Microsoft says goodbye to Mixed Reality: farewell, Windows Mixed Reality

Mixed reality is coming to an end, more or less. Windows Mixed Reality, the feature included in the operating system, will become part of the list of deprecated features in Windows.

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In this list is where programs, applications, and functionalities that will no longer receive official support are located. Consequently, they will also no longer be available in future versions of Windows. In addition, not only will Windows Mixed Reality be removed: it will be accompanied by the Mixed Reality Portal and Windows Mixed Reality for Steam VR applications.

Windows Mixed Reality was first introduced in 2017 and it was a feature included in Windows 10 that implemented mixed reality. It was Microsoft’s big bet to compete against other big names in the industry, such as HTC and Oculus (now owned by Meta).

However, Microsoft gradually reduced its virtual reality division. Among the thousands of layoffs that Microsoft has carried out recently (about 10,000), many of them targeted the active mixed reality projects. Altspace VR, for example, was discontinued.

The top management has not been exempt either. Alex Kipman, who was the head of HoloLens, left the company last year after serious accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior.

At the moment, Microsoft is focusing its resources for virtual reality on applications like Microsoft Mesh. On its official website, they describe it as a “solution that allows distributed employees to connect like never before in an immersive 3D space“. On the other hand, Microsoft also allows Meta Quest users to access the Xbox Cloud Gaming platform and even use applications from their Office suite.

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