henke on 22/1/2015 at 07:27
[video=youtube;aThCr0PsyuA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84359240&v=aThCr0PsyuA&x-yt-ts=1421782837[/video]
(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6sL_5Wgvrg&x-yt-ts=1421782837&x-yt-cl=84359240&feature=player_detailpage#t=390) Live Demonstration
(
http://www.wired.com/2015/01/microsoft-hands-on/) WIRED's hands-on impressions
The company I work for has been focusing on Augmented Reality for a while now and I've got a fair bit of experience in making AR apps for Android/iOS with Metaio and Vuforia's SDKs for Unity, plus I've tried out Google Glass and one other pair AR glasses, so you can take my expert opinion for it when I say that what MS has unveiled here is pretty darn impressive. The quality of the tracking and the low latency seen in the live demonstration outdoes hardware currently on the market, and the interaction via hand gestures is something totally new to AR glasses. Oh sure the thing is big and bulky, but this is basically the AR glass equivalent of those briefcase-sized 80's mobilephones. The sizes will get smaller and lighter eventually, but this is a very impressive early step.
No doubt the first version will be quite expensive, and I wouldn't bet on it catching on as a consumer product just yet, but for things like Remote Assistance in industries it could be a big deal.
nickie on 22/1/2015 at 08:51
I was reading about it yesterday in this article about (
http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30924022) Windows 10.
Quote:
Microsoft has revealed that Windows 10 will bring its voice-controlled assistant Cortana to PCs.
It also unveiled a headset that it said would one day project the operating system over views of the real world.
In addition, the firm announced that the OS upgrade would be offered free of charge for devices running Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Phone.
It's all a bit beyond my comprehension really but looks fantastic.
demagogue on 23/1/2015 at 02:11
The old issue with AR is you had to have an index image in the real world to calibrate it, and even then it wasn't all that stable.
I guess it was just a matter of working out the kinks though. This appears to be beating Google Glass on features and polish at least.
Just a matter of time until they rig it into a pair of glasses, then contact lenses, then they may as well embed it into people's eyeballs, and the next thing you know our minds will be running on Windows 20. :erm:
DarkForge on 23/1/2015 at 08:22
Personally I'm still confused how we went from Windows 8 to Windows 10 without a 9 in between...
henke on 23/1/2015 at 08:48
Terrible and confusing product version names are MS' forté.
edit: I'm going to go ahead and predict the names of the Hololens series right now.
MS Hololens > Hololens 2 > Hololens Nuevo > Hololens 2018 > Hololens One
I hope MS is reading this, I just saved them a few million bucks in advertising agency expenses.
Pyrian on 23/1/2015 at 16:01
Quote Posted by DarkForge
Personally I'm still confused how we went from Windows 8 to Windows 10 without a 9 in between...
I'm still amazed they once went from Windows 7 to Windows 8. Very out of character.
nicked on 23/1/2015 at 20:11
Quote Posted by DarkForge
Personally I'm still confused how we went from Windows 8 to Windows 10 without a 9 in between...
They can't have a Windows 9, because it potentially causes conflicts with Windows 95/98, e.g. if an installer checks for Windows 9x.
gunsmoke on 23/1/2015 at 21:16
Quote Posted by nicked
They can't have a Windows 9, because it potentially causes conflicts with Windows 95/98, e.g. if an installer checks for Windows 9x.
That was my guess! Yay, my brain isn't completely dead yet!