Windows comes to the Meta Quest

If Windows in mixed reality sounds like your idea of a good time, rejoice. Microsoft said on Tuesday at Microsoft Ignite 2024 it’s bringing the “full capabilities” of Windows 11 to the Meta Quest 3 and Quest 3S in December as part of a public preview.

“Full capabilities,” in this context, means that you’ll be able to access a local Windows PC or cloud instance of Windows (via Windows 365) from a Quest headset. Microsoft says it only takes “seconds” to connect, and likens the experience to a “private, high-quality, large, multi-monitor workstation.” We’ll be the judge of that.

Supported apps in this new Windows modality extend into 3D space — a capability enabled by what Microsoft is calling Volumetric Apps. During a demo in May, Microsoft showed off a digital exploded view of an Xbox controller from the perspective of a Quest 3 wearer — an object that the wearer could manipulate with their hands.

Developers can sign up to receive access to an API that allows them to build plug-ins for new or existing 3D Windows desktop apps.

Microsoft has teased Windows content for Quest as far back as 2022, when it said it would partner with Meta to bring select Windows apps including Microsoft Teams to Meta headsets. Last December, Microsoft launched Microsoft 365 productivity features from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on the Quest, and brought its video game streaming service, Xbox Cloud Gaming, to the hardware.

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