Virtual reality is destined to go far beyond entertainment if it wants to succeed. That implies developing a productive side and discovering new methods to apply this technology to everyday tasks, such as web browsing. That's how we came across JanusVR, one of the most important projects seeking to fuse the traditional web with virtual reality without adopting the typical "store" format that other similar applications have reproduced.
Virtual Reality and Browsing
From a certain point of view, virtual reality and navigation are concepts that seem made for each other. For years, virtual reality has symbolized access to another space, and today we can say that space is the web itself. However, the chosen development path turned out to be very different from what we imagined back then. Sessions in the style of Tron or Johnny Mnemonic were left aside to provide an absolutely two-dimensional experience. Virtual reality took a long vacation, more than twenty years, I'd say, but in 2016 it is drawn with a finer stroke, so to speak. Both the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive are the keys that open the doors to that other space. Now we need tools to explore it.
JanusVR: Pages as Rooms, Links as Portals
That brings us to the JanusVR project. "Pages as rooms, links as portals" is the description that JanusVR has adopted, but the truth is that its work began before the "explosion of virtual headsets" on the market. The history of JanusVR dates back to 2013, and it took its first steps merely as a hobby, according to its creator James McCrae. Its name is no coincidence either. After all, Janus is none other than the Roman god of doors, portals, passages, endings, and especially beginnings. JanusVR stands at the start of the difficult adventure of converting a 2D Internet into 3D. The user becomes an avatar, and the whole network becomes Neal Stephenson's "metaverse" or William Gibson's original "cyberspace".
Availability and Technical Considerations
All those who wish to experiment with JanusVR can do so right now on Windows, Linux, and OS X. For now, Vive support is limited to Windows, but it's only a matter of time before it reaches the other operating systems. JanusVR's integration with WebKit should allow it to behave like a traditional browser, although it has several sharp edges, and it might be necessary to get your hands a little dirty to get it running correctly (updating video drivers, etc.). We'll be watching.
