Holographic tech/VR/AR

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Captain Picard's Hair
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Holographic tech/VR/AR

Post by Captain Picard's Hair »

Microsoft is a curious case in some ways. It commands a dominant market share in desktops despite the fact it's flagship OS isn't widely liked. In part that's because they catch some blame for problems that technically fall more on third party developers at times, sure. That's a danger in running a relatively open platform. Somehow they've managed to be both ahead of the time and behind it, in the same category. For example, Microsoft experimented with tablet interfaces years before the Ipad came about. There were odd twist-and-flip screen "convertible" laptops running Vista that had a touchscreen and a pen, which due to their heft look comical next to a modern tablet or 2-in-one. Though they did all this work when the hardware tech wasn't ready to produce a good tablet, they missed the boat entirely when the tech became ready - and subsequently ended up playing catch-up. Their history in mobile OSes is long, but mostly academic since few ever took it up. In the present, their consumer offerings feature little to like outside of dominance in a shrinking category, a popular (at least by MS standards) XBox line and growing cloud offerings.

The cloud is where MS is currently putting a lot of effort, with brands like OneDrive and Office 365. They remain strong in enterprise software, as always. Recent quarterly filings show a booming cloud division offsetting a softening in Windows revenue. So, despite some bad timing they remain a juggernaut that's not disappearing anytime soon. This remains a company with an enormous amount of cash and enormous profits, even if Apple has surpassed them. Though the fruity competitor has been thought to be more savvy in producing the right product at the right time (not to mention marketing) Microsoft has done tons of amazing work in their own labs.

The line of Surface branded devices brings credibility to their tablet ambitions. Their recently announced Surface Studio is by all accounts, a beautiful, powerful, and amazing system. Sure it costs an arm and a leg, but it was never meant to be a consumer device with lots of numbers. As a platform for creative professionals, it brings swag that threatens Apple's offerings in the area. Beyond that, it's a legitimately cool offering from a company stereotyped as boring. Yet it's not half as cool as Hololens. This niche (but amazingly awesome) device is just the headliner for a new category of 3D Windows devices. At a recent conference, Microsoft announced a line of Windows holographic headsets to be made at a variety of forms and price points by many of their PC partners like Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer and others. Their commitment is so strong that basic 3D support from AR (Augmented Reality) in different forms through 3d printing support is baked into Windows 10 with a big upgrade in 3D capability coming in a soon-to-be-released update to the OS (the "Creators update," due 3/2017).

So, this old dinosaur has some new tricks, and legitimately cool ones. How do you think this market will look going forward? Microsoft is not alone in looking that way, as competition will come from start-ups right up to fellow juggernaut Google. Is this an area where MS will finally deliver the right innovation when the iron is hot?
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Re: Holographic tech/VR/AR

Post by Captain Picard's Hair »

-- So as that post revolved a bit around the companies involved, I'll note the question is about the holographic market in general. Will it transform the computing experience in the near future? In the current economic doldrums, how many will spend to experience this new tech?
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Re: Holographic tech/VR/AR

Post by Teaos »

I think holo and 3D will be a gimik for a long time.
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Re: Holographic tech/VR/AR

Post by Mikey »

Once somatic interface options catch up to these display options, there will be no stopping it.
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Re: Holographic tech/VR/AR

Post by Captain Picard's Hair »

Mikey wrote:Once somatic interface options catch up to these display options, there will be no stopping it.
Fair point. Holographic displays are just the beginning of a complete interactive experience. What we have now is just the first step. Some years from now HoloLens will look like those old "brick" cell phones.
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Re: Holographic tech/VR/AR

Post by 00111010 01000100 »

This is an old thread but to bring it back to light; does anyone else on the forums own+use a VR system?
I have an HTC Vive Cosmos, my oldest has an Oculus Quest. I know the valve index is impressive albeit a little more expensive than either of the ones me and mine own (but worth it from what others tell me). I’m looking forward to Star Trek related VR games in the future and would enjoy hearing from others who feel the same.
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