Microsoft Windows 10 is ready for the Second Coming of Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality, the great-grandfather of Augmented Reality, has been in a constant state of flux since its early days, and it’s, to date, a technology as old as the modern PC itself, yet, the initial hopes and dreams for mass adoption of virtual reality have been raised and crushed, multiple times, over the course of 53 years, starting from the very first original patent ever recorded for a multi-sensory virtual reality apparatus called “ Sensorama”, which also included support for aromas and wind simulation, back in 1962.

At around half of a century away from that odd and revolutionary invention, Virtual reality has found its way into multiple industries, however, the degree of immersion that early inventors and scientists dreamed in the beginning, have never found solid ground to become its own industry.

Microsoft’s plan to resurrect VR

Ironically, the problem that has caused the sales drop of the desktop PC in favor of laptop and mobile devices, is the same that has prevented immersive virtual reality from flourishing: it’s a technology that requires complete detachment from the surrounding environment, which requires the user to sit (or stand) still in one place for an extended period of time.

In a world where technology is increasingly designed to be mobile and even wearable, VR headsets need to be three things, to stay relevant:

• Cheap
• High-res
• Plug and Play

A quick search on eBay or Amazon, will reveal several cheap VR headsets, although a closer look will reveal that most of them are not VR headsets at all, but simply head mounts that require a smartphone to provide display capabilities, a la Google Cardboard VR. The few “true” VR headsets on the market that fall below the $200 range boast a resolution of, wait for it... 320x240. And no, we are not missing a couple of zeros: that is a resolution designed to simulate the “look” of a movie displayed on a 50 inch HDTV screen.

By this token, the key for VR headsets to become a commercial reality, is for them to fit into the category of computer displays, as they already should, instead of being relegated to the status of gimmicky accessories. The problem is that squeezing the same amount of pixels from a regular HD display into a couple of 2x2 inches screens inside a VR headsets is still a herculean task.

Incidentally, Apple’s Retina display has the ability to overcome this problem, however it’s unlikely that Apple will create its own proprietary standalone VR headset. This is where Microsoft comes in, with its own product, HoloLens. Having said that, HoloLens is still going to be very expensive to consumers, but this is not the point. Just like the Surface Hub, these devices are being created to lay the groundwork for a shift in an industry that is still stuck on workarounds and gimmicks, rather than true groundbreaking technology.

From the horse’s mouth

Microsoft’s head of the Xbox division, Phil Spencer gave us a clue, during an interview held at the E3 gamers conference, on what Microsoft is really trying to do with virtual and augmented reality:

“Headsets will be supported natively, meaning that they're recognized and accounted for by Windows 10. Currently, these headsets show up as monitors and must be calibrated to work with your computer. It's a big hassle! Thankfully, this should help circumvent the hassle.”

What we gather from this statement is that Microsoft doesn’t really care who makes the next and best VR headset, because Windows 10 will support them all, no matter the resolution, at which point it will be a matter of how fast the industry can provide VR headsets at resolutions good enough for gamers. Having said that, Phil Spencer drops one more bombshell:

“Since all these headsets require some form of body/head tracking, and they all solve that issue in different ways, Windows 10 will unify tracking. It's not clear exactly how this will work, but it doesn't sound like Oculus VR's tracking solution (cameras) will stand in for HTC/Valve's (lasers). Instead, it seems to be a solution for developers – one pipeline of tracking information across various headsets.”

This basically means that Windows 10 will work with all head and body tracking mechanisms built in the device, once again, natively... and that is very good news for both developers and anyone interested in the first true shift in VR technology, in this century.

The best news of all:

With this unprecedented level of support for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, owners of new laptops running Microsoft Windows 10 will be able to be the first to test the technology, as it becomes available. Speaking on availability, Oculus Rift is planned to see release in the first quarter of 2016, and the statements above offer more than a hint that owners of Windows 10 laptop and desktop devices will be able to use the new headset, practically out of the box, for what is expected to be a reasonable price tag.