Facebook is already developing its own operating system

If you thought Facebook was nearing its limits in expanding its empire — think again. The social network is building its own operating system from scratch, according to a report by The Information.

They’re doing what? — Facebook has created a team with the goal of developing a brand new operating system for the company. At the helm is Mark Lucovsky, a former Microsoft engineer who worked heavily on the Windows NT operating system. We don’t know anything about the operating system yet, save for the fact that it exists.

Okay, but why? — Right now, Facebook’s products — such as Oculus and Portal — run on Google’s Android operating system. Facebook wants more control over its intellectual property. Dependence on other companies isn’t the best move when you’re constantly trying to be the biggest and the baddest.

The company is also reportedly investing billions of dollars in dedicated hardware, too, such as its own AR glasses and semiconductors.

Facebook wants to be the future — Facebook knows that, as owners of the top two mobile operating systems in the world, Google and Apple have an enormous amount of control over the future of technology. And the company doesn’t like that.

“We really want to make sure the next generation has space for us,” Andrew Bosworth, VP of augmented reality at Facebook, told The Information. “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.”

Will these investments pay off? — The company seems sure they will, but its investments haven’t always worked out in the past. Remember the HTC First? Exactly.