Technology is regularly evolving from time to time and generation to generation.
We are no longer living in a world of dreams. The dreams and imaginations we always wanted to come true, are happening because of how advanced technology has become.
People used to watch things only on their television, meet and interact with each other face-to-face, or buy things directly from the store, in person.
However, all of those are no longer necessary. The internet and the never-ending development of technology continuously change the world around us, simplifying day-to-day tasks.
People can already watch anything they want, at any time, and anywhere, as long as connected to the internet. Let’s face it, the internet is everywhere.
The only thing that limits us from going beyond the imaginable, is our minds.
One of the breakthroughs of the latest technological inventions in the 21st century is the presence of mixed reality technology.
Today we will talk about Mixed Reality Portal on Windows 10 and the difference between mixed reality, virtual reality, and augmented reality.
As we know that Microsoft has started its move for further use of mixed reality technology. They want to become one of the first companies that utilize the power of this incredible technology.
We will cover and deliver to you a comprehensive outlook about the mixed reality portal on Windows 10 as our case model.
The purpose why we created this article is to make you aware of mixed reality improvement over the last decade.
So, let’s begin.
CONTENTS:
- What comes across our minds when we hear “Mixed Reality”?
- What is the difference between mixed reality, virtual reality, and augmented reality?
- Mixed Reality Portal on Windows 10
- What Mixed Reality Portal on Windows 10 has to offer
- What requirements are needed
- How the Mixed Reality Portal is changing the future of the Internet
- Conclusion
What comes across our minds when we hear “Mixed Reality”?
First of all, let’s talk about the basics first. What comes across our minds when we hear “mixed reality”?
Some of you might think, it is reality some sort of mixture of ingredients or things?
Well no, it’s different than what you may be thinking of.
We are talking about technology. A brand-new way of interacting both virtually and physically in the digital era.
Mixed reality is an ecosystem of technology where digital and real-world meet and combine to become one. It’s a medium that covers two separate dimensions together.
Mixed reality is the next level of interaction among humans and technologies between them.
It’s the mixture of being physically and digitally there at the same time. With other people across the city, country, or even on the other side of the world.
With the help of mixed reality hardware, such as Microsoft HoloLens, developed and manufactured by Microsoft. We can open our eyes to mixed reality and all of its capabilities.
The sole purpose why mixed reality technology exists is to expand people from screen-only experiences. The screen involves only one sense from all the five senses we have which is the visual sense.
It is built for the rich and immersive virtual interaction in the digital era.
What is the difference between mixed reality, virtual reality, and augmented reality?
What’s the difference between mixed reality, virtual reality, and augmented reality?
Since they all seem connected and, in a way, they complete each other, why don’t we break it down and analyze each one individually?
Mixed Reality
Mixed reality is the newest development of the “reality” technology among the three. It’s a combination of the two prior “reality” technology developments.
It’s fusing virtual reality and augmented reality technology as one.
When we are being presented with mixed reality technology in front of us. We can fully interact with the overlay of virtual objects in the real world while still living in the real-world environment.
Some tech enthusiasts and experts say mixed reality is a more progressive form of augmented reality or “AR”.
In addition, mixed reality technology can also replace the real-world environment we live in with the virtual environment. Making the virtual environment truly replaces and blocks out the real-world presence around us.
Virtual Reality
While mixed reality technology combines the power of virtual reality and augmented reality to become one. Virtual reality, or VR, comes as a standalone and separate form of technology.
VR technology immerses us in the experience of a virtual world. VR technology makes their users’ existence feel like in the real world but completely done virtually.
To allow us to experience this virtual world or virtual environment. We need to put on special hardware known as a “head-mounted display (HMD)” or “VR headset”. Besides that, we’ll also need a computer to attach the VR headset to experience virtual reality.
One thing you should know is that there are two models of virtual reality technology hardware available in the market.
The first one is the VR headset that needs a computer to generate the virtual environment. Without computers, we will not be able to go through virtual reality.
The computer acts as a power source and engine to unleash the virtual potential in front of our eyes.
The second is a VR headset that comes as a standalone device. In this version, we don’t need to have a computer for us to run the virtual environment.
It means that we can still enjoy the virtual reality experience just by having the VR headset only. All of the models have their ups and downs. Since there are two different types of VR headsets, we want to figure out which one is better suited for you.
Maybe you are the type of person who loves flexibility and versatility, then the decision is easy, go for the standalone version.
Or maybe we are the type of person who loves a more immersive experience and better performance inside the virtual environment. Then a VR headset plus computer version is better suited for your needs.
