How Microsoft Plans To Give Virtual Reality Apps a Big Boost (fortune.com) 15
The market for virtual and augmented reality products has developed slower than expected, but Microsoft is seeking to accelerate the sector by making it much easier for people to connect from different locations and with different kinds of devices. From a report: The ultimate goal of the new effort, dubbed Microsoft Mesh, is to allow, for example, a person in an office in New York using Facebook's Oculus VR headset to collaborate with a person in Seattle using Microsoft's HoloLens 2 glasses. Using Mesh-compatible hardware and software, the two people would be able to see virtual representations of each other appearing in their offices, talking and moving in real time as if they were present. And both would be able to see a common view of virtual charts or digital objects projected before them that they could change or manipulate. At least that's the vision that Microsoft demonstrated for the first time in public at its Ignite conference on Tuesday. Ultimately, Mesh could be used to connect users on a variety of VR gadgets, PC and Mac computers, and smartphones.
But getting all the various hardware makers to agree to use Microsoft's standards may not be as easy as the company hopes. And while Microsoft's HoloLens and popular collaboration software like Teams and Office will be compatible with Mesh, other software developers also may be wary of depending on the company for such critical functionality. "This has been the dream for mixed reality, the idea from the very beginning," Alex Kipman, a Microsoft technical fellow working on the project, explained at the demonstration. "You can actually feel like you're in the same place with someone sharing content or you can teleport from different mixed reality devices and be present with people even when you're not physically together."
But getting all the various hardware makers to agree to use Microsoft's standards may not be as easy as the company hopes. And while Microsoft's HoloLens and popular collaboration software like Teams and Office will be compatible with Mesh, other software developers also may be wary of depending on the company for such critical functionality. "This has been the dream for mixed reality, the idea from the very beginning," Alex Kipman, a Microsoft technical fellow working on the project, explained at the demonstration. "You can actually feel like you're in the same place with someone sharing content or you can teleport from different mixed reality devices and be present with people even when you're not physically together."
mmmmm (Score:2)
mmmm just what i always wanted... to have to wear an entire headset just to join a zoom meeting to look at charts, while someone proclaims "your mic is muted" and fumbling around with a bulky headset on trying to figure out if the mic is muted, or a cable is unplugged, or its a software mute in the app or any number of other possible issues.
Re: (Score:1)
If it's used in that way, then sure, that's shitty, but to be fair VR is capable of quite a lot; it's ideal for example for software design settings where you're all able to scribble on a virtual whiteboard with a virtual marker. That's something you just can't do as well on Zoom or using a mouse. You can even move virtual post-its around and such.
So there are areas where it adds clear benefits over just pissing about pointlessly on Zoom, but I agree it's not appropriate as a flat out replacement for all me
Re: (Score:2)
if you want virtual shared whiteboards, its going to be cheaper/easier/lower learning curve to just get everyone a drawing tablet.
Re: (Score:3)
This happens every time someone reads Snowcrash
Hololens (Score:2)
I was fairly impressed with Hololens. I have not managed to get my hands on the Hololens2.
Since HL is AR, most of what you see is reality and just a little bit has to be rendered by the computer. It didn't seem like you would get motion sick that way.
Occulus though is another matter. Just a bit of FPS with total immersion and some difference in movement sets me off. You need some reality to keep your brain from getting confused and upsetting your stomach. The only mechanic I liked was teleport to move
Re: Hololens (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I assume the FOV issue can be fixed by expanding the display size. It just seems like more pixels which can be improved with some moores law. Maybe I am missing something?
Even with HL1 I never noticed the FOV issues. I just liked that I was not getting motion sickness. The stuff I looked at appeared locked in just fine. Maybe I don't focus much outside of my LOS?
Nice comparisons here:
https://uploadvr.com/hololens-... [uploadvr.com].
Re: Hololens (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Yep. But for locking a display on a blank wall or talking to a holo avatar at a meeting or text message HUD or working on a CAD part it seems about perfect now.
I checked the Magic Leap. It looks like they help mitigate the FOV issue by wrapping steam punk goggles around to limit your FOV. I need to find a pair of those...
Blue Pill or Red Pill? (Score:2)
If history is any guide, then it is pretty easy to see that the killer app is not going to be business meetings but services rendered by sex workers.
Paintings, print, photography, film, ... every time a new media appears it gets its first commercial impetus there.
Of course it is impossible for respectable, buttoned-down Microsoft to admit this but they have to know it.
Post an article when that happens.
squandered potential (Score:2)
Wot? (Score:2)
What's next? An iPhone user can send texts to an Android user?
But seriously, shouldn't this have been done from the get-go?
Latency V2.00 (Score:2)
The bigger question not asked but should; is our communications networks up to the task of linking AR/MR/VR devices together in a seamless way. If Stadia was a hard achievement, then A/V/M/R would be harder since our visual systems are less forgiving.