Microsoft has managed this by making use of the Windows Holographic platform, which helps form the foundations for AR apps, and the Universal Windows Platform, which enables apps to run across any device running Windows 10.
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Before the announcement, Windows Holographic was only usable with HoloLens, Microsoft’s proprietary augmented reality headset. Imagine wearing a VR device and seeing your physical hands as you manipulate an object, working on the scanned 3D image of a real object, or bringing a real-life holographic representation of another person into your virtual world so you can collaborate. As such, the new Outlook apps for HoloLens are similar to the Windows Store apps available for PCs.
The common perception of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality is that they mostly cater to fun and games and entertainment. For now, VR and AR looks to have a very competitive and interesting road ahead of it, and Microsoft appears to want to be at the cusp of its embrace using their Windows Holographic Platform.
Microsoft says you can pin your email inbox or daily calendar schedule to the wall, so you can interact with it when you choose by looking over at the designated area.
The transition into Microsoft Holographic might not be much of a problem for users of Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, since both products work in tandem with Windows 10 PCs.
Developers with deep enough pockets to shell out for the $3,000 Developer Edition of the HoloLens will now be able to download the apps onto the headset rather than having to access the services through a web browser. Windows Holographic is more than a new type of OS-it is a call to developers to consider the possibility of incorporating mixed-reality features into virtual-reality headsets.
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The market for virtual reality devices is expected to be 80 million devices per year by 2020, Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the company’s Windows and Devices Group, said today on the Microsoft blog.
