While this technology theoretically gives you "infinite" workspace(s), you are still limited by human physiology. Do I really want to have a virtual window that requires me to look upward and to the left? How long am I going to want to hold my head in that direction to do anything practical? So this creates a natural limitation of where I can look directly forward in a natural head-holding position, glancing slightly left or right. Which brings us right back to where we are today, dual side-by-side monitors. A human can only look in one direction at once anyway, so there are few advantages to having random windows floating around above or below us. A user could be better serviced by learning shortcuts to quickly switch windows (ie. alt-tab) on their desktop while continuing to look forward in a natural position.
I am all for change and progression, but this doesn't seem like we really gain anything. I don't want to be in a virtual "work" reality, that sounds horrible. I want to look at my monitors to work, then have other things around me. Maybe look out the window or pick up my guitar and play for 5 minutes between meetings. I don't want to see the barista virtually surrounded by my virtual monitors, I just want to see this human in real life. If my partner comes into my home office while I work I want to be able to look at them and have them see my eyes in return. When I am on a zoom call I want people to see a real human, not a virtual avatar.
I just struggle to see any advantages from a virtualized work world. Someone feel free to tell me what I am missing out on here. But as far as I see it, I would still need to work from a desk at home. I am still staring at windows containing spreadsheets/code/documents/files, they are just floating around in virtual space instead of displayed on monitors. I don't understand the point of going to a park when you are wearing a virtual headset. The reason people go to a park or a coffee shop to work is for a change in scenery. But if you are still in your virtual world, then why go to a park?
- you can use it in any luminosity. No reflection if you code, no big light to wake up people sleeping if you watch a movie.
- you can code in any posture, including on your back.
- you can go in nature and code, read, get into a meeting. I really want that. I miss the sun on my skin at the office.
- you can go in full immersion, with no visual distraction what so ever.
- you can have your big screen when traveling. Want to work near the beach in the south of France ? Sure your can, why wait for the holidays ? You can be productive in the hotel room with your full setup, and then enjoy a dip in the water then a lunch at the local cafe.
I wouldn't make it my only setup. It kills social interaction. I like my pen and paper. But the options are nice, if you can afford it.
It's definitely something to improve some aspects of work, not a shift. And you will enjoy it more if you are already fortunate to have money, and freedom in your work.
But there is a place for it.
You could now take your workplace with you wherever you go. In the train, to the office, any room of your house. Always having a beautiful cleaned up working space with a lot of workspace.
I think the face/eye tracking camera's will help with realistic meetings. Furthermore with augmented reality you could grab a coffee or play some guitar without taking your headset off. Obviously when going to the park you would take the headset off. You probably would have to do so anyways as 8 hours of VR is though.
But I could totally see myself going into the forest or the mountain in a remote area, and enjoy working remotely in nature. As long as I know there will be no humans around.
First, as you said, it's very awkward. It can already create social tensions to have hearphones on in public, so a whole mask...
But it's also dangerous. People are idiots, sometimes means, sometimes just clumsy. And I am an idiot. With my eyes free, I manage to do plenty of damage, breaking glasses, hitting people by mistake, pouring liquids in the wrong places. I know with a certainty I would cause trouble with a helmet on.
I routinely see people wearing not too dissimilar headsets as vision aids for severe myopia and macular degeneration.
They need to sustain themselves and do that with something that facebook could not copy.
While OQ is way cheaper, it also forces you into using facebook accounts and you pay with your personal or even worse, with your company information, that is way more valuable than the cost of the simula.
A surveillance device with two cameras and microphone and eye tracking of your workers is something unacceptable for lots of companies.
The price is OK if they manage to offer something that improves productivity and make companies money. Juts a month of paying an engineer is way more than this price.
Our software won't phone home. The cameras will have a kill switch. If we include a microphone, so will the mic.
And for that to happen, the cost must go down. Just like the PinePhone is IMO the first practically obtainable phone designed to be hacked, we need something like this for VR. Otherwise we'll just end up with a bunch of Librems that only rich US engineers can enjoy.
