HoloLensの向こうへ: マイクロソフトはWindows Holographicを他のハードウェアメーカーへ提供する
Beyond HoloLens: Microsoft Will Offer Windows Holographic To Other Hardware Makers
The company's ambitions for augmented and virtual reality go way beyond one gizmo—which makes Windows Holographic a lot more Windows-esque.
同社の拡張現実と仮想現実への野望は、Windows Holographic をさらにWindowsっぽくするこの小さな道具を越えていきます。
- gizmo - 小道具
- esque - 風
[Photos: courtesy of Microsoft]From the time it was announced in January 2015, Windows Holographic has been a bit of an outlier: a Microsoft operating system that, as far as we knew, was designed to run on a single piece of hardware. That hardware would be HoloLens, the company's upcoming "mixed reality" headset, which blends the real world with digital imagery for applications ranging from games to workplace collaboration.
2015年1月に発表されたときから、Windows Holographicはどこか、少し外し続けていた：我々がよく知るマイクロソフトのオペレーティングシステムは、単一のハードウェアで動作するように設計されました。そのハードウェアは、同社の次に来る「複合現実」ヘッドセットであるHoloLensとなるでしょう。これは、ゲームから作業場での協調までの範疇のアプリケーションのために、現実世界とデジタルイメージを混ぜ合わせます。
But at its keynote at the Computex conference in Taipei, Microsoft is announcing that its aspirations for Windows Holographic only begin with HoloLens. The company will offer Windows Holographic—which is a version of Windows 10 with extra features such as the ability to detect objects in the real world, interleave them with digital imagery, and accept input in the form of gestures you make in the air—to third-party hardware manufacturers. It envisions the software being used for an array of devices involving augmented reality, virtual reality, or realities that fall somewhere in between.
しかし、台北でのComputexコンファレンスでのその基調講演で、マイクロソフトは、そのWindows Holographicの願望がHoloLensだけで始まると発表しています。 同社は、Windows Holographicをサードパーティのハードウェアメーカーへ提供するでしょう。Windows Holographicは、現実の世界で物体を検出する能力のような追加の機能を伴うWindows 10のバージョンであり、デジタル画像によってそれらを混ぜ合わせ、あなたが空中で行うジェスチャーによる入力を受け付けます。
- aspirations - 願望
Among the companies that are on board as part of the effort, without announcing any specifics, are Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, HTC, Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. "We're going to push HoloLens forward," says Microsoft's Windows chief Terry Myerson. Other manufacturers will offer "different form factors, price points, and distribution models."
その取り組みの一部として、名簿に載っている企業には、特定の如何なる発表もありませんが、Intel、AMD、Qualcomm、HTC、Acer、Asus、Dell、HP、そして、Lenovoなどの名前が挙がっています。 「我々はHoloLensを前へ進めようとしています」マイクロソフトのWindowsのチーフである、テリーマイヤーソンがそう言いました。 他のメーカーは、「別の成形要素や価格のポイント、そして配布モデル」を提供するでしょう。
Microsoft produced a video to convey its vision of the sort of experiences that Windows Holographic is designed to enable, such as VR that's about interacting with other people rather than solitude. (And yes, unlike some past HoloLens promotion, this video is all vision, not an alleged demo of what Windows Holographic is capable of doing right now.)
マイクロソフトは、Windows Holographicが有効である体験の種類の視覚を伝えるビデオを作成しました。 一人ではなく他の人と対話するためのVRのようなものです。 （ええ、そしてHoloLensの宣伝みたいなものではなく、このビデオはまったく作られたものであって、Windows Holographicが今すぐに行える能力のデモというわけではありません）
- convey - 伝える
A FAMILIAR GAME PLAN
Myerson told me that Microsoft planned all along to open up Windows Holographic to other manufacturers, a move that will bring the software in line with Windows' historic business model of being available on as many devices as possible. "Every Windows 10 PC will include Windows Holographic," he says. Among other things, that opens up scenarios in which a Windows PC provides most of the computational muscle for an AR or VR headset, just as Facebook's Oculus Rift and HTC's Vive require a PC. (HoloLens, by contrast, is essentially a Windows PC you can strap to your head, which helps explain why the developer version, the only variant that's shipped, costs $3,000.)
マイヤーソンは私に、マイクロソフトはWindows Holographicを他の製造者へ公開することを計画していると語った。 多くの機器で可能なように有効なWindowsの歴史的なビジネスモデルで並ぶソフトウェアをもたらす動きだ。 「それぞれのWindows 10のPCは、Windows Holographicを含んでいる」彼はそう言う。 他のことの中で、それはWindows PCがVRやARヘッドセットのコンピューティングの力の多くを提供するというシナリオを公開する。 ちょうど、フェイスブックのOculus Rift と HTCの Vive がPCを必要とするように。 （対照的にHoloLensは、実質的には頭に装着できるWindows PCです。これは、どうして唯一出荷された開発者バージョンが3000ドルするのかということの説明になります）
Microsoft offering its own high-end Windows Holographic hardware in the form of HoloLens while also licensing the software to others also sounds a lot like what it has done with its Surface convertible tablets, which have sold well while simultaneously providing inspiration for competing two-in-one PCs, a bright spot during an era of doldrums for the PC industry. The more Windows Holographic devices that ship, the more likely developers are to bolster Microsoft's ecosystem by writing ambitious apps that take advantage of its AR/VR capabilities, which means that competitive hardware could help HoloLens in the market rather than hurt it.
Besides being quintessentially Microsoftian, the strategy for Windows Holographic is also distinct from the bets other companies are making in augmented and virtual reality. Oculus licensed some of its technology to Samsung for the Gear VR headset, but doesn't appear to want dozens or hundreds of hardware partners. Google's Daydream is a VR platform that involves a Google headset as well as those from third parties, but it doesn't seem to be aiming for the same Swiss Army-like versatility that Microsoft hopes to achieve with Windows Holographic. AR mystery company Magic Leap appears to be building something that tightly integrates its own hardware and software. And unlike Microsoft, most companies are focusing on either AR or VR rather than tackling both types of experiences, at least for now.
"I don't think anyone else has expressed as complete an ambition and vision for mixed reality," says Myerson.
If you're itching to give Microsoft a score for its AR/VR work, today's news resets the clock. Even when HoloLens ships in its consumer incarnation—and Microsoft hasn't yet set a date—it will represent only one piece of the company's work in the field. And not just release dates but everything about third-party Windows Holographic hardware remains unknown. (Microsoft says it'll have more to say at WinHEC conferences in Taipei and Shenzhen this fall.)
Once Windows Holographic gadgets arrive, Microsoft's investment in AR and VR, if it's going to pay off, will need to be a long-term one, involving multiple generations of software and hardware, plus a concerted, ongoing effort to get developers, hardware makers, and consumers excited about both the technology in general and the company's approach to it in particular. "We have years of exciting conversations to come," Myerson says.
元記事はこちらです。
