And the culling of Windows features continues.
Windows Mixed Reality is deprecated and will be removed in a future release of Windows. This deprecation includes the Mixed Reality Portal app, and Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR and Steam VR Beta.
Microsoft’s “Deprecated features for Windows client” page
All this mixed reality stuff was a big push in Windows, up to the point Microsoft added applications and dedicated folders for it to Windows. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use any of it. The Verge notes Microsoft has been downsizing its VR efforts for a while now, and it seems the company is bailing on the VR hypetrain.
We have to ask: “what is the use case for Virtual Reality, or Augmented Reality, or Mixed Reality?” (and so on).
When personal computers first came to be, there brought things like spreadsheets which were not possible before, or word processors, which were cumbersome to do manually.
When mobile phones came, they brought seamless connectivity, regardless of where you are. (Okay, not entirely independent of your location, especially early on the reception was terrible and data rates too high).
Virtual reality solves some new problems. For example in industrial manufacturing companies like CAT use multi-million dollar AR systems to test their new cockpit designs. Or meta quest brings new experiences to gamers.
However for a consumer, or an office worker, I have yet to see a new use case that cannot be already done with a computer, laptop, or a mobile device.
I think that’s it. Mixed reality found it’s niche in medical professions. But it never really found a need in mass production.
Its a bit of a misnomer to say Microsoft are culling it though, it and applications based on it are still supported as is the hardware.
But the “store fronts” aimed at mass market are being closed down. So if you invested in MR then it’s not like you’ve been left with nothing.
Adurbe,
Of course.
It is entirely reasonable to exit one market (consumers) and focus on what works (medical). Maybe one day as this matures it might even become more than a toy for consumers again.
it does not work in medical, this is largely marketing
I own a WMR-reliant VR headset (the HP Reverb G2 v2). There are dozens of us who own it, representing about 5% of all VR users on Steam.
Nothing important was lost.