Will we reach Varjo's level of polish? No way. But I'm confident we can get 80% of the way there at least.
Like, I'm certain I cannot work in my Index, not for any prolonged time. It's awesome for games, but not for any text-heavy stuff. I've tried a few times, my take is that problem is the resolution is not good enough => I would need giant fonts => turning my head a lot => extra neck strain (as if headset, even with a counterweight not bad enough in this regard) => fatigue and headaches. If I could see a honest (simulated) rendering of what I'd see in an Index vs what I'd see in Simula One, that would be amazing.
"high-quality AR mode" -- do you have public SDK documentation for this and does it have a mixed passthru VR / AR mode like the Quest 2? The quest actually is a bit underpowered for doing this properly imo so I can see a higher price point potentially being necessary to pack it with the right hardware.
Not that I'll ever build it but somewhere along the line some cordless headset is going to have great passthru and the ability to replace the windows in my house with the beach or a beautiful mountain vista.
Also just an observation -- x86 on your face makes me think it probably gets quite hot :)
For the future, have you looked into micro LED displays with waveguide optics? It seems like the thing that is going to allow for glasses-style VR/AR.
To me it's a no-brainer to tether that type of display to a phone. Could just use a long cable going to a pocket or hang the phone around the neck etc.
Are you guys confident that your headset will be more comfortable than the Q2? If so, how much more?
I think you guys are making a mistake I once made, focusing on the hardware design for what is actually a software product. You’re building an Android phone, without Android.
What can you really DO in VR here in the future?
- VR videos?
- VR gaming?
- VR art?
The linux desktop is the killer feature. Why recode 30 years of a rich ecosystem when you can benefit from it now ?
You can use a web browser with all your extensions, code with a real local vs code, issue git commands in a terminal, watch any video with vlc / download them with youtube-dl / torrent them, get your emails with thunderbird, in a huuuuuge screen, open all my 1000 of different chats, play on steam while voicing on discord, query a postgres db, render a scene in blender, ssh to my work server and enjoy my ebook collection using calibre.
Why would I want a limited, badly supported, barely developed system?
Since WebXR is not supported yet, this breaks the value proposition for me currently, as all VR content delivered via browser will not yet work. As I said, once this issue is solved (I think they are working on it), I'd reconsider.
Blender starts going there, but not yet for SVR: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/2.83/getting_started/conf...
I think, this would be a way to really differentiate from closed platforms (which I also expect Apple RealityOS to become).
Unfortunately, the expectation that easy to use apps and tools for creating and consuming VR content will only be available only on closed platforms is quite reasonable.
The compute pack in the back of the headset is detachable (we plan to sell a VR dock for office desks to make docking it easier). But yes, this VR headset will definitely look large to future VR/AR headsets 10 years from now. We are excited to iterate its size downward over time (among other things).
If you are unsure about the headsets price, we have added a "partial deposit" option to the checkout which allows you to place a $1,499 deposit to reserve a headset. This allows you to lock in a headset now for less risk, and then receive it later on when its finished (you'll have to pay another $1,499 deposit then as well). If you have any other questions or feedback, let me know.
I've got a pretty good record of getting things working with Winetricks and after about a week I gave up on getting my Quest 2 to work on Linux. To be honest, I feel like it barely works on Windows most days.
That's why i would be hesitant to put that much faith in the developers of the hardware to provide lasting support.
Also, the styling of the device itself is right up my alley.
(funny aside from the video ad: they didn't finish the clip showing the guy managing to take a sip from the cup with the headset on, haha.)
In tethered mode, totally possible.
In tethered mode, I see no reason why it should interfere with the host OS.
"Origins: Simula is a reimplementation fork of motorcar. To read about motorcar, see Toward General Purpose 3D User Interfaces: Extending Windowing Systems to Three Dimensions"
Why aren't we all Programming in VR? - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dHBC-tOnh4
Using a VR Keyboard? - Immersed vs Logitech K830 vs Horizon Workrooms - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diIA9oFI3XM
