazine of speculative fiction.