Microsoft embraces Mixed Reality future with Microsoft Mesh

Microsoft Mesh, making its debut at the annual Ignite conference, is an Azure-powered AR and VR platform that will one day allow users to collaborate on projects in real-time using "holoportation" and will give developers tools to create other experiences.

Microsoft announced several new initiatives across its platforms during the first day of Microsoft Ignite, and Microsoft Mesh was the standout announcement. The platform will enable virtual experiences to be shared in a mixed reality environment and gives developers tools to create other experiences on and off of the HoloLens.

"This has been the dream for mixed reality, the idea from the very beginning," said Microsoft Technical Fellow Alex Kipman. "You can actually feel like you're in the same place with someone sharing content or you can teleport from different mixed reality devices and be present with people even when you're not physically together."

Microsoft calls the collaborative feature "holoportation," which shows a virtual version of yourself or an avatar in a physical location. The presentation was delivered by Kipman as a holoportation.

The demos showed off presentation software, meetings held in virtual spaces, and even Pokemon Go in mixed reality. Microsoft says that developers can use the tools provided by the Microsoft Mesh platform to develop experiences within Mesh or to create experiences for smartphones or VR headsets.

Microsoft Mesh and Niantic demo of mixed reality in 'Pokemon Go'

This push for augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality from Microsoft shows its continued commitment to the HoloLens platform. The company believes that the next revolution in computing will be in these mixed reality experiences and software.

Microsoft announced two apps built on the Microsoft Mesh platform — the Microsoft Mesh app for HoloLens and AltspaceVR. The company expects users will be able to choose from more apps and experiences including integration with Microsoft Teams and Dynamics 365.

Apple has shown similar interest in mixed reality applications. Rumors of smart glasses called "Apple Glass" have circulated for years, and are expected sometime before 2024. Another Apple project lies in VR, specifically an Apple VR headset.

5 Comments

OutdoorAppDeveloper 1292 comments · 15 Years

About 3 years ago

This is depressing. Microsoft has its Mixed Reality platform for Windows but absolutely refuses to support it for its Xbox game consoles. That means that Microsoft has no credibility in VR games. They have left it up to other companies like Steam and Facebook to bring real VR gaming experiences to real people (not just corporations). Almost every demo Microsoft has ever done of their AR/VR platform involves images of game content, like the one in this article above. Companies do not spend thousands of dollars per unit so their employees can hunt for Pokemon in a park.

The only major company with less VR credibility than Microsoft is Apple. There are currently ZERO fully supported VR headsets for the Mac. The Vive was the only Mac compatible VR headset and it was discontinued by HTC. I am sure that Apple's AR headsets will be great but they will be coming to market with very few developers that can support them and at a price (as rumored) that is out of reach of most customers. Meanwhile the Facebook Quest 2 continues to dominate and Sony is already starting to talk about their next gen PSVR headset.

fastasleep 6450 comments · 14 Years

About 3 years ago

OutdoorAppDeveloper said:

This is depressing. Microsoft has its Mixed Reality platform for Windows but absolutely refuses to support it for its Xbox game consoles. That means that Microsoft has no credibility in VR games. They have left it up to other companies like Steam and Facebook to bring real VR gaming experiences to real people (not just corporations). Almost every demo Microsoft has ever done of their AR/VR platform involves images of game content, like the one in this article above. Companies do not spend thousands of dollars per unit so their employees can hunt for Pokemon in a park.

The only major company with less VR credibility than Microsoft is Apple. There are currently ZERO fully supported VR headsets for the Mac. The Vive was the only Mac compatible VR headset and it was discontinued by HTC. I am sure that Apple's AR headsets will be great but they will be coming to market with very few developers that can support them and at a price (as rumored) that is out of reach of most customers. Meanwhile the Facebook Quest 2 continues to dominate and Sony is already starting to talk about their next gen PSVR headset.

I think Apple was counting on Valve to continue developing SteamVR for Mac, which died on the vine. Even FCPX’s stereo tools relied on that. I’m guessing even prior to that they realized they’d need to build out the infrastructure for VR headsets natively in macOS, and Apple being Apple couldn’t do that without building hardware to go with it, and of course it couldn’t just be an also-ran. I’ll be curious to see if they will offer support for other headsets other than their own, but also offer their high end pro headset for those who want it (ie creators) as that would be the best of all worlds. We’ll see.

Meanwhile I’m still loving my PSVR and am excited they’ve begun actively discussing the next gen which will certainly be a marked improvement in 2022.

Panamaniak 41 comments · 5 Years

About 3 years ago

If they support AutoCad and Revit/Bim software output, with seamless, intuitive integration to CAD/BIM software suites, this would be incredibly valuable to me.

I’ve been toying (with varying degrees of success), with using InsiteVR but it’s too time consuming to be a marketable & profitable service.

I would love to send a Dropbox link or whatever to a client, and a cheap cardboard headset that they can slip their smart phone into, and have an immersive walk thru of the designed spaces. Doesn’t need to be super fancy, just needs to function easily as most people aren’t tech savvy enough to make something like this work without too much hassle.

That would be a huge game changer/money maker for me.

Unfortunately I don’t see being able to send clients stand alone & proprietary headsets or have them purchase outright considering they’ll likely never use them again. Unless I ask for them in return, which sounds impractical to me.

Anyways, any progress & competition in this field is good for all.

thedba 790 comments · 12 Years

About 3 years ago

Just another concept video from MS.

Anybody remember these from the original MS Surface?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VfpVYYQzHs

Funny thing is in the opening scene, this girl named Jen places her "Zune" on the "surface" and starts sharing photos.
We all know how that concept turned out, so wake us up when you have something real.

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