During the opening keynote of its Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Intel kicked off the second half of the event by announcing Project Alloy, marking its formal entry into the virtual reality market. This is an all-in-one headset whose final design will be completely wireless, aiming to offer users a kind of fusion between virtual and augmented reality. If that last part sounds familiar to the HoloLens, it's because both share something in common...
The first-generation pains of virtual reality
The so-called “first-generation pains” that virtual reality suffers are well known. In short, the main headsets have an almost prohibitive price — not counting the additional hardware needed for the computer — and they require cables. The idea of a free and wireless virtual reality is still a bit far off, as long as you take the visual quality of the Rift and the Vive as the general parameter. Current wireless solutions depend on smartphones or integrated SoCs, their batteries, and their operating systems, which, honestly, have not been optimized for virtual reality (yet). However, there are very interesting projects on the way, and one of them comes from Intel.
What “all-in-one” really means
When Intel talks about “all-in-one”, it isn't referring only to the hardware (whose specs weren't revealed), the battery, and the software, but also to the entire tracking and detection system, led by cameras with RealSense technology. This eliminates the need for external sensors, and enables the possibility of using our hands in a virtual environment with six degrees of freedom, which in essence represents what Intel calls “combined reality”. The only cable seen connected to the headset was there to transmit the demo to the giant screen in the room. Although the initial version of Project Alloy will be “contained”, the possibility of an edition linked to a computer that delivers more advanced graphics is not ruled out.
Open source and a Microsoft partnership
Intel confirmed that the official specifications of Project Alloy and the RealSense API will be declared open source next year, so any manufacturer can develop similar products and launch them on their own. On the software front, Intel has decided to join forces with none other than Microsoft. Terry Myerson, head of the “Windows and Devices” division at Redmond, took the stage alongside Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and confirmed that Windows 10 will receive a 2017 update to enable Windows Holographic, the software that currently controls the HoloLens. The operating system is the same — which opens the door to applications that work on both devices — but the HoloLens and Project Alloy seek to advance from different positions. The HoloLens is more geared towards augmented reality, while Alloy takes virtual environments as its starting point. How good will the mix be? We'll know next year.
