Microsoft Wishes HoloLens A Happy Birthday

[Guest]

HoloLens was announced one year ago today, and Microsoft celebrated the occasion by trumpeting the mixed reality headset's progress so far.

Microsoft Wishes HoloLens A Happy Birthday : Read more

 

[bit_user]

I say less congratulatory self-back-patting, and more FoV! Cheaper would also be good.

 

[John Nemesh]

The only ones excited are MS employees, everyone else still thinks it's a POS.

 

[urbanj]

The only ones excited are MS employees, everyone else still thinks it's a POS.

Let me guess, you think it's for gaming?

 

[Guest]

It was and is DOA - death on arrival like many other POS coming from Microsoft.

 

[ubercake]

An amazing concept with yet-to-be-seen (if ever at all?) mainstream execution.

 

[chicofehr]

A whole year without them abandoning the idea. Good job. I hope they continue to work on it. They, like Google seems to start then give up on lots of stuff quickly.

 

[d_kuhn]

Couple of folks who have no clue what Hololens is about. It's already a success... but it's not for you kiddies yet. While it's pretty fun to play AR games on it... that's not what it's about. It's likely have far more impact over the next decade (outside of gaming) than VR. VR is a fun toy... AR (or MR/whatever you want to call it) is going to change the way some business tasks are done. As far as Microsoft putting out "POS"... well Hololens if packed with real innovation while folks at Apple remove headphone jacks and call that revolution.

 

[urbanj]

Couple of folks who have no clue what Hololens is about. It's already a success... but it's not for you kiddies yet. While it's pretty fun to play AR games on it... that's not what it's about. It's likely have far more impact over the next decade (outside of gaming) than VR. VR is a fun toy... AR (or MR/whatever you want to call it) is going to change the way some business tasks are done. As far as Microsoft putting out "POS"... well Hololens if packed with real innovation while folks at Apple remove headphone jacks and call that revolution.

Pretty much where I was going to go with my earlier comment.

I'm already working with a company to use HoloLens to drastically enhance their end product at a construction level.
So many kids think that HoloLens is for playing games, just because those tend to be the "more popular" videos on it.
HoloLens is for working more efficiently, reducing delays, which lead to enhancing profits.....but that's not something that most of the basement dwellers will understand.

 

[bit_user]

I'm already working with a company to use HoloLens to drastically enhance their end product at a construction level.

So, is it really this bad?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLneQuA3T50

For the dev kit, at least, they should've gone with a saddle pack and a beefier GPU. I don't understand the obsession with trying to pack everything into something you wear on your head.

 

[coffeecoffee]

I'm already working with a company to use HoloLens to drastically enhance their end product at a construction level.

So, is it really this bad?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLneQuA3T50

For the dev kit, at least, they should've gone with a saddle pack and a beefier GPU. I don't understand the obsession with trying to pack everything into something you wear on your head.

The execution and planning of HoloLens does not have gaming in mind. It was never intended to be a competitor to VR.
It's designed to be a light/portal device for productivity/media tasks. Having gaming capabilities is a bonus if anything.

E.g. I reckon this can be super useful for map designing future games; think about it.
E.g. Using an entire basement wall as a ultra 8k spreadsheet display while having youtube play on your ceiling, skype on your left wall and IRC on the right wall.
E.g. How about on the go video teleconferencing? E.g Watching cooking tutorials WHILE you cook?
Possibilities are endless.

The best analogy I can think of:
Treating MR (as a prototype tablet) versus VR (laptop)
Similar in concept and execution on the surface, but worlds apart in it's intended function and in practice.

 

[bit_user]

E.g. Using an entire basement wall as a ultra 8k spreadsheet display

Okay, so you've obviously never used one. According to http://www.pcworld.com/article/3039822/, it's limited to 1268x720 per eye. So, the effect would be no better than zooming and scrolling around in a 8k spreadsheet on a 720p monitor. Interestingly, that article also says they don't recommend displaying graphics more than 5m away or closer than about 1m. So, you wouldn't be able to get as close to the virtual display surface as you probably get to your monitor.

So, why did you reply to my post, if you wouldn't/couldn't answer my question about the FoV? I did I specifically ask about Hololens - not AR, in general.

Anyway, as I'm currently developing a non-gaming AR app, I'd like to think I do understand AR and its potential.

 

[urbanj]

I'm already working with a company to use HoloLens to drastically enhance their end product at a construction level.

So, is it really this bad?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLneQuA3T50

For the dev kit, at least, they should've gone with a saddle pack and a beefier GPU. I don't understand the obsession with trying to pack everything into something you wear on your head.

You're using the term "bad" on a Dev Kit model which is meant to allow developers to create software for use with HoloLens.
The FOV could be increased, but I'm guessing there would be A LOT of users who would start to become ill.
At this time there is also no real need to have a huge FOV.

 

[bit_user]

You're using the term "bad" on a Dev Kit model which is meant to allow developers to create software for use with HoloLens.

Fair point. It's yet early days. Maybe the consumer version will feature a Kabylake with a big iGPU. At low clocks, you'd still get good power efficiency from it.

The FOV could be increased, but I'm guessing there would be A LOT of users who would start to become ill.

Now you've gone and defeated your whole case! First of all, a large FoV will only cause motion sickness if developers are swirling large graphics around people's heads. It won't apply to any objects that are fixed in real space, which is the main benefit of AR.

Secondly, in order to properly test apps, the dev kit should have a FoV as wide as any consumer model, or else developers might overlook some things that could be problematic on units with wider FoV.

At this time there is also no real need to have a huge FOV.

This is just wrong. It's the #1 complaint I've heard about Hololens, including from people who really do like it.