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What makes you think Microsoft intended to keep hololens-class devices manufacturing to themselves? This could be a relationship just like PC OEMs like Lenovo

What makes you think Microsoft intended to keep hololens-class devices manufacturing to themselves? This could be a relationship just like PC OEMs like Lenovo already have, licensing things with a royalty. The prominence of the AR apps in windows (preinstalled in many cases) well before the hardware that Microsoft made themselves was ready for mass adoption makes it clear that they want Windows and that ecosystem to have a play in AR and VR. We've seen hardware plays like this in the past with the Surface design which seems to have too odd of a cadence and release cycle to be purely motivated as a product offering. The design was meant to be an influence on the market, which helped windows machines remain relevant in a space where Apple sees devices like the iPad fitting.

taneq 7y ago
> What makes you think Microsoft intended to keep hololens-class devices manufacturing to themselves? Nothing, but they'll be wanting HoloLens-class devices to be running Windows. This thing runs Android. > We've seen hardware plays like this in the past with the Surface design which seems to have too odd of a cadence and release cycle to be purely motivated as a product offering. As you say, the Surface was aimed squarely at heading high end iOS devices off at the pass. Microsoft doesn't care too much about hardware. They care a whole heckin' lot about Windows. (Just like Valve with Steam, for instance.) The hardware is ephemeral, owning the platform is where it's at.
- HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
  And their fancy Windows core thingy (I'm sorry, I've forgotten the name) that makes everything rely on the same core code but with different UI things. Platforms are great, and I'm honestly pretty pumped about Microsoft's more-open-source future.
- Haga 7y ago
  Introducing the Android subsystem for windows
- zyx321 7y ago
  The platform that Microsoft wants to push is not just Windows. It's Azure. The HoloLens 2 keynote made a big deal out of opening the ecosystem to Apple and Android clients.
  - WorldMaker 7y ago
    Yeah, Microsoft thinks that Azure can be the backplane/glue binding all the AR ecosystems and the various overlays you may want shared between experiences. (Which is often an interesting Big Deal in cyberpunk novels; it's not the hardware or the operating system, it is who controls the database connecting the real and virtual worlds.)
- WorldMaker 7y ago
  > Nothing, but they'll be wanting HoloLens-class devices to be running Windows. This thing runs Android. The article states that Lenovo doesn't have strong opinions about which OS the hardware runs, so it sounds like Lenovo has hedged to also support Windows on the hardware when the time comes that Windows on ARM is out of Beta (around the time that the HoloLens 2 releases?). Microsoft will still have a play to convince people to buy the Lenovo hardware and run Windows on it, the hardware sounds classed to be capable of it, and that's probably a good competition for all involved.

taneq 7y ago

> What makes you think Microsoft intended to keep hololens-class devices manufacturing to themselves? Nothing, but they'll be wanting HoloLens-class devices to be running Windows. This thing runs Android. > We've seen hardware plays like this in the past with the Surface design which seems to have too odd of a cadence and release cycle to be purely motivated as a product offering. As you say, the Surface was aimed squarely at heading high end iOS devices off at the pass. Microsoft doesn't care too much about hardware. They care a whole heckin' lot about Windows. (Just like Valve with Steam, for instance.) The hardware is ephemeral, owning the platform is where it's at.

HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
And their fancy Windows core thingy (I'm sorry, I've forgotten the name) that makes everything rely on the same core code but with different UI things. Platforms are great, and I'm honestly pretty pumped about Microsoft's more-open-source future.
Haga 7y ago
Introducing the Android subsystem for windows
zyx321 7y ago
The platform that Microsoft wants to push is not just Windows. It's Azure. The HoloLens 2 keynote made a big deal out of opening the ecosystem to Apple and Android clients.
- WorldMaker 7y ago
  Yeah, Microsoft thinks that Azure can be the backplane/glue binding all the AR ecosystems and the various overlays you may want shared between experiences. (Which is often an interesting Big Deal in cyberpunk novels; it's not the hardware or the operating system, it is who controls the database connecting the real and virtual worlds.)
WorldMaker 7y ago
> Nothing, but they'll be wanting HoloLens-class devices to be running Windows. This thing runs Android. The article states that Lenovo doesn't have strong opinions about which OS the hardware runs, so it sounds like Lenovo has hedged to also support Windows on the hardware when the time comes that Windows on ARM is out of Beta (around the time that the HoloLens 2 releases?). Microsoft will still have a play to convince people to buy the Lenovo hardware and run Windows on it, the hardware sounds classed to be capable of it, and that's probably a good competition for all involved.