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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

#101

Post by mrkstu »

dh2022 wrote: post #86
roughly wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Apple Watch was launched in the era of Tim Cook, though I suppose it’s more “ipad revolutionary” (nobody had done it successfully) than “iPhone revolutionary” (nobody had tried). I’ll also say the AirPods are the most quietly competent products I own. One could also argue for the M chips, which were absolutely game changing when they came out.

I still remember the first time I heard about the iPhone. I was like "this is incredible". My friend in Romania asked me to buy him an iPhone - when I told him he would not be able to use it in Romania [1] he said it does not matter, he wants it it looks super cool. When I first saw the Apple Watch my reaction was between huh and meh. [1] As far as I remember there was only one telecom in US that was working with the…

Launched as an AT&T exclusive

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

#102

Post by somerandomqaguy »

charles_f wrote: post #30

I mean, these were cute and demos were a bit "wow" but the practicality seemed reduced, especially when most of the use cases they demonstrated would be covered by a phone call. The big industrial use case I saw was to receive teleguidance to repair equipment, the ground reality is that most of the time if you don't know how to fix it... You're not allowed to try to fix it.

Eh, I always viewed it more as having a guided reference manual on hand more then letting someone untrained perform a repair. A mechanic might know exactly how a car engine works, but they probably don't know the exact part numbers, torque specs, and disassembly / reassembly order to gain access to an specific area on repair for that specific model and year of car.

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

#103

Post by N1ckFG »

ripley12 wrote: post #22

I was considering getting into HoloLens development a few years ago. It seemed like they were still pushing developers toward UWP even when UWP was obviously nearly dead, and that killed any interest I had. Did the developer story for HoloLens ever get better or did it just die a slow death?

HoloLens 2 switched to Android ARM and UWP apps running on heavily modified Android, but imo the insistence on hand tracking as the primary interface still walled it off from the other Android XR developer communities.

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

#104

Post by generalizations »

pronlover723 wrote: post #100
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…

No one can touch you but they can hurt you in the same way people hurt others online all the time. Verbal abuse, name calling, derogatory remarks, unwanted solicitation, etc...

> and you can leave at any time

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

#105

Post by tootie »

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…

Those kind of narrow uses can be done with a phone too. The Hololens let's you be hands free but the imagery is blurry, it's bulky and very expensive.

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

#106

Post by mbfg »

boppo1 wrote: post #91
andirk wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was Google Glass but it got laughed out of town for being made for dorks. Seemed like perfectly good tech.

Iirc there was some face-punching resistance to people recording discreetly. I suspect that may have subsided some in many areas due to the longer them of high-res-video-recorder ubiquity.

don't disagree, i find it interesting that people get unbelievably angered when individuals record them in public, but could care less when business do. I could understand some difference in reaction between the two, but the actual gulf displayed is astounding.

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

#107

Post by jwsteigerwalt »

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.

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

#108

Post by echelon »

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…

VRChat is winning VR.

Despite there being a few alternatives (Neos, Chillout, etc.), nothing reaches the scale of VRChat's community, platform, and developer ecosystem.

Whoever buys VRChat wins VR.

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

#109

Post by MonkeyMalarky »

tootie wrote: post #98
MonkeyMalarky wrote: post #58

How does that effect the crazy fat DND contract MS has for HoloLens?

Congress chopped 90% of the Hololens budget for this fiscal year due in large part to poor results of the field testing. $400M turned into $40M. It's not dead but MS can't sustain the size of the program. https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/12/congress_hololens_mic...

Yikes! That is a huge adjustment.

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

#110

Post by tootie »

cududa wrote: post #67
michaelt wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Congress just gave the military something like $75m-$150m to award to Microsoft to improve the hololens for battlefield readiness. It started as a high end niche business product. Demo'd well for the military. Business device shoehorned into military didn't work. But, if they can get it "military good" those enhancements will trickle down to business and eventually consumer use cases. I generally roll my eyes at Mili…

It was $40M but that's after they had planned on $400M.
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