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Microsoft's HoloLens Is Now On Sale To Anyone In The US Or Canada (computerworld.com)
Microsoft is now selling its augmented reality headset dubbed HoloLens to anyone in the United States or Canada for $3,000 a pop. Computerworld reports: Until now, HoloLens was available only to developers and companies through Microsoft sales reps, but starting Tuesday, anyone in the U.S. or Canada can buy up to five headsets online through the Microsoft Store. There was no word about availability in other countries. The HoloLens now on sale is the same developer edition that has been offered to Microsoft partners, and buyers are asked to acknowledge before completing purchase that they understand it's not a finished product intended for consumers. Microsoft also asks buyers to agree not to resell the product and acknowledge that no refunds are available. The move should expand the community of developers working to build apps and other content for the headset before a consumer version is officially available.
Yeah, I'm sure a 3000 dollar test unit will have tons of developers lining up to use it, not to mention all the developers that got screwed over developing for Windows Phone.
I agree $3000 is really steep, especially for the product. It's rather disappointing so far. The field of view just isn't there. However, the implication that VR is somehow greater than AR I strongly disagree with. I think AR is a much harder problem to solve and has really great potential applications. I think people are ready to start moving away from their all-digital worlds and in to something grounded in the physical world a little more. People don't like having their phone in their face all day, or staring at a computer screen all day. There just isn't a better way to get the information they want at the time they want it. VR (so far) is just further isolation from your physical world by moving your body in to the digital world, whereas AR is bringing your digital world out in to the physical world.
If I can just reach out with my words and touch a butthole, just one, it will all be worth it.
I don't think they are directly comparable. This is apples and pears. (not oranges as the concepts are somewhat related)
I think there is a place for both - in fact I am not sure why so many people are missing this as it seem blatantly obvious to me. Hell, maybe in the distant future there will be a single device capable of both.
In fact I find arguments that are merely penis measuring competitions between the two to be wholly ridiculous.
Having said that, if you compare the PROMISE of the technology compared to the implementation I would say that it is clear that MS AR is the one severely lacking. Especially when one considers their marketing hype versus the reality. VR is living up to its tech promise - I am ignoring price here as this is irrelevant to my point.
But again, these are two separate technologies that have overlap but in practice have very different application.
Because VR is a dead end. VR makes the vasst majority people throw up within 15 minutes of use due to the disconnect between what the eye sees and the inner ear senses. There is no way to solve that problem with VR. AR is the way to go, but $3000 is ridiculous.