HoloLens, A Year Later: A New Demo At Build 2016

[scolaner]

A year ago at Build 2015, we got our first demo of Microsoft’s HoloLens. At this year’s event, we got a second crack at seeing the augmented reality device in action, and it was a completely different experience.

HoloLens, A Year Later: A New Demo At Build 2016 : Read more

 

[Badartdog]

And so, we slip quietly into the darkness of false truth. Why bother with everyone else's reality, when you can make your own, in the comfort of your own home ?

 

[wifiburger]

argh, still this nonsense development about HaloLens, here's a free tip, keep development of your techs hidden and release infomation when you have something affordable and ready for mass production, this makes VR look amazing with companies already in productions and tons of games,

 

[RedJaron]

argh, still this nonsense development about HaloLens, here's a free tip, keep development of your techs hidden and release infomation when you have something affordable and ready for mass production, this makes VR look amazing with companies already in productions and tons of games,

Except if you don't hold events like this and keep things under wraps like you suggest, it gets very difficult to generate exposure and excitement for your product. That means getting third-party buy in and support for your product during development suffers. That means few people want your product once it finally hits retail.

 

[KermodeTech]

And so, we slip quietly into the darkness of false truth. Why bother with everyone else's reality, when you can make your own, in the comfort of your own home ?

I think your quote is more relevant to the nature of VR isolation. Also, I don't think the slipping into a darkness of false truth is more relevant today than any other point in history, (think printing press, television, or even as far as spoken language). The notion that a "true" truth exists is what leads to blind faith and discontinued learning. I'm a believer in a truth existing in the collective "false" truths of us all. There is no real world, only many individuals' constructs of a world, and one must find comfort in that, as there is no way to identify whether your notion of truth is true or false...

I need go on a walk, I'm trippin'.

 

[quilciri]

argh, still this nonsense development about HaloLens, here's a free tip, keep development of your techs hidden and release infomation when you have something affordable and ready for mass production, this makes VR look amazing with companies already in productions and tons of games,

Go launch a worldwide, or even just national product. Then come back and tell us how easy it was to get developers and investors behind you without public knowledge and interest.

 

[quilciri]

And so, we slip quietly into the darkness of false truth. Why bother with everyone else's reality, when you can make your own, in the comfort of your own home ?

...said the comment on an internet forum.

No hate

 

[Achoo22]

An "academy", so they can "educate" you on all the merits of their product. Obviously, anyone not on board is uneducated.

 

[jblosun]

A man calling himself "Viral" blaming you for the problems with their program is the quintessential Microsoft experience.

 

[computerguy72]

It still sounds like the FOV of the hololens is too small to be particularly useful yet. Hopefully they can continue to improve it prior to production.

 

[scolaner]

A man calling himself "Viral" blaming you for the problems with their program is the quintessential Microsoft experience.

Lol...although that's his actual name, given to him by his parents.

 

[scolaner]

It still sounds like the FOV of the hololens is too small to be particularly useful yet. Hopefully they can continue to improve it prior to production.

Well...much has been made of the small FoV, and although it IS probably too small at this point, I think the issue is way overblown. Remember, this is not a VR HMD, it's AR. Thus, you don't need (or want, really) to be fully immersed. If you're inside of a VR experience, a limited FoV takes you out of the experience. In an AR solution like HoloLens, that's simply not the case.

In fact, you DON'T want to have too much holographic content in your FoV because then you can't see anything else. HoloLens, like all AR, is designed to *augment* what you see. You want to see a hologram of a Thing "sitting" on a real item, like a coffee table. If your entire FoV is occluded by holograms...that's not helpful at all.

As I said, though, I do think it's a little small. There were too many times in the demos I've seen where you can't see the whole hologram, so you're too often moving your head around to get the full picture.

 

[scolaner]

argh, still this nonsense development about HaloLens, here's a free tip, keep development of your techs hidden and release infomation when you have something affordable and ready for mass production, this makes VR look amazing with companies already in productions and tons of games,

To be honest, I believe companies like Microsoft see us (the tech media) are part of the development process. They ask us what we think of the demos. They read what we write. They hope we like what we see. And, they read what YOU guys say in comments--what you ask for, what you don't like, etc.

Anyway--and maybe this is a failing on our part for not communicating it well enough--you shouldn't compare HoloLens with Rift and Vive. Totally different technologies, totally different markets.

HoloLens is AR, not VR. (Microsoft calls it "mixed reality" instead of "augmented reality," but whatever, it's fundamentally AR.) Although I'm sure there will one day be many games for HoloLens (such as the silly one we played in this demo), that's not why Microsoft is making it. It's aimed more at productivity and research.

So the effort for MSFT is not getting consumers excited about wanting to buy one; it needs to get businesses and scientists excited about it. That's a very different process and approach.