Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella needed to show the world the role of Windows in the future. He sure took the future part seriously.
At a preview of its Windows 10 operating system Wednesday, the software maker unveiled a version called Windows Holographic, along with a headset with glasses called HoloLens that will let users see holograms while tracking a user’s voice, motion and surroundings. The company also showed HoloStudio, software for creating holograms, then 3-D printing and sharing them.
Microsoft said it’s working with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology on the holographic technology, and the lab will use it for Mars exploration starting in July.
“It’s a huge surprise and certainly a risk trying to bring this sort of technology down to consumers,” said Michael Silver, an analyst at Gartner Inc., who attended today’s demonstration. “But this is Microsoft finally showing some vision, which has been lacking for a long, long time.”
The world’s largest software maker is the latest company to join the push into augmented and virtual reality. Qualcomm Inc. and Intel Corp. are among companies that in the past year have demonstrated technology aimed at enabling computers, tablets and phones to show users a picture of the world overlaid with digital images and information. Facebook Inc. made a $2 billion bet on virtual reality last year with its purchase of Oculus VR Inc.
Architects, Surgeons
Using Microsoft’s new holographic tools, architects could walk around their designs while clients are viewing it remotely, said Alex Kipman, a technical fellow in Microsoft’s operating system group. A surgeon could learn a procedure without ever picking up a scalpel.
“In software, nothing is impossible,” Kipman said. “Holographic computing enabled by Windows 10 is here.”
Kipman said Microsoft has been building the holographic technology for years, hidden in plain sight in the same building as the company’s own visitor center in Redmond, Washington. The HoloLens glasses will be available “in the Windows 10 time frame,” he said.
Microsoft showed a demo today in which an employee wore the headset and created a quad-copter design while clicking and tapping in the air. A screen showed what she could see in front of her. A concept video also showed how holographs can be used for building work project models and for playing video-game Minecraft.
Real World
Augmented reality differs from virtual reality in that AR projects virtual images onto pictures or video of the real world. Virtual reality is completely computer-generated.
Examples of the kind of things technology companies expect to become commonplace through augmented reality in the future include customers taking a picture of a sofa in a store, then seeing how it looks overlaid on an image of their living room, and getting driving directions in the form of arrows and signs that appear to be on the road.
On the virtual reality side, social network Facebook acquired startup Oculus for its headset that immerses people in the virtual experience. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said virtual reality can be the next major method for communicating and interacting with the world, after mobile devices.
Google Inc., which has run into challenges promoting its Glass connected eyewear to consumers, has also made some other efforts toward letting devices interact with their surroundings. Last year, Google introduced an effort dubbed Project Tango to advance 3-D technology, using mobile gear to show off its potential. The devices are loaded with cameras and other equipment to help capture 3-D images of their surroundings, be that at home or in a business, opening up potential uses for game players, shoppers or the disabled.
Source: MSN
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