Microsoft and Meta promise facehugger PCs piping cloud desktops into VR headsets
- Reference: 1665557110
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/10/12/meta_microsoft_alliance/
- Source link:
The two companies today promised that in the future, Windows 365 will become available on Meta Quest devices, offering the chance to "stream a Windows Cloud PC including your personalized apps, content and settings."
That Cloud PC will be in your face – virtually and in a way literally – but how users will drive the machine was not explained other than with an illustration of a chap sitting in front of a mouse and keyboard. It's mysterious, given Meta's [1]list of accessories does not include a keyboard. Meta does offer controllers that can do the job of a mouse, and today announced a headset – the Quest Pro – that will include an eye tracker capable of interpreting facial expressions so they can be reproduced on your avatars in virtual spaces. But the [2]tech specs for the device don't mention Bluetooth. The device costs $1499, a sum that comfortably covers the cost of a conventional PC.
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Microsoft's depiction of a Windows 365 Cloud PC in VR - Click to enlarge
Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg said the Quest Pro matters because avatars that reflect your face make VR even more suitable for real-world collaboration. But he also said "The feeling of presence you get from VR, even today, can be better than video chat." So just why virtualizing your face makes sense is not entirely clear.
Neither Zuckerberg nor Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella – who appeared together in (irony alert) a split screen video – explained how one might use Windows or Office 365 in a headset.
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Zuckerberg said: "With Microsoft 365 you will be able to interact with content from your favorite productivity apps."
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Nadella enthused: "With Windows 365 you will have a chance to securely stream the Windows experience to the VR device with the full power of Windows and Windows applications."
Both CEOs spruiked using Microsoft Teams in VR – again without much detail beyond assertions that it will allow more powerful interactions than are possible when using other forms of collaborationware.
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(Except maybe Zoom, given Meta has also teamed with the vid meeting giant and even announced that avatars in that environment will get arms and legs.)
If you decide this stuff makes sense in your organization, Microsoft promised it will support Meta Quest devices with Azure Active Directory and its Intune endpoint manager. Zuck chimed in with teasers of a VR for business subscription service from Meta, and news that Accenture has signed up "to help companies use VR to transform the way they engage employees, interact with customers, or create products and services in the metaverse."
Will yours be one of those companies? Let us know in the poll below. ®
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[1] https://www.meta.com/quest/accessories/
[2] https://www.meta.com/us/quest/quest-pro/tech-specs/#tech-specs
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2022/10/12/supplied_windows_365_cloud_pc_in_vr.jpg
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y0aQOn8NhewiWC81rTpGLgAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
You'll lose your grip immediately on account of all the nose powder and drug fumes around. There really is no other explanation.
Oh joy, immersive spreadsheets.
It will be just like being there in person.
Time for a clockwork orange remake
This could bring the movie to new unexplored heights. \
And give a new meaning to the phrase "Death by Powerpoint".
p.s. I feel someone should acknowledge how much genius is contained in the "Facehugger PC" monicker.
Can't wait for some facehugger headset add-on to appear on Etsy, and an entire office to wear it at work.
Just how good is...
The drugs in silicon Valley getting now? I mean if this pure cocaine based bs by now someone sensible would have gotten involved to put a dampener on things but no. It's like they're all on a joint acid trip where they feel they must get more people to see the world how they do (in Marks case, creepy, unblinking, dead eyed staring World...).
Has no one pointed out the closer to the uncanny valley, the more disturbing the result?
Re: Just how good is...
Well, observe that you have two of the most privacy invading companies collaborating, it's just a matter of time before Google either joins in or starts their own setup on account that they absolutely hate sharing profits.
Real life Pokemon Go!
It's bad enough when you 'accidently' knock someone's phone out of their hand as they wander down the street watching the latest paint drying TikTok... now they will have the original Alien face hugger clamped to their face
Just maybe
I've occasionally speculated on using HMDs to get an enormous virtual screen. We never did get the best bits from [1]Sun's Starfire movie prototype.
[1] https://asktog.com/starfire/index.html
I don't get it
The Microsoft / Meta model of VR is that I don a headset and then...umm...sit down in front of a row of screens and interact with them? I must be missing something.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz
This is going to be like 3D cinema. Every 10-15 years, somebody thinks it's a good idea. We get a load of rubbish, then it quietly disappears/
Not this but I can imagine similar
If I could wear glasses that are just as comfy as my glasses that wirelessly connect to a local machine and project information into the world I already sit in then I would do away with monitors and have some nice pictures on the walls instead. I could do that. I have to look through glass as it is for anything to be in focus. Fully enclosing myself in VR isn't appealing, I don't want to be completely shut off from reality more than I am.
I would love to be a fly on the wall at the meetings where this sort of product is devised.