Microsoft Wishes HoloLens A Happy Birthday

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HoloLens was announced one year ago today, and Microsoft celebrated the occasion by trumpeting the mixed reality headset's progress so far.

March has actually been quite busy on the MR front. Microsoft rebranded Windows Holographic to Windows Mixed Reality to better reflect its hopes for XR on Windows; expanded the HoloLens Agency Readiness Partner Program to offer "extensive, hands-on training" to six more European companies; and has now wrapped up the year with a blog post and video summarizing much of what's been happening in the world of HoloLens.

Microsoft highlighted these tidbits in its blog post:

Over 150 exclusive mixed reality apps are now available in the Windows Store.HoloLens is available in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, France, Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the United States and we will begin to ship in China before summer.We have expanded the promise of mixed reality by making it attainable for everyone. Windows Mixed Reality, the HoloLens software platform, is built into Windows 10, opening an ecosystem of hardware and software that will revolutionize how we interact with people, places and things.

Many other things have been going on with HoloLens. Developers have started to experiment with game concepts that take advantage of the MR headset, Microsoft created a jerry-rigged Spectator View to help businesses show off MR's potential, and a company called Stryker has signed on to use HoloLens to design better operating rooms. One dev even built an experimental experience that combined HoloLens with the HTC Vive.

We also learned more about the HoloLens' internals and how its Holographic Processing Unit works. To say that we're waiting to learn more about the MR headset would be an understatement. Alas, Microsoft said in its blog post that we aren't going to slake our thirst for knowledge until the Build 2017 conference, which runs May 10-12 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. Here's hoping that post-birthday bash is illuminating.

Nathaniel Mott
Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer

Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.

13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • bit_user
    I say less congratulatory self-back-patting, and more FoV! Cheaper would also be good.
    Reply
  • John Nemesh
    The only ones excited are MS employees, everyone else still thinks it's a POS.
    Reply
  • urbanj
    19497382 said:
    The only ones excited are MS employees, everyone else still thinks it's a POS.

    Let me guess, you think it's for gaming?
    Reply
  • It was and is DOA - death on arrival like many other POS coming from Microsoft.
    Reply
  • ubercake
    An amazing concept with yet-to-be-seen (if ever at all?) mainstream execution.
    Reply
  • chicofehr
    A whole year without them abandoning the idea. Good job. I hope they continue to work on it. They, like Google seems to start then give up on lots of stuff quickly.
    Reply
  • d_kuhn
    Couple of folks who have no clue what Hololens is about. It's already a success... but it's not for you kiddies yet. While it's pretty fun to play AR games on it... that's not what it's about. It's likely have far more impact over the next decade (outside of gaming) than VR. VR is a fun toy... AR (or MR/whatever you want to call it) is going to change the way some business tasks are done. As far as Microsoft putting out "POS"... well Hololens if packed with real innovation while folks at Apple remove headphone jacks and call that revolution.
    Reply
  • urbanj
    19500110 said:
    Couple of folks who have no clue what Hololens is about. It's already a success... but it's not for you kiddies yet. While it's pretty fun to play AR games on it... that's not what it's about. It's likely have far more impact over the next decade (outside of gaming) than VR. VR is a fun toy... AR (or MR/whatever you want to call it) is going to change the way some business tasks are done. As far as Microsoft putting out "POS"... well Hololens if packed with real innovation while folks at Apple remove headphone jacks and call that revolution.

    Pretty much where I was going to go with my earlier comment.

    I'm already working with a company to use HoloLens to drastically enhance their end product at a construction level.
    So many kids think that HoloLens is for playing games, just because those tend to be the "more popular" videos on it.
    HoloLens is for working more efficiently, reducing delays, which lead to enhancing profits.....but that's not something that most of the basement dwellers will understand.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    19502195 said:
    I'm already working with a company to use HoloLens to drastically enhance their end product at a construction level.
    So, is it really this bad?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLneQuA3T50

    For the dev kit, at least, they should've gone with a saddle pack and a beefier GPU. I don't understand the obsession with trying to pack everything into something you wear on your head.
    Reply
  • coffeecoffee
    19502989 said:
    19502195 said:
    I'm already working with a company to use HoloLens to drastically enhance their end product at a construction level.
    So, is it really this bad?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLneQuA3T50

    For the dev kit, at least, they should've gone with a saddle pack and a beefier GPU. I don't understand the obsession with trying to pack everything into something you wear on your head.

    The execution and planning of HoloLens does not have gaming in mind. It was never intended to be a competitor to VR.
    It's designed to be a light/portal device for productivity/media tasks. Having gaming capabilities is a bonus if anything.

    E.g. I reckon this can be super useful for map designing future games; think about it.
    E.g. Using an entire basement wall as a ultra 8k spreadsheet display while having youtube play on your ceiling, skype on your left wall and IRC on the right wall.
    E.g. How about on the go video teleconferencing? E.g Watching cooking tutorials WHILE you cook?
    Possibilities are endless.

    The best analogy I can think of:
    Treating MR (as a prototype tablet) versus VR (laptop)
    Similar in concept and execution on the surface, but worlds apart in it's intended function and in practice.
    Reply