Microsoft revealed more details about its’ VR headset project called Hololens and the company has decided who to sell the device towards: professional, creative types.
Hololens has it purposes, mainly for construction works to see how a building will look when being constructed. A graphic designer can see what the outcome of a project will look when completed.
Microsoft has decided who Hololens is for: professionals that create objects. For the rest of us, Hololens is starting to look like Bob.
For those too young to remember, some users felt that upgrading from DOS to a graphical user interface was too complex and cumbersome. Bob was the answer to easy the transition into Windows 95.
As stated from Microsoft Bob’s Wikipedia entry:
Microsoft Bob was a 1995 Microsoft software product, intended to provide a more user-friendly interface for the Windows 3.1x, Windows 95 and Windows NT operating systems, supplanting the Windows Program Manager. Microsoft Bob presented screens showing a “house”, with “rooms” that the user could go to containing familiar objects corresponding to computer applications – for instance, a desk with pen and paper, a checkbook, and other items.
Bob was mainly designed for children as I have vivid memories of playing with Bob when we got our first computer. This was when I discovered The Eagles’ Hotel California as it was the only CD my parents allowed me to play in the CD-ROM. I created a penthouse in random downtown city with a living room, a garage, bedroom, kitchen and a dog room for Rover, the annoying assistant that helped spawned Clippy.
Bob never gain popularity, mainly because it never gain popularity and it was widely designed for children.
Watching Microsoft demonstrate Hololens brought back fond memories because it’s starting to look like a resurrection of Bob. There’s a dog in the middle of the floor. You can view your calendar, to-do list and access the start menu.
Hololens is almost like Bob except this has voice-navigation with Cortana and you can watch your content on a wall instead of listening to The Eagles on a repeated loop.
Microsoft has decided that Hololens is not for regular people – it’s for the creative class. The rest of us will either be reminded of Bob or introduce a new audience to the software that brought us Clippy.