Last week, Microsoft unveiled a number of new products. Among these are the new Spartan browser, the Windows 10 operating system, the Cortana personal assistant - following in the wake that Apple settled with Siri. The highlight of the event was the worldwide presentation of the revolutionary Hololens.
Holololens: towards mixed reality
This is a headset of what Microsoft has rightly dubbed "mixed reality". That's what the revolutionary Hololens are.
Since the tech world was abuzz with the announcement, they've been calling this device "the new desktop," "the hologram glasses," "the future of computing," "the definitive arrival of augmented reality," "the great rival of Oculus Rift"... Let's see if we can get something clear.
First of all, and technically speaking, the Hololens, by the fact of working from a real physical world on which to superimpose virtual objects, fall into the category of AR -Augmented Reality-. These objects are holograms, yes, and much more.
Holololens has been designed by those in charge of the revolutionary Kinnect technology. A scientist from NASA was also instrumental in bringing about this technological achievement. He explained to one of the people responsible for the glasses how the Jet Propulsion Laboratory plans to use them in the future. This will allow them to bring extraterrestrial territories closer to scientists in a unique and hitherto unattainable way. It will also allow them to be introduced to places they work with on a daily basis 'from afar.'
Open Doors to the Future
Some have described them, guided more by their name and apparent operation, as glasses that allow them to see holograms. These are virtual elements created in a physical world.
This mechanism is the basis of Augmented Reality. This uses devices with integrated camera to display virtual content through its screen. Well, beyond its resemblance, the Hololens intend, from this concept, to replace the traditional screen. Become our desktop, the ultimate environment in which to interact informatically.
Since Microsoft intends, with this substantial change, to take a very sharp turn into the future in terms of the way we interact with computing, it has gone back to its origins, when Paint came of age with Windows 95, taking advantage of the "high quality and color" graphics of that time.
As then, it has created an environment in which they have not yet come to market. It is expected that the launch of the new features announced at the event a week ago, will take place in tandem. Both the new Windows 10 operating system will be presented, as well as a new Spartan browser - which definitively buries the - to call it somehow - mythical Internet Explorer browser; and the Hololens, will take place from February, starting with the version of Windows 10 for Windows Phone.
Microsoft is back at it again. Or not.
You be the judge.