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality technology is a technology that allows its users to view overlayed digital content while in the real world. AR technology helps digital content in overlaying the real world around you.
While being in the virtual world, the technology of augmented reality increases. Which increases the experience.
Objects, images, text, video, animation, games, along with other digital content through our smartphones, tablets, or AR glasses are enhanced.
Augmented reality technology also provides us with a virtual visualization of real things. As if the objects are truly there, even when nothing is there physically.
Our smartphones or tablets screen will be able to show a virtual visualization of an object. This object could be moving or stationary, but it seems as if it was there in reality.
For example, if we want to buy a new model of a product, it could be anything. But maybe we are afraid the item may not be well suited in the living room, like a new sofa, or reclining chair, this is a way of almost testing before buying.
You won’t get to sit on the item if it is a sofa, but you can get the visual effect if it will be suited well next to your other furniture.
With the help of AR technology, you will not have to worry about fitting it in through the doorway, arranging everything. Just to realize this color does not suit your style at all, as you may have thought. This can be used in multiple ways, not just a sofa, that was just a small example.
Augmented Reality and Games
We can see the application of this technology in the gaming and business industry. Even though the creators of the game have announced its shutting down – Pokemon GO is probably the most famous game that implemented augmented reality technology into their playstyle.
This game was and is massively played worldwide, it was like a mind-blowing sensation when it first came available on our devices.
To search for a pokemon, we must go out of our home and catch it in a real-world environment. Like in the park, a bus, a store, in a building, or even walking down the street.
That’s why we need to be careful when playing Pokemon GO. Since we moving around in the real world. You must be careful looking for Pokemon while you’re wandering around the street, or potentially into traffic.
This feature works well for someone who needs guidance in buying things like furniture as stated above. IKEA is one of the companies that also implemented the technology in their business.
Many consumers say they are greatly pleased with the presence of augmented reality technology. It’s really useful when they want to buy a piece of good furniture that fits their style before actually buying it.
The technology overlays the virtual version of a product onto customers’ real vision.
Extended Reality
There is another “reality” technology called extended reality. This technology is not a real technology like the other three. It is more of a name, a term for covering all various technologies that boost our senses.
Mixed reality, virtual reality, and augmented reality technology are parts of extended reality.
Mixed Reality Portal on Windows 10
Microsoft is creating an ecosystem of a “mixed reality” world. An ecosystem where all types of devices perform collectively.
Despite the difference in which the device is established and performed, be it for virtual reality, augmented reality, or everything in between the two.
It is a platform where people can fully interact both in the virtual and physical world as one. The platform is a portal where people get their freedoms and chances to be as creative as they can.
A portal where you can try different things that perhaps you wouldn’t dare to do or imagined doing before. A room for imaginative and collaborative people.
A mixed-reality portal on Windows is an app for universal purposes which features a 3D virtual environment where users can explore and customize freely. The app also comes with application shortcuts and virtual desktops.
Both application shortcuts and virtual desktops serve and function to navigate our confusion when we jump into the mixed reality experience for the first time. It can guide us safely when we enter the two separate dimensions that interact simultaneously.
This is the most immersive experience one of the “reality” technology can offer to its users. The place to dive deeper for entertainment and many other purposes, such as gaming, working, and business.
This is the next level of reality where people could become anything and have everything they want. If we don’t have a nice room to visually sleep in, Windows mixed reality portal can do the job just fine.
Let’s say we always wanted a home near the beach and have a home with an ocean view out our windows. Just turn on our laptop or PC installed with Windows Mixed Reality Portal and click on it and you’re good to go.
We don’t have to be rich or be a millionaire to be able to experience something wonderful.
Microsoft HoloLens – Mixed Reality Technology
The ability to construct a virtual world environment or virtual object in a real-world place, no doubt, needs a device that could support the experience smoothly without any error whatsoever.
The Microsoft HoloLens does the thing very well. Microsoft mixed reality headset product overlays a virtual environment or object with the hologram-based projector.
Hologram projection greatly helps us all when interacting with the virtual subject or object shown in the real world.
However, many tech reviewers on the internet state that the first generation of Microsoft HoloLens only offers functions and experiences as most VR headsets do.
While Microsoft claims that Microsoft HoloLens is the first mixed reality hardware in the market, we think that’s open for debate.
What Mixed Reality Portal on Windows 10 has to offer?
The mixed reality portal on Windows 10 has tons of features to offer for its users. We can do a lot of things, ranging from serious work to doing fun things on the app.
The app serves as a one-stop platform for enjoying mixed reality experiences on the latest Microsoft operating system, which is Windows 10.
