Microsoft HoloLens

[heartbone]

I just can't wait to see what contrived situation that Microsoft is going to come up with where this thing is going to be used as a productivity enhancer or tool.

I figure it will somehow try to provide feedback during a manual operation, but somehow I can't see dentists or surgeons wearing one.

Perhaps for engine mechanic training in a few years after they get the necessary libraries scaled and an industrial strength mask designed.

I can not wait.

An environment like Second Life seems to be a natural fit for this device.

Just about any video game could be converted.

I remember without any clear detail about some sleazy operation a few years back in Asia,
one where people were being exploited almost to the point of slavery to play games
where they mined/slayed/tilled/whatever all day in order to earn digital currency for their bosses.
Maybe a productivity enhancer there?

[heartbone]

Unreal developer blasts Microsoft, claims company wants to monopolize game development

"Sweeney calls on Microsoft to allow UWP applications to be distributed just as Win32 applications are now, for any company to be allowed to distribute UWP applications, including Steam and GOG, and that users and publishers should be allowed to directly engage in commerce with each other without paying a 30% fee to Microsoft. It should be noted that Valve, which owns the vast majority of digital distribution on the PC, also charges a 30% fee.

This true openness requires that Microsoft not follow Google’s clever but conniving lead with the Android platform, which is technically open, but practically closed…

The ultimate danger here is that Microsoft continually improves UWP while neglecting and even degrading win32, over time making it harder for developers and publishers to escape from Microsoft’s new UWP commerce monopoly. Ultimately, the open win32 Windows experience could be relegated to Enterprise and Developer editions of Windows."



Microsoft wants to monopolise games development on PC. We must fight it

"The specific problem here is that Microsoft’s shiny new “Universal Windows Platform” is locked down, and by default it’s impossible to download UWP apps from the websites of publishers and developers, to install them, update them, and conduct commerce in them outside of the Windows Store.

It’s true that if you dig far enough into Microsoft’s settings-burying UI, you can find a way to install these apps by enabling “side-loading”. But in turning this off by default, Microsoft is unfairly disadvantaging the competition. Bigger-picture, this is a feature Microsoft can revoke at any time using Windows 10’s forced-update process.

The Solution

If UWP is to gain the support of major PC game and application developers, it must be as open a platform as today’s predominant win32 API, which is used by all major PC games and applications. To the PC ecosystem, opening UWP means the following:

That any PC Windows user can download and install a UWP application from the web, just as we can do now with win32 applications. No new hassle, no insidious warnings about venturing outside of Microsoft’s walled garden, and no change to Windows’ default settings required.
That any company can operate a store for PC Windows games and apps in UWP format – as Valve, Good Old Games, Epic Games, EA, and Ubi Soft do today with the win32 format, and that Windows will not impede or obstruct these apps stores, relegating them to second-class citizenship."

Microsoft as has been their practice plods along while the real world does end runs around the behemoth to get the job done.
Over time the masses will always gravitate to the newest, but it seems that Microsoft is doing everything that they can to discourage that.

But what’s likely to be most controversial is the indication that the Xbox One will follow the smartphone model of regular iteration, with updated hardware versions going on sale throughout its lifetime. In the past, console manufacturers have often tweaked the hardware within a generation, but usually only to make certain components more efficient. Xbox One would become a new kind of hybrid device, effectively a living room PC in the same space that Valve’s Steam Machine is currently trying to occupy. The question becomes: is that what console owners actually want?

“Everything we do on any device is being driven by the Xbox team, and that team is 100% committed to success on every platform gamers want to play on,” said Spencer. “The gamer is at the centre of every decision we make.”

That just seems to be a case of more massive Microsoft stupidity, but perhaps Spencer knows a lot about the computer market that I don't.
Obviously his last quote fits into this HoloLens project somehow, but I just can't see where it's going yet... except to convince me to stick with XP/7 even longer.