This is a simple fact of life that most everyone has to deal with at some point. Microsoft has spent a lot of money developing and marketing its Surface Tablet.
What Microsoft really wants to do is push VR, but in a way that can’t scare off the mass market. Microsoft says that it wants to be able to show off the tablet to its own employees, as part of an interesting VR demonstration. So it’s clear that Microsoft is not the only company thinking about VR.
Microsoft is hoping that VR will be a mainstream product. That can be a good thing. I know a lot of folks who are frustrated with having to pay for a device that they don’t own, but I also know a lot of folks who are looking for a way to use their tablet in a way that is more efficient and less expensive.
Microsoft has been showing off its prototype VR headset, the Microsoft HoloLens, to its employees. This is a new product that Microsoft claims is more comfortable than the Windows-based product, but it is still expensive and not nearly as capable. It’s not clear if this is an exclusive deal or if Microsoft is simply trying to prove that the headset is a good idea.
As you probably expect, Microsoft is still trying to prove that the Vive headset is the future of VR. So far, it has not provided us with any substantial evidence of this, but we do know that Microsoft has had some success in making the Vive as comfortable as possible. We will continue to watch and see how Microsoft’s headset and company’s efforts go.
The problem with the Vive is that it is clearly not as “advanced” as you might think. It is not clear if Microsoft will have sufficient VR hardware to actually provide the “advanced” features you expect, or if it will just be a gimmick to try and prove that it is more advanced.
One of the things that has worried us about Microsofts VR efforts is the new emphasis on portability. The Vive can be moved from one room to another, but this is not a great deal of convenience. You have to take your VR headset with you, and that limits the things you can do with it. For example, you can’t play video games by playing them on top of the Vive. You can’t use it as a stand-alone monitor or TV.
You can use it, but its not so useful that you can just plug it in to your TV and watch what you want to watch. That would be great, though, if it wasn’t so limited. If you want to play a game, you have to sit in a room with a high-def TV or monitor.
Microsoft has addressed the issue of VR controllers, and you can now use your VR headset with a Microsoft Xbox One. That means you can use your headset and controller to play games, watch movies or TV, and watch or stream 360-degree videos.
But there’s one problem. The controller is only compatible with the Xbox One S, which is the Xbox One with the best gaming experience. The only way to play the games that Microsoft has made to work with the new controller is with a gamepad. This means you can’t use your Xbox One S for other purposes.