Mixed reality might be the future of how we will live our lives and use the internet. How it going to affect our life depends on the features it has, for the people using the technology, of course.
If something isn’t meant to help solve or simplify the problem that people have, it won’t last as long as it should. People tend to choose something that could reduce their complicated tasks to zero.
This is where the mixed reality portal on Windows 10 plays its role. The app gives some of the features which can greatly assist us in every walk of their life.
Here are some of the features you should know:
1. The Freedom to Customize The Mixed Reality World
The first time we open and start our mixed reality portal app and put on our MR headset, we will immediately step into the mixed reality world.
Our home will be the base for our virtual world. The place where we can walk around and experiment. We can customize our virtual environment as we wish.
We can change the virtual environment to our likings and desires. For instance, if we want our room to have a couch or mini home theater, then we can just add a virtual couch or virtual mini home theater inside our room.
Another example is if we want to have a home near a beach. We wanted to have a home with a beautiful sea view, and birds flying past in harmony. Then just add the virtual view of the world we want.
People can also be added according to their avatar’s look. What’s more exciting is, the avatar appearance of people can also be customized in different ways, giving a fresh and fun interaction among people.
The app will facilitate our needs without trouble. Virtual objects and the world will appear and visualize themselves as if they were there all the time.
Our home will become the foundation for the overlayed objects or world where we can interact – just like the real one.
The privilege of customizing from one desire to another desire is in our hands and decisions. There will be no boundaries to what you can imagine.
2. Easily Navigate The Experience
So we have successfully landed and got in the mixed reality experience and now what?
The next thing we want to do is to explore the mixed reality world freely. We can go from one place to another place with simple steps, that is by teleporting.
We don’t always have to necessarily move to every different place in a mixed reality world by walking or running.
Windows mixed reality portal has teleport feature, where people just can spot and point the place they want to exist. Of course, we need a controller to perform such action.
With the use of the controller hardware provided by Microsoft, we can teleport or walk without interruption in any direction we want to go.
Alternatively, we can also ask for Microsoft voice assistant “Cortana” to help us teleport to a different place we want, just by saying it with our voice.
3. Play Virtual Reality Games
The gaming industry is the first industry to apply the “reality” technology before other industries do the same. Many game developers are sure that virtual reality will be the future of how gaming looks like.
Screen experience is usually set to our eyes, while virtual reality will provide a more immersive experience.
The app also functions as a platform that can run and play almost thousands of games both from Microsoft Store and Steam with VR name behind it or Steam VR.
Steam has made its move to VR technology-based games. The Steam VR had been made in regards to the existence of Windows mixed reality technology.
As we know that Microsoft is the first company who introduce us to mixed reality technology along with their Microsoft HoloLens as the first MR headset on the market.
The best thing about this is that Microsoft has its full support to develop a game based on virtual reality technology in the future.
They devoted a lot of resources to mixed reality technology in the hope mixed reality experience on Windows 10 could become the best among other competitors.
In addition, Microsoft also wants to accelerate the use of mixed reality technology, thus, making more people accustomed to and applying the technology in everyday life.
4. Web Videos Become More Immersive than Before
Now everyone can watch web videos in a mixed reality world. Not to be limited by the freedom of customization, easy navigation, and virtual games.
We also get the chance to see a video directly when inside the mixed reality experience.
What’s the difference between watching it on our laptop screen?
The difference of course is massive. We will feel and sense something more real and vivid than usual. As if we all were in the video, living, and moving as one with the virtual environment.
The ability to involve all of our five senses and make digital content as real as it would be. We can enjoy immersive 360O videos and photos through Microsoft Edge.
We can also enjoy the immersive videos from YouTube and Facebook too since the two platforms are already implementing the feature of virtual reality.
Go grab the MR headset around us and browse through the video content library on every platform that supports the technology.
5. Connect and Have Fun Together
From all the features of mixed reality portal provide, the most stand-out feature among all is the feature to share our mixed reality experiences with friends in our lists and all people around the world.
Just click the play button and everyone can see the experience directly from your MR headset. This sharing feature allows them to receive and enjoy the same feelings and senses that we have received from mixed reality technology.
What requirements are needed?
Okay, so, by now we have understood the features which mixed reality portal on Windows 10 has offered. But the question is, do we have the right requirements to perform and feel the adventure of the Windows Mixed Reality portal?
Here are the requirements we must have to be able to dive into the mixed reality experience through the mixed reality portal:
Check Our Laptop or PC Hardware Specs
First of all, we need to check our laptop or PC hardware specifications. All the hardware requirements are met with what is listed by Microsoft. However, we can also check if our specifications are compatible or not to run the app when you click through the interface app.
