VR

I read this article and was intrigued given that it presented a much more mature version of VR technology than I had percieved. Like alot of people (I assume) I pictured VR being fuzzy, jinky and difficult to setup but the article painted a picture of a mature ecosystem that could be used for entertainment - but also for productivity.

So of course I had to immediately go and try this out. A few of my initial experiences below.

Cost

I went with the generally recommended Oculus Quest 2 which is expensive, but not outrageous ($299 USD). Additionally you will likely need to spend an additional ~$100 USD on accessories to improve Quest 2 comfort and connectivity.

Games and Apps on Oculus are a bit pricey (~$20+ USD) given many of them are not quite as polished as other traditional gaming system games. This is likely due to the smaller target audience and the pesky economies of scale.

Setup

Ridiculously easy. For both entertainment and productivity use-cases setup is extremely user-friendly. The Quest 2 has clearly spent significant time in refining setup and has designed the unit to be standalone meaning almost no cables or dependencies are need for startup.

Entertainment

Amazing. While content is still a bit limited there are plenty of amazing moments where you feel somewhat astounded by the experience - both in videos, environments and games. The device has been accessible for the entire family though we obviously need to provide some additional guidance to our 6 year old son (who once accidentally threw the controller across the room).

Productivity

Mixed. Immersed generally fulfills the promise of making your computer accessible within the VR environment and working (email, PPT, VS Code) and even teleconferencing can be done. But I think I would struggle a bit to do more than 1 hour in VR at this point given:

• Some fuzziness around text
• Some discomfort from VR head-set
• Some lag from VR to computer interface at times
• Have to be very good touch-typer since can’t see keyboard or mouse most of the time

Many of the above though are things I can possibly improve on - e.g. latency can be solved with Wifi Direct or a direct cable connection (vs. default Wifi connectivity) and discomfort can be likely fixed with improved accessories (currently in transit!).

Summary

I feel like I have not lived up to my “early adopter” credentials here. The VR technology is significantly better than I expected it to be and provides some moments that are quite literally amazing. Use for productivity has promise but may still be a little rough on the edges without a good amount of customization but it does provide a clear picture of what the future of work could look like.