The company has offered $500,000 in research grants to encourage researchers to put together and develop use-cases for the HoloLens, although the grants are only available for US-based individuals and organisations. Developers may even get a few different versions of the HoloLens through the research and development stages as Microsoft continues to modify and improve the hardware.
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Microsoft has demonstrated some applications of the HoloLens, such as the ability to not just design products, buildings and other items in 3D, but to explore them in three dimensions, too.
Microsoft is planning to ship its shiny new HoloLens augmented virtual reality device in some time next year. He says that this first version of this device is going to be primarily geared towards enterprises and developers.
The device is apparently on a “five-year journey”, and V1 will be aimed “more around developers and enterprises” as a prototype edition. “It’s in the Windows 10 timeframe which means that it is within the next year”.
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Although Microsoft made a huge song and dance about Hololens at its Windows 10 unveiling earlier this year, there’s little chance of consumers strapping the headset on anytime soon. “Holograms mixed with your real world will unlock all-new ways to create, communicate, work and play”. He also told to ZDNet, “I want us to push a lot more of the enterprise usage … That’s in our DNA”.
