TECHnalysis Research Blog Extra

April 30, 2015
The Amazing HoloLens Leap

By Bob O'Donnell

As a grizzled tech industry veteran, it takes a lot to really make me feel like something is dramatically new and different. In other words, I’ve seen lots and lots of evolutions, but not really that many revolutions.

Yesterday, I experienced a revolution: the Microsoft HoloLens is unlike anything you’ve ever used.

For now, unfortunately, you’re going to have to take my word for it, because, more than any tech product I’ve seen or tried in quite awhile, you really have to experience the HoloLens first hand to appreciate it.

Luckily for me, I’ve actually been able to try the HoloLens twice now—at the product’s initial unveiling in late January and at Microsoft’s Build conference in San Francisco yesterday. During that three-month gap, the company has made enormous progress. The first demo consisted of a development system made up of multiple parts: a big box holding the computing elements that went on a cord around the neck, a long cord tethered to a large workstation-looking PC, and the goggles-like head-mounted display. Yesterday’s demo, on the other hand, consisted of nothing but the untethered, slick-looking head-mounted unit that’s supposed to be representative of what the final shipping product will look like.

Just to see that transition was impressive. Even though Microsoft showed one final-looking unit at the launch event in January, I still had serious doubts about how long it would take to get them to reduce what I wore in January into the portable, battery-powered device I wore yesterday.

More importantly, the product’s capabilities and overall function continues to impress. Whenever you try out something that’s very new, there’s always a tendency to overemphasize how great or different it is. As a result, I was very curious to see how I would feel about using HoloLens for the second time. I have to say, if anything, I walked away even more impressed.
Part of that may be because the company has come up with several more impressive demos. In particular, the demonstration of an architectural program, where you can manipulate elements of a building design and see it in the context of an architectural model really gave me a sense of how innovative the HoloLens can be. To be fair, it also gave me the sense that HoloLens will initially probably have more focused applications and may not be for everyone. Still, being able to adjust the roof of a 3D model by moving the mouse from a PC screen over to the “hologram” of the rendered building and then adjust it, all the while being able to see the physical model of the existing buildings in the area surrounding the one you were designing, was really impressive.

For me, this demo also served as a great example of why augmented reality products, such as HoloLens, are likely to be much more successful than virtual reality products, which completely take over your field of vision with a computer display. Being able to see the real world helps avoid the seasick-like feelings that many people (including me) feel when trying on virtual reality headsets like the Oculus VR. Augmented reality also provides the ability to perform productive tasks, as opposed to just experiencing a computer-generated world through VR. Certainly for gaming and entertainment applications, there are a few compelling VR applications, but even so, I expect that the options with augmented reality will prove to be more attractive to a larger audience.

To that end, the software support for HoloLens has also made important advancements. The ability to do things like pin a video player or Skype window onto a wall in a room around you starts to hint at some of the many interesting possibilities that Microsoft could enable with HoloLens.

There are still a number of very important questions to answer with regard to HoloLens—not the least of which are price, availability, battery life, and software compatibility. Yet, I think the experience is so compelling that even limitations or concerns in these areas won’t limit the device’s appeal.

It’s a rare, but incredibly cool, feeling when science fiction comes to life right in front of your eyes, and with HoloLens, that’s exactly what Microsoft has managed to achieve. Well done.

Here's a link to the original column: https://techpinions.com/the-amazing-hololens-leap/39954