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Microsoft has laid off entire teams behind Virtual, Mixed Reality, and HoloLens

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Re: Microsoft has laid off entire teams behind Virtual, Mixed Reality, and HoloLens

#151

Post by thwarted »

dougmwne wrote: post #28

Shutting down AltSpace should be a loud warning bell for Meta’s Horizon Worlds. Horizon is basically a badly executed AltSpace. AltSpace was super niche, but some artists and marginalized people seemed to find a home there. It was like an odd cross between a digital Burning Man and a BIPOC LGTBQ+ neurodivergent support group. I had a memorable conversation during the height of the pandemic with an older gay man whose…

VR can be a kind of ultimate safe space for people who are hurting. No one can touch you, you put on a disguise, and you can leave at any time.

Maybe. Doesn't mean harassment is impossible.

https://www.villagevoice.com/2005/10/18/a-rape-in-cyberspace...

Re: Microsoft has laid off entire teams behind Virtual, Mixed Reality, and HoloLens

#152

Post by LexGray »

goldcd wrote: post #137
cududa wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect Microsoft knows full well that 343 wouldn't be capable of producing a "metaverse". Activision though? With a sort of contiguous open world standardize "game engine" used by all the properties? Now we're talking real metaverse tech.

Just need to download the 90 gig client, then I'll join your Teams 2 call.

Just part of the standard OS install. Nobody notices bloat any more.

Re: Microsoft has laid off entire teams behind Virtual, Mixed Reality, and HoloLens

#153

Post by freeplay »

jonas21 wrote: post #97
loeg wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your downside is never capped, of course. Surely your downside is capped at zero?

Perhaps they believe working for big tech will lead to the eternal damnation of your soul.

I work for big tech and I believe this

Re: Microsoft has laid off entire teams behind Virtual, Mixed Reality, and HoloLens

#154

Post by dougmwne »

l33t233372 wrote: post #122
generalizations wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and you can leave at any time

You can do that online as well, no? I suppose if you elect to not remain anonymous there could be an issue, but generally speaking I don’t know that this is a problem.

Yes, VR is online, but it’s a weird embodied immersive presence version of online that can feel a bit like hanging out in meatspace. And it has a off button.

Re: Microsoft has laid off entire teams behind Virtual, Mixed Reality, and HoloLens

#155

Post by partiallypro »

Looks like it's mostly related to Microsoft's inability to sell to the Pentagon, which seemed like a big use case and a way to make up for their costs:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-18/microsoft...

"Microsoft won’t be getting more orders for its combat goggles anytime soon after Congress earlier this month rejected the US Army’s request for $400 million to buy as many as 6,900 of them in the current fiscal year. The rejection of the request, in the $1.75 trillion government funding bill approved in December, reflects concern over field tests of the goggles, which are adapted from Microsoft’s HoloLens headsets. The tests disclosed “mission-affecting physical impairments,” including headaches, eyestrain and nausea."

I have to imagine this will happen with other VR headsets, given theirs was more fleshed out than others.

Re: Microsoft has laid off entire teams behind Virtual, Mixed Reality, and HoloLens

#157

Post by javajosh »

rchaud wrote: post #126
javajosh wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One example. It is my personal belief is that social media is ripe for disruption in ways we have not imagined yet. Clearly centralized, ad-revenue driven psuedo-monopolies are a big problem. I actually believe there is a parallel problem with software engineering that has focused on larger piles of cloud-hosted complexity that has far outstripped the ability of anyone to hold it in their head. These two things are,…

> Clearly centralized, ad-revenue driven psuedo-monopolies are a big problem. Financially, it's the exact opposite of a problem; it's too profitable. There will always be big market for companies that manage to lock up an audience within its walls.

A big problem for society. The algorithm is bad for people's mental health, and bad for democracy. These are the externalities of that great profitability.

Re: Microsoft has laid off entire teams behind Virtual, Mixed Reality, and HoloLens

#158

Post by avsteele »

I really wanted to use HoloLens for remote support. Too bad they never really looked like they would support it for wider use.

We are a small company that sells very complex equipment to labs around the world. The users are smart / PhDs, they just need to be told what to do to fix things when they need an adjustment. This is large physical scientific equipment and the stuff requires 'hands-on'.

Re: Microsoft has laid off entire teams behind Virtual, Mixed Reality, and HoloLens

#159

Post by avsteele »

michaelt wrote: post #33
sublinear wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it really, or is it short term thinking?

Is HoloLens on a trajectory towards success, in your opinion? Seems to me it's far too expensive for gamers, and not all that useful for business - all I can find online are mock ups of hypothetical business uses, like telling mechanics which way to turn a spark plug to tighten it. To me that doesn't seem very useful. What are the chances a job is done so rarely your workers don't know the procedure already; and yet…

In my use case the complex, scientific equipment is spread around the world. Low volume though. I planned to offer support remotely rapidly with HoloLens.

Re: Microsoft has laid off entire teams behind Virtual, Mixed Reality, and HoloLens

#160

Post by netheril96 »

skohan wrote: post #118
jwsteigerwalt wrote: post #107

The reality is that it was always unlikely that Microsoft (or Meta, or Google, or Apple…) would be able to create disruption in AR, VR, etc. on the magnitude of the initial iPhone release. Better to keep their powder dry to acquire the startups that potentially can.

It seems obvious to me AI will be the next major disruption. Radically decreasing the need for human labor has an obvious productive advantage while there is no evidence people would prefer to leave reality.

Except AI plays to the strengths of Big Companies rather than small ones. So MAGA will be the first to capture the winds of AI. They don’t have to worry about an unknown AI company suddenly toppling them upside down.
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