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Bodhitree

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 5, 2021
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Netherlands
It strikes me that there are already some decent and affordable headsets around for VR, like the Oculus Quest 2 and the PlayStation VR, but you don’t hear them being talked about very much? I’ve not yet come across anyone who says, you’ve got to try this, it’s so cool. Like with the Wii there was a genuine enthusiasm about the product, and no one has yet mentioned that about VR/AR, while I have seen some pretty funny viral ‘fails’ videos about people falling over furniture.

It looks to me like a product that may never take off in a serious way. I just get a vibe that people don’t really want to become more immersed in a virtual world and away from the real world. Even when you take into account Apple’s many fans, quite a few of whom would be willing to buy a product just because it was from Apple, i doubt whether that would be enough to make the product a hit without the mainstream audience getting involved.

What made the iPhone a hit was that it unified devices — your phone, your music player, your camera — and then it added extra functionality, the internet, maps, gps, email. With the glasses you can’t do the same thing over again, because there aren’t the same array of things people carry. Are the glasses going to replace my regular glasses?

Instead, the glasses are going to have to bring people “the experience that they don’t yet know they want.” This is largely a software problem, like writing a whole new set of operating system services for VR, and software often takes longer to mature than hardware. It is also about psychology, what brings people to a virtual world. That’s where Apple needs to look in creating a succesful product that is a combination of hardware and software.
 
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I agree but I've no idea if I'm in the majority or minority. I have little to no interest in AR/VR and my eyes glaze over when Apple spend time on it at their WWDC's. Seems to me it's the 21st century equivalent of 3D TVs which the manufacturers have been pushing for forty years or more using one method or another, none of which ever really take off in a big way and all are just flash in the pans.

When VR evolves to a maturity where they can give me a Holodeck-like experience without having to wear a stupid headset or suit which makes me look like Robocop, I'm in.
 
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They won't be terribly popular. People hate wearing stuff to use a computer and VR communities are more toxic and harder to moderate than regular social media.

However, with regard to AR - if they can make these look like regular glasses then they can be used alongside computers and outside.
 
It strikes me that there are already some decent and affordable headsets around for VR, like the Oculus Quest 2 and the PlayStation VR, but you don’t hear them being talked about very much? I’ve not yet come across anyone who says, you’ve got to try this, it’s so cool. Like with the Wii there was a genuine enthusiasm about the product, and no one has yet mentioned that about VR/AR, while I have seen some pretty funny viral ‘fails’ videos about people falling over furniture.

It looks to me like a product that may never take off in a serious way. I just get a vibe that people don’t really want to become more immersed in a virtual world and away from the real world. Even when you take into account Apple’s many fans, quite a few of whom would be willing to buy a product just because it was from Apple, i doubt whether that would be enough to make the product a hit without the mainstream audience getting involved.

What made the iPhone a hit was that it unified devices — your phone, your music player, your camera — and then it added extra functionality, the internet, maps, gps, email. With the glasses you can’t do the same thing over again, because there aren’t the same array of things people carry. Are the glasses going to replace my regular glasses?

Instead, the glasses are going to have to bring people “the experience that they don’t yet know they want.” This is largely a software problem, like writing a whole new set of operating system services for VR, and software often takes longer to mature than hardware. It is also about psychology, what brings people to a virtual world. That’s where Apple needs to look in creating a succesful product that is a combination of hardware and software.
Hello Bodhitree,


I agree with you completely! I couldn't have said it better myself.

All this talk about the "metaverse", virtual reality, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, etc. sounds really cool. People are imagining a future which is reminiscent of the movie "Ready Player One". However, to get this type of infrastructure in place and in a meaningful way which affects the general population would be a HUGE undertaking. It would not happen in your or my lifetime.

For example, what happened to the promise of "flying cars" for the general population!? That's been talked about for over half a century!

Everything looks "good" on paper. However, the reality of life is often much more prosaic than science fiction.

Just the opinion of a mathematician......


richmlow
 
All this talk about the "metaverse", virtual reality, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, etc. sounds really cool. People are imagining a future which is reminiscent of the movie "Ready Player One". However, to get this type of infrastructure in place and in a meaningful way which affects the general population would be a HUGE undertaking. It would not happen in your or my lifetime.

For example, what happened to the promise of "flying cars" for the general population!? That's been talked about for over half a century!

That‘s right, sometimes technologies fail to take off. Take the 3D TV, that had a huge push behind it a few years ago, there was a point where there was a huge marketing effort and nearly everyone was making a set, it was everywhere, and yet the general public said, nah, we’re not interested. You can’t just make a product and hope that the audience will appear, even if you do get everyone talking.

I get the impression that there will be a lot of questions regarding the software and the actual experiences which are supposed to drive this whole thing. If anyone has the nous to pull it off it will be Apple but so far I’ve seen some demo’s of VR and AR which were “fun and interesting” but nothing like something that I would want to use every day.
 
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People are imagining a future which is reminiscent of the movie "Ready Player One".

There were all kinds of things that that movie glossed over. For example avatars that effortlessly emote and carry facial expression. How is that supposed to work with a pair of VR-goggles over the most expressive part of the face, the eyes? Or haptic feedback that carries the sensation of “pain”? These are significant engineering challenges.

And even so, you did not see anything in the movie about how the “metaverse” was used for things outside of games and a kind of general commons. Places like the archive of James Halliday memorabilia would work just as well in 2D, its not much more than a glorified video player.

In a way, Ready Player One was about the metaverse as a dystopia. The big corporations had poor people hooked up to do work in cabins, their virtual labour being worth more than what they could do in the real world. What they were doing is anyone’s guess — ‘mining’ bitcoin perhaps.
 
There were all kinds of things that that movie glossed over. For example avatars that effortlessly emote and carry facial expression. How is that supposed to work with a pair of VR-goggles over the most expressive part of the face, the eyes? Or haptic feedback that carries the sensation of “pain”? These are significant engineering challenges.

And even so, you did not see anything in the movie about how the “metaverse” was used for things outside of games and a kind of general commons. Places like the archive of James Halliday memorabilia would work just as well in 2D, its not much more than a glorified video player.

In a way, Ready Player One was about the metaverse as a dystopia. The big corporations had poor people hooked up to do work in cabins, their virtual labour being worth more than what they could do in the real world. What they were doing is anyone’s guess — ‘mining’ bitcoin perhaps.
Yes, I agree with you!

On a philosophical note.... for the most part, much of society is just focused on "bread and circuses." That is, as long as they have food on the table and are entertained, all is well with life.

Instead of all this nonsense talk about the "Metaverse" (propagated by greedy companies wanting to make $$), wouldn't it be awesome if more of that type of energy was directed toward improving humanity!? There are so many pressing issues that we (and planet) face.

Unfortunately, it is the case that humans are (and will continue to be) very selfish. The ideal utopian world painted in Star Trek (United Federation of planets) where everybody is working together in unison will not come into being. Still, I'm an optimist and do my little part in trying to improve the overall situation!

Just the opinion of a mathematics professor..... LOL

richmlow
 
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