Microsoft Says HoloLens Will Run Windows Universal Apps

Brian P. Rubin -

Microsoft’s annual developer conference, Build, is nearly upon us. To get people excited, the company provided more details about one of its buzziest new devices: the HoloLens.

The new goodies come under the Frequently Asked Questions section toward the bottom of the HoloLens page, and they help clear up some confusion about just what the HoloLens is, and how it’ll work. Whereas earlier I thought the HoloLens was merely a peripheral for the PC that will give users a new way to interact with their computers, it turns out that the HoloLens is the computer:

“Microsoft HoloLens is the first holographic computer running Windows 10. It is completely untethered–no wires, phones, or connection to a PC needed. Microsoft HoloLens allows you to pin holograms in your physical environment and provides a new way to see your world.”

And so, since the HoloLens is the computer, the HoloLens will actually run Windows 10 apps and programs:

“With Windows 10, holograms are Windows universal apps, and all Windows universal apps work as holograms. Holograms in Windows 10 will lead to entirely new ways for us to communicate, create, and explore.”

This is pretty hard to wrap my head around. Holograms are universal apps, and universal apps are holograms? What? How, then, will I be able to use Microsoft Word on this thing? Will a magic holographic keyboard pop up in front of my hands and let me type a new document in the air? Will I dictate a letter to holographic Clippy, who’s sitting at a holographic typewriter?

A lot of this will still be rather opaque until after Build—and even then, it’s likely that seeing is believing. Without having hands-on experience, it’ll be hard to know just how HoloLens does or doesn’t work. One of my buddies is headed to Build at the end of the month, and I plan on grilling him about the HoloLens details when he returns. In the meantime, let’s imagine the holographic future of Excel, and the three-dimensional future of boring.

[Get Ready for Microsoft HoloLens at Build]