Undoubtedly, if you’ve heard the word Microsoft recently, it’s been prefixed to a new buzzword: HoloLens.
If you’re of the small clan who’re uninitiated, HoloLens was debuted by Microsoft on the 21st of January as the next step in transforming our world into a generic science fiction utopia – an augmented reality kit (a headset, to be exact) – which, through a natural user interface reacts with a user’s input (tilting one’s head through to speaking out loud) to project apps and components of (a full version of) Windows 10 atop a user’s vision.
HoloLens, at present, deserves the hype it’s getting as a real contender in the field of augmented reality computing. Google has sent Glass back to the drawing board, Oculus will likely be soon imposing Facebook ads over your vision, and Sony is more interested in letting developers do the dirty work in finding niches for their most daftly named new product, SmartEyeglass.
But HoloLens is a small part of a wider movement that’s seeing desktop computing migrate into an unprecedented realm of interaction through not only augmented reality, but a multitude of different and equally exciting mediums. While it’s easy to say such a development was fairly inevitable, as soon as technology caught up, it’s far more interesting that the real area of development for such technology is a realm many thought on life-support: the desktop.
Yet, for the hardcore creative, desktop computing has long been the go-to. Offices (creative ones, at that) have traditionally made use of such spaces to house powerful, stationary computers ready for a wide range of design and fabrication work. It is, in a sense, almost natural that new methods of interacting with digital material would be born out of such an environment.
While HoloLens, for example, definitely isn’t what any man or woman out of the 90’s would dub a desktop computer, the transition into artificial, enhanced or augmented reality is increasingly where desktop technology is headed.
Let’s look at HP’s recently introduced Sprout. By all appearances, it’s quite a gimmicky iMac rip-off with a bizarre shower-head and touch-sensitive mat attached. However, by all uses, it’s one of the most important developments in the creative space in years – a (relatively) affordable way for designers to be able to interact fluidly with what they’re working on, through 3D scanning and a native graphics mat. While these components are quite traditional on their own, their release as singular consumer product points to something quite interesting.
The desktop isn’t dead – and the game is changing.
The irony is that perhaps what nearly killed the idea of desktop computing is what’s leading its transformation. Tablet computing (after the introduction of the original iPad) has fundamentally shifted our experience with computing into a touch-based realm. While this was bold and exciting for many consumers, it also pointed out that the traditional method of input on a personal computer feels – and probably is – dated.
This is what sent Microsoft staggering back to the drawing board, eager to redesign Windows into the dichotomy of new and old that is Windows 8 – a fundamental stapling of new touch based design and use over traditional input. Manufacturers have followed suit, with touch-based laptops, as well as desktops, becoming a quick norm. Though Apple appears unmoved – content to frolic in the success of the iPad – the indication that the Cupertino has at least put research and patent funds into a touch-based Mac is indicative.
At present, the ultra-portable laptops and tablets seen everyday aren’t yet capable of compressing the technology either HoloLens or HP’s Sprout offers into such a nimble form. And where formerly laptops where capable of overtaking their fixed brethren in terms of speed, power, and performance, at last desktop computing has developed it’s own unique dance to bring to the ball.
So, this kind of opinion is wonderful, but what are the implications for the future if desktop computing continues to move along this trajectory? As Jeremy Laird of TechRadar wrote last year, desktops aren’t dead – they’ve just gone high-end.
The Sprout, at $1899 USD, is hardly a cheap purchase compared to a multitude of other capable desktop computers on the market at the moment. At that price, it comes close to breaking in to 27″ iMac territory, which retails at $1999. However, for creative users bent on interacting with their computers in a new and far more novel way that Apple’s traditional black cursor, there’s only one obvious choice between the two.
Granted, the Sprout isn’t a perfect machine. The selection of Sprout-specific apps are small. It’s not customisable. Additionally, it’s very, very expensive. Yet it’s unlikely that there will be any other desktop consumers released that look as fun, revolutionary, and novel to use as the Sprout for many years to come.
What the Sprout ultimately represents is an indication of where we’re headed – and so far, the future does indeed look good. We might only see incremental improvements in laptop and tablet computing for the time being, accompanied by some vaguely interesting hybrid of the two such as Microsoft’s third generation Surface.
What is most exciting is that what we’re likely to see in future are high-end desktop computers built to achieve a wide-range of creative needs, that transcend the traditional mouse, keyboard or trackpad input we’ve become so accustomed to after years of use. It’s worthy to forecast that desktops will likely be not only the harbingers of physical interaction with digital spaces, but also pioneer workstations in the use of augmented reality, much in the same way HoloLens is about to provide a brief window (see what we did there?) into the future.
Follow Bryan on Twitter: @bryansmith1138
