Last week, Microsoft has put out its most futuristic material to the people who will determine whether it succeeds.
With a kind of seriousness usually reserved for the President's statements, corporate vice president of Microsoft Kudo Tsunoda he took the stage in generating developer conference here with a black box containing one of HoloLens helmets company. The first ceremony began what Microsoft says will be waves of shipments to developers interested in building programs devices.
The HoloLens designed in secret and revealed to the public a year ago, is a moonshot for a company known primarily for software work. They are becoming smaller and more powerful computer parts have allowed Microsoft strap essentially a miniature PC in the minds of the people, showing images in the world around them. Microsoft and other search companies such devices augmented reality view technology as a leap forward in the way humans interact with computers.
This jump is successful depends on whether enough developers to create interesting programs for businesses and consumers buy computers at a time when released Microsoft has not said, is likely to be costly. Tsunoda delivery of the first $ 3,000 custom publications for developers began this process.
"They took 90 percent of the way," said Bob Berry, CEO envelops the VR, a manufacturer based in Bellevue software tools for virtual and augmented reality. However, the last pieces of this work can be as difficult as the first 90 percent, he said.
No guarantee
Refrigeration equipment alone does not guarantee success, and cautionary tales abound.
Nokia has built a technologically impressive series of Windows smartphones, but the lack of interest from developers in creating applications for Windows has helped make it a commercial failure.
Microsoft pulled the plug on most of its activity smart phones last year, leading to layoffs and a huge financial success.
Kinect voice recognition device of gesture and Xbox - also born amid great expectations - has not attracted enough game developers to take advantage of its more advanced features.
If the omnipresence of HoloLens here is any indication, Microsoft exerts enormous efforts to avoid a repeat.
At the annual conference this year, there were dozens of technical demonstrations of employees HoloLens and Microsoft partners, including NASA and dozens Case Western Reserve University. Microsoft approached the company partners for the development of prototype applications for the device.
To avoid a repeat of the flashes of Kinect, Microsoft has tried to shake the market with experience in working with the device, inviting designer shops and digital development and certain corporate giants to experiment with HoloLens.
"They throw a lot of resources into it," said Rob Sanfilippo, an analyst who follows the company Directions on Microsoft. "They do not want to be another case of" We tried, but nobody cared. "
Roving Mars
Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA (JPL), the research and development center based in California, which manages the Mars Scout missions, was one of the first groups approached Microsoft with the device.
Microsoft came to the laboratory in 2014 with prototypes that, in the words of JPL producer Doug Ellison, were a bit awkward and unfinished. "We were told where they were going and they promised they would get it done," he said. "They handed."
A demonstration at JPL construction had progressed showed how the material.
Looking consumer loans, smooth, helmets 1.27 books are surprisingly light, but as with everything connected to the head, which can be a little uncomfortable. audio speakers built space make it seem that the sounds of specific directions, a feature that feels so natural, it's easy to forget people nearby are not hearing the same things.
JPL in the demonstration, a three-dimensional image of astronaut Buzz Aldrin moonwalk appeared in a corner of the room, which invites you to discover some environments on Mars.
From there, the demonstration showed the potential and the main drawback of this first version of HoloLens.
The helmet shows a Martian landscape for property, built from map images and the surface of the real world. Walking and bending closer to the ground revealed more details in a way that felt true to life.
But the sense of presence is sometimes broken by a relatively narrow field of view, a common complaint analysts and journalists who have tried the device.
The images of vessels zone project in amounts of about the size of a postcard made 6 inches in front of the face. This is significantly lower than the view immersive virtual reality helmets that completely removes the user from their environment.
In all cases, the limited virtual window was not a deal breaker for some.
Some early testers of software JPL HoloLens were vagabond drivers, people who guide the rover Curiosity through its exploration of Mars. When put on the helmet, the immersion of scientists and engineers in an environment they already knew and their own patio and limited experience with tears on her face, Ellison, producer JPL said.
JPL hopes to start using HoloLens and a final version of its software as curiosity to guide summer.
An adventure
"What we are going is a bit of an adventure," Eric Rak, creative director of Seattle Pop digital marketing agency, said developers of the device. Pop worked with MLS to build an application to help HoloLens railcars and reviewing video games.
"It's uncharted territory," he said. Working in the new environment, where some software development agreements in two dimensions go out the window, it is for "people who are caused by failure."
HoloLens is probably related, initially, for companies and large organizations a fact recognized with Microsoft to test pilots helmets with a wide range of industries. Volvo is studying its use in showroom of a dealership, while the last week of Lowe began using his shop HoloLens Lynnwood show customers the different versions of the devices.
Berry said wraps even a couple of devices could change the way a company works, such as architects examining a report of a building and in three dimensions.
"Despite its limited field of view, which could have a profound impact on business," he said.
