TECH NEWS – Microsoft will soon deliver the first batch of the headsets in a $22-billion deal to the US military.

Microsoft’s HoloLens is the Redmond company’s augmented reality (AR) headset and was first seen by the public in 2015. The tech company is keeping quiet about a consumer launch, while there has been much more interest from the US military. In 2018, a $480 million deal was announced to help Microsoft “increase lethality” in combat missions. Then in 2021 came the official agreement, which will provide the military with $22 billion worth of military-grade HoloLens.

Since then, some time has passed, but Bloomberg has now reported that Microsoft has begun shipping HoloLens to the military. The delay was because the system needed some fine-tuning to be ready to meet the Army’s expectations… while there was a bit of turbulence in the HoloLens team and management, which was also a setback. The HoloLens puts a display in front of us that provides information through a system called IVAS. The Integrated Audio Visual System is similar to what a fighter pilot sees, for example, because it is a display built into the helmet. What’s more, HoloLens also has night vision.

The display can identify structures, measure distance or highlight moving objects, so it’s a valuable technology. It looks like a video game interface, which sounds scary because real people’s lives could be at stake when using it. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said after the employee protest: “We made a principled decision that we’re not going to withhold technology from institutions that we have elected in democracies to protect the freedoms we enjoy.”

It would be better, however, to consider where else the technology could be usefully applied. Perhaