Microsoft launches Mesh, a platform to organize meetings with the holograms of colleagues

It will make some dream and others despair.

In the age of Covid-19 and teleworking, Microsoft announced on Tuesday the launch of an augmented reality collaboration platform, Mesh, where users can meet in the form of avatars or holograms in the same room, one more step towards a dematerialized future for work and other human activities.

“A key advantage of

 has always been the ability to be represented elsewhere, despite space and time barriers.

I can be in a factory even if I am not there (...) so that we have the same physical feeling of the presence of the other ”, declared Tuesday Alex Kipman, in charge of these topics at Microsoft, at an IT giant's online marketing event.

Augmented and 3D reality glasses

The new platform should allow the development of tailor-made applications, which will be able to use augmented reality headsets (such as Microsoft's HoloLens 2, sold from $ 3,500) or virtual reality, but also the usual screens, from smartphones to computers.

With augmented reality glasses, users can for example see objects and images of people, in 3D, in the form of avatars (stylized characters) or even holograms, superimposed in their living room.

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They will be able to talk to each other as during a video call, and also see the movements of other participants, thanks to the sensors with which the devices are equipped.

“A travel agency could create an experience for you to visit the ruins of ancient Greece.

An architectural firm can design a virtual model for colleagues to work together wherever they are, ”said Frank Shaw, vice president of Microsoft, in a statement.

2020, "the year work moved to the cloud"

The platform works from Azure, the group's cloud service (remote computing).

It is part of Microsoft's efforts to establish itself in the now highly competitive market for teleworking and mixed reality tools in general, a concept that mixes augmented reality (superimposed on the real environment) and virtual reality (immersive ).

Augmented reality glasses are in the pipeline of several large technology companies, Facebook in the lead, but also Apple, according to rumors in the American press.

On Monday and Tuesday, Microsoft and Google also presented new features and improvements for their telecommuting tools.

The two companies, like Facebook, seek in particular to facilitate collaboration within companies between field workers and those in the offices, but also with outside organizations.

“People think of 2020 as the year that work moved home.

But in reality, this is the year that work moved to the cloud, ”said Frank Shaw.