Microsoft this week released a new mixed reality platform called Mesh, rolling the product out at its Ignite 2021 virtual conference.
The conference was itself a demonstration of the technology, with Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Laliberté appearing alongside Microsoft’s Alex Kipman, the brains behind Mesh, as 3D holograms on a virtual stage.
Mesh is basically a suite of development tools that will allow developers to build collaborative VR and AR — or mixed-reality (MR) — experiences that work across devices, not just Microsoft’s HoloLens. If the concept video tells us anything, strap in, this could be big.
… it’s a bet on the future of computing. According to Microsoft’s technical explanation, MR is a “4th wave in computing” following innovations in mainframes, PCs, and smartphones.
Microsoft sees Mesh as the toolkit to make MR a consumer reality. Think Zoom meetings where hologrammed co-workers just “holoport” to your home office. Bold… and unsettling.
So Microsoft is leaning on its cloud computing platform Azure to help pull it off.
Recently, Azure has been a bright spot for the ol’ ’Soft. Over the past 10 quarters, revenue has climbed by 50%+, and Azure sits squarely in the No. 2 spot for cloud infrastructure providers.
Think of Mesh as another holographic feather in Microsoft’s Azure cap. They’re in the business of setting up the pipes for a MR future. Sure, it’s a big, fluffy vision that we may or may not want — but has that ever stopped Microsoft?