Microsoft Mesh looks like the virtual future of Microsoft Teams meetings

Last week, Alex Kipman of Microsoft, the inventor of Kinect and HoloLens, showed up in my office to deliver me jellyfish and sharks. It may seem that I had a strange dream, but it was a meeting that was made possible through Microsoft’s new Mesh platform. I put on a HoloLens 2 headset, entered a virtual meeting room, and Kipman immediately appeared next to my coffee table, ready to demonstrate Microsoft’s vision for the future of VR and RA – or as Microsoft calls it, mixed reality .

Everything looked like a Microsoft Teams meeting scheduled for the future.

Mesh is a collaborative platform that allows anyone to share virtual experiences on a variety of devices. “This has been the dream of mixed reality, the idea since the beginning”, explains Kipman. “You can really feel like you’re in the same place with someone sharing content, or you can teleport from different mixed reality devices and be present with people, even when they’re not physically together.”

Initially, Mesh will present people as virtual avatars taken from the social network AltspaceVR that Microsoft acquired in 2017. Mesh will eventually support what Microsoft calls “holoportion”, allowing people to appear as themselves in a virtual space.

During my hour-long meeting at Microsoft Mesh, I always felt that this could be a version of the distant future of Microsoft Teams. Kipman appeared beside me as an avatar and started handing me jellyfish and virtual sharks. I could remodel the animals, return them, or just put them in front of me. Although we weren’t working on a big design or 3D model, it felt a lot more engaging than the Zoom video calls that I have to watch almost daily.

It was the second best thing after having Kipman in the room with me and it reminded me of my first experience with HoloLens. Microsoft originally demonstrated HoloLens using a collaborative Skype call where a technician could guide you on how to fix some wires. It looked like the promise of augmented reality, and Microsoft Mesh looks like the next natural step.

“You can completely imagine a Mesh-enabled Microsoft Teams, where the main thing is, to think of colleagues from all over the world collaborating as if you and I were in the same physical location,” says Kipman. “Mesh allows teams to allow organizations to essentially hold mixed reality meetings with everyone in the same room, so you should think about it in a Mesh-enabled Team environment.”

Mesh is not just an application for holding virtual meetings; is an entire platform built on top of Azure that Microsoft expects developers to take advantage of. Microsoft expects architects, engineers and designers to see the promise of Mesh, especially during a pandemic, when it is difficult to work with 3D physical models without everyone being in the same room.

Microsoft is also making Mesh available on a variety of devices, including HoloLens 2, most virtual reality headsets, tablets, smartphones and PCs. A preview of the Microsoft Mesh app for HoloLens 2 will be available today, along with a preview version mesh-enabled AltspaceVR. Microsoft is planning to integrate Mesh with Teams and Dynamics 365 in the future, which can help make the unique meeting experience I had a reality for more people.

Microsoft certainly believes that Mesh will be the next big thing for mixed reality. CEO Satya Nadella compared the new platform to Xbox Live during his Ignite speech today. “Think about what Xbox Live did for games – we went from one player to a multiplayer, creating communities that helped people connect and succeed together,” said Nadella. “Now imagine if the same thing happened to mixed reality.”

Image: Microsoft

The big problem with Microsoft Mesh is the cost of HoloLens devices and virtual reality headsets. Although you can jump from a 2D screen, such as a phone or PC, it is not as engaging as using a headset. Microsoft has tried to fill this gap in the past with ambitious projects like Minecraft Earth, offering AR experiences on mobile phones. This particular project did not work and it is not clear whether Microsoft Mesh will impress users as well.

Microsoft Mesh will need strong developer support or will offer experiences that you simply couldn’t get anywhere else in VR to gain momentum. Microsoft recruited filmmaker James Cameron, Pokémon Go developer Niantic and co-founder of Cirque du Soleil to demonstrate Mesh’s promise during his presentation at Ignite today.

A proof-of-concept version of Pokémon Go running on HoloLens 2 and virtual concerts certainly show what is now possible with Microsoft Mesh. The reality now will depend on the popularity of headsets or Microsoft’s ability to market this new technology to companies looking to adopt hybrid ways of working as the world navigates out of a pandemic.

Update, February 2 11:40 am ET: Article updated with comments from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.