What They Say
The WSJ looked at the history of the development of Microsoft’s Hololens project. The paper said that more than 100 members of staff have left the team (which has been over a 1,000 at times) in the last two years as Microsoft trimmed the budget. Some staff believe that Microsoft could have maintained a lead over other companies, with more resources, but development had been harder than expected.
The article said that Microsoft had shelved the plans to work with Samsung on a consumer headset, as well as killing the Hololens 3 development. Meanwhile, the firm continues to work with the US Army on the military version of the headset (IVAS) which is said to have met ‘most of the army’s criteria’. But there were areas where it “fell short and needs additional improvements, which the Army will address.”
What We Think
There’s nothing here that has not been reported elsewhere, but the article is a good summary of how we got to here and the enormous challenges of developing HMDs that can offer really great functionality. (BR)
