You think VR is only games, but you have not fantasized that VR can also work.
VR office is one of the contents that Meta has been developing, but everyone's attention to the "meta-universe" itself exceeds the research and development of Meta content, and perhaps VR office can really let more people feel the unique immersive experience of VR.
Infinite Office is one of Meta's many projects, and Meta believes that working in VR is a top priority, and this project is finally coming to use. Infinite Office may appear in the next update, when users can use it for work.
Infinite Office launched in September 2020, allowing users to work on multiple customizable screens built on top of the Oculus browser. The company also announced at the time that it was working with Logitech to allow certain keyboards to be recognized, tracked, and rendered within the headset so that users could easily enter text while working within the Quest.
Meta has been updating the project since its launch, and in January 2021, the ability to find and use a Bluetooth-enabled mouse or trackpad in VR was introduced. Two other great new features were announced in the Infinite Office suite in April: physical surface integration and the ability to track physical keyboards.
However, Meta does not seem to have all the features announced in its entirety, and it is reported that since the release of Infinite Office, Office features have been gradually rolled out, and many features have been or are still hidden in the experimental settings, including:
Bluetooth keyboard and mouse support keyboard tracking (currently only available for Logitech K830 and Apple Magic Keyboards)
Desk tracking pass-through mode
Multitasking for up to three windows
Improvements to the Oculus browser (e.g. more flexible window management)
Smartphone notifications in VR
File Manager
2D application support
Virtual work environment
AR developer Lubo Vonásek found signs of an upcoming release of Infinite Office in the firmware for the next Quest update. The files contain a configuration menu that the user can manually operate and allows to set up the virtual office step by step: from drawing on the desk to connecting a Bluetooth work device to activating the virtual work environment. At the same time, individual users have also reported that they have encountered tutorials in the regular tasks menu.
The biggest advantage of VR office is that there is no need to go to the company, and today it can achieve a more convenient office when the epidemic has not subsided, and a headset can carry out daily work.
As we all know, many companies have recently chosen to work from home for safety reasons in the case of the recurrence of the epidemic. However, working from home will reduce the communication between colleagues, and for work, you can only communicate through corporate WeChat or conference calls. And working from home does not have an office environment, which may cause some unnecessary distraction.
VR Office can make everyone feel the office scene more realistically, and this is also the meaning of the "metaverse". "Metacosm" is actually to put many VR users in the virtual world, so as to achieve office, entertainment, social networking, etc., "metacosm" is a new world, users do not need to do tedious things in the real world, in the "metaverse" everything will become more convenient.
VR office is only an integral part of the "metaverse", the "metacosm" needs more applications to achieve, and only by continuously adding new content, we can feel the convenience of VR more. Meta's goal is to make VR headsets a convenient work tool, and by extending application scenarios to work and productivity, the company hopes to open up new target groups and markets.
VR headsets like meta quest 2 are currently mostly seen as gaming devices, and Meta hopes to change the way users think about them in the coming years. With fitness, productivity and other application scenarios, bring tangible benefits.
In the words of Andrew Bosworth, Head of VR and AR at Meta, "The reason you buy a PC is that you can use it to play games, and you can use it to create spreadsheets." Buying a Quest 2 also needs a reason, but people also need different reasons to buy quest2. Only in this way can technology achieve a breakthrough. ”
Virtual offices will be more important to Meta's next-generation VR glasses than the Quest 2. Cambria's focus is on productivity, which includes achieving this through high-quality pass-through mode and higher wearing comfort.
The arrival of Infinite Office will add advantages to the Meta "metacosm", which is currently fully developing the "metacosm" and has absolute advantages in content and hardware.
In addition to Facebook, Microsoft unveiled Mesh for Microsoft Teams at Ignite 2022, an app that combines Microsoft Mesh's mixed reality capabilities with Microsoft Teams' tools. Not only can users in different locations collaborate in a holographic environment, but users can also join virtual meetings, send chats, collaborate to share documents, and more.
With the development of the "meta-universe", the future office environment can be displayed through the virtual form, and employees can work through VR, and the work efficiency will be greatly improved. In virtual reality, office, entertainment, etc., perhaps this is the real "meta-universe" prototype.