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Microsoft envisions a "shared reality" future where different VR headsets will coexist

By Milen Yanachkov

Published: Jun 01, 2016, 8:52 AM

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Microsoft envisions a "shared reality" future where different VR headsets will coexist

Have you ever dreamed of having Navi from The Legend of Zelda: OoT follow you around all day... in real life? Do you envision a future where everyone's walking around with a VR headset all the time? Well, if your answer to one or both of these questions is yes, than look no further than Microsoft's vision of the future.

Team Redmond is opening their Windows Holographic platform to other manufacturers in hopes of paving the way for a future “shared reality”, where different VR headsets, such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, will coexist and work together to bring a unified AR experience to their users.

The video opens with a trio of co-workers who are unprepared for an unexpected meeting with their employer. They quickly gather together – one of them only in the form of his virtual avatar, because he's too busy playing video games – and begin a brainstorming in a virtual hub with a low-poly graphical aesthetic, apparently created for organizing and coming up with ideas. The trio is then presented with a row of “icons” to choose from, as one of them asks a floating white-bearded head for inspiration. The head then replies with the Hindu greeting “Namaste” and produces a spiral of floating objects above the characters. They pick some stuff and begin arranging it in the empty room, just as their employer walks through the door carrying a VR headset of her own (of course). “Pushing it to the last minute again, I see”, she says in Japanese as her words are instantly translated in a speech bubble next to her head. She ends up impressed however, and the video closes on a sigh of relief from one of the co-workers.

We sure hope that Microsoft's bubbly assistant will tell you to “hey, listen!” if you ignore it for too long.