Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      TCS | Revix founder Sean Sanders on the creation of Altify

      1 December 2023

      South Africa’s Revix is now Altify after big crypto merger

      1 December 2023

      One in 10 South Africans owns crypto

      1 December 2023

      Spar ‘ignored whistle-blower’ on botched SAP project

      1 December 2023

      IT Leadership Series: Shoprite Group head of digital tech Debbie Cunningham

      1 December 2023
    • World

      Musk’s Cybertruck is here – and it’s expensive

      1 December 2023

      ‘No chance’ of super-intelligent AI soon: Microsoft

      1 December 2023

      Microsoft developing Xbox store to take on Apple, Google

      1 December 2023

      ‘Go f… yourself’: Musk lashes out at fleeing advertisers

      30 November 2023

      Microsoft to take non-voting position on OpenAI board

      30 November 2023
    • In-depth

      Africa has a feature phone problem

      23 November 2023

      Is your ISP monitoring your online activity?

      10 November 2023

      The real Big Brother Africa

      2 November 2023

      Compared: Starlink prices around the world – including Africa

      30 October 2023

      Africa is booming

      30 October 2023
    • TCS

      TCS+ | OneTrust’s Joseph Byrne: privacy risk management done right

      29 November 2023

      TCS+ | Ricoh – safe and secure role in today’s digital ecosystems

      27 November 2023

      TCS+ | NEC XON on going toe to toe with cybercriminals

      22 November 2023

      TCS | How ShotSpotter is fighting gun crime in Cape Town

      13 November 2023

      TCS+ | SOC-as-a-service: CYBER1 SOC and the future of cybersecurity

      13 November 2023
    • Opinion

      Could Cape Town become Africa’s Silicon Valley?

      14 November 2023

      Chris Kruger: What I learnt in my decades in IT leadership

      6 November 2023

      Ransomware attacks: how South African companies should respond

      6 November 2023

      Fibre providers urged to go ‘nano’ to cut costs

      31 October 2023

      Big banks, take note: PayShap should be free

      20 October 2023
    • Company Hubs
      • 4IRI
      • Africa Data Centres
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Systems Integration
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • CallMiner
      • CoCre8
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • E4
      • Entelect
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • iKhokha
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • LSD Open
      • Maxtec
      • MiRO
      • NEC XON
      • Next DLP
      • Paratus
      • Ricoh
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Velocity Group
      • Videri Digital
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • E-commerce
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Metaverse and gaming
      • Motoring and transport
      • Open-source software
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » World » Microsoft’s own metaverse is coming – and it will have PowerPoint

    Microsoft’s own metaverse is coming – and it will have PowerPoint

    By Agency Staff2 November 2021
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    “Mesh for Teams users can take their avatars into immersive spaces to experience those serendipitous encounters that spark innovation,” says Microsoft

    If you’re worried the metaverse will be all fun and games, fear not: Microsoft is taking its own stab at the idea, and it will have PowerPoint and Excel.

    The company is adapting its signature software products to create a more corporate version of the metaverse — a concept promoted by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg that promises to let users live, work and play within interconnected virtual worlds.

    The first offering, a version of Microsoft’s Teams chat and conferencing program that features digital avatars, is in testing now and will be available in the first half of 2022. Customers will be able to share Office files and features, like PowerPoint decks, in the virtual world.

    A version of Microsoft’s Teams chat program that features digital avatars, is in testing now

    “This pandemic has made the commercial use cases much more mainstream, even though sometimes the consumer stuff feels like science fiction,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. Nadella himself has used the technology to visit a Covid-19 ward in a UK hospital, a Toyota manufacturing plant and even the international space station, he said.

    The new Teams features, unveiled on Tuesday at the company’s Ignite conference, will let businesses create immersive spaces where workers can meet. The technology uses Microsoft software announced earlier this year called Mesh that enables augmented reality and virtual reality experiences across a variety of goggles, including Microsoft’s own HoloLens. Customers who lack a device capable of displaying 3D images can experience the content and avatars in 2D.

    Real-world uses

    The public perception of the metaverse — as a futuristic world where plugged-in people recreate their whole lives online — is still a way off. But the business uses are starting to be available now, Nadella said.

    Accenture used Microsoft software to create a “digital twin” of its headquarters in order to run orientations for new employees during the pandemic. The consulting firm has run more than 100 such events, reaching more than 10 000 employees, said Microsoft vice president Jared Spataro.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev created copies of its brewing operations and supply chain that are synchronised with the actual facilities and based on up-to-date information. The system lets brewers adjust to changing conditions and helps operators keep the packaging machines up and and running. Microsoft wants to sell more cloud software that lets customers ranging from retailers to manufacturers do this.

    Satya Nadella

    “You could, for instance, experience a Best Buy store in the metaverse” and check out displays and devices, Spataro said. “Today when you think of a website, it is not very well connected to the physicality of what we experience.”

    To that end, Microsoft also unveiled a product called Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces on Tuesday. It will let people move and interact within retail and factory spaces.

    While Microsoft is leading with corporate applications for the metaverse, expect its Xbox gaming platform to take part in the future, Nadella said.

    If you take Halo as a game, it is a metaverse. Minecraft is a metaverse, and so is Flight Sim

    “You can absolutely expect us to do things in gaming,” he said “If you take Halo as a game, it is a metaverse. Minecraft is a metaverse, and so is Flight Sim. In some sense, they are 2D today, but the question is, can you now take that to a full 3D world, and so we absolutely plan to do so.”

    Microsoft’s metaverse apps will work with the Oculus googles made by Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook. But it’s not yet clear how various companies’ visions of the metaverse will be able to connect. If, say, Nadella and Zuckerberg wanted to meet up in the metaverse, would they have to choose either Microsoft’s Teams or Meta’s Horizon Workroom?

    Microsoft is focused on practical applications of the metaverse — ones where the benefits are clear, Nadella said. And that will help get people get accustomed to an idea that some critics call creepy.

    “There is nothing creepy about visiting a Covid ward remotely for a doctor to be able to help their patients, or to be able to do remote assistance in a manufacturing line in a time of Covid crisis when that manufacturing line needs to be fixed by an engineer working from home,” he said.

    At the Ignite conference, Microsoft also announced:

    • Azure OpenAI, a cloud-based service that lets customers — by invitation only for now — use the system’s powerful artificial intelligence models.
    • New Teams features for working and chatting with users and groups outside a particular corporate network.
    • Loop, a new application that operates across different programs to collect files, links and data from other apps into a single workspace.  — Reported by Dina Bass and Emily Chang, (c) 2021 Bloomberg LP
    Facebook Microsoft Satya Nadella
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleSouth Africa is again on the brink of load shedding, Eskom warns
    Next Article EOH is set to emerge as a much smaller group

    Related Posts

    Musk’s Cybertruck is here – and it’s expensive

    1 December 2023

    ‘No chance’ of super-intelligent AI soon: Microsoft

    1 December 2023

    Microsoft developing Xbox store to take on Apple, Google

    1 December 2023
    Promoted

    Unsecured lending: the key to unlocking SME potential in South Africa

    1 December 2023

    Sasfin | Empower your future with strategic investment accounts

    1 December 2023

    5G home broadband a big opportunity for African operators

    30 November 2023
    Opinion

    Could Cape Town become Africa’s Silicon Valley?

    14 November 2023

    Chris Kruger: What I learnt in my decades in IT leadership

    6 November 2023

    Ransomware attacks: how South African companies should respond

    6 November 2023

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2023 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.