After the interface shows that our laptop or PC hardware specifications match with the optimal or minimum requirements. No need to have a mixed reality headset.
Note that we can still enjoy a mixed reality experience without headsets. But, of course, the experience would be massively different when we use headsets. There will be no immersive and no richness to what we could feel and sense.
Set Our Laptop or PC up with a Decent Powerhouse
Microsoft stated that we don’t need an ultra-high-end laptop or PC to get into the mixed reality experience.
However, all the seamless experiences of mixed reality will deliver hugely depend based on the hardware alone.
Get a Windows Compatible Laptop
Since the platform is built-in for Windows 10, having a compatible laptop or PC software would be a great optimization to run the mixed reality world.
Windows mixed reality controller
A pair of Windows mixed reality controllers will help and guide you when exploring the mixed reality world. For instance, if we want to teleport from one place to another place or surfing through different apps, the controller will assist the interaction more easily.
How the Mixed Reality Portal is changing the future of the Internet
After learning about mixed reality technology through the app by Microsoft for Windows 10, some might be still left wondering.
Can mixed reality technology, through mixed reality portal become the future of how we live our lives?
Does this technology have the value of being widely used by people all over the world?
What significance of mixed reality technology would bring to its users?
Now we’ll be going to break it down and explain it one by one.
The Effect of Mixed Reality on Traditional Work Systems
All industries are heavily fascinated with the development of mixed reality technology. The reason is simple, in the future, the application of mixed reality could reduce business costs and expense efficiently.
A business always needs to figure costs and expenses to run its operations. From recruiting people for working, keeping the maintenance of the goods, working tools, and other devices, training their workers, up to launching their products.
Let us look at an example where a company needs to launch a product, but fear that the product will fail miserably in the marketplace because it has not passed a test.
What if the company doesn’t have enough money to test the product and when it launched it turns out unsuccessful.
Now imagine, if a company doesn’t have enough money to test their product, but massively invests and implements mixed reality technology in their company work systems?
If they have applied mixed reality technology, they would have known what their product is lacking in something. Maybe not all, but some problems may have been avoided or the mistakes could have been fixed.
Assuring Products or Services a Quality Outcome
Besides that, having MR technology applied in businesses demonstrates and justifies the quality of the products or services.
Real-time visual supervision and review among divisions within the company ensure the outcome of the product or service to be high quality.
Divisions or people who double-checked the product or service will give close feedback as the mixed reality technology can visualize the product or service as real as possible.
Many big companies have already implemented the use of mixed reality technology in their work systems. Usually, companies who move in the sector such as airplane industry, automotive industry, pharmacy industry, and constructions and engineering industry.
The Microsoft HoloLens is widely adopted in many industries around the world to perform day-to-day tasks.
Improving Workers Knowledge and Skills Exponentially
The development of mixed reality technology could help level up workers’ skills and knowledge to improve their working productivity. Since it’s more pleasurable than the traditional old ways of learning things. Like reading a company module.
It enables workers to capture the knowledge much more memorable, thus, making the knowledge retain more longer.
In addition, workers will dive deeper into the learning process since mixed reality technology visualizes things as real as possible. Which would make them stay much longer to learn and see everything in detailed pieces.
As if the workers truly have been working on a real project even though it’s still learning. When they are all deployed into a real task or job, they already know what to do and what not to do.
Working Spaces Customizations
Customizing our workspaces could help increase our productivity. Working together with other people or alone wouldn’t feel boring or lifeless anymore.
Besides that, we will get the privilege to work in a place we want.
If we want to work in an environment such as a beach, just change our environment settings to a beach. If we want to feel how it feels to work in space, then quickly set the environment to be in space.
Or maybe we are the type of person who loves an aesthetic touch, just put aesthetic virtual objects as you like and set up the whole work environment however you want it to look.
Conclusion
Microsoft’s mixed reality ecosystem platform called Mixed Reality Portal has become a massive shift to transition between the present and the future technology application in how we live with the internet.
The platform enables the mixed reality experience coming from all different sources.
The app will create a place where everything we imagined couldn’t have happened before, truly realizes and happens.
There is a potential for Windows Mixed Reality Portal to become one of the best and most-used platforms.
Coming with the latest features, the platform is the first mixed reality ecosystem to introduce us to immersive interaction where we can respond with the overlayed virtual objects in real life.
So, what do you think about Windows Mixed Reality Portal? Have you tried it?
We look forward to reading your comments below.
Until next time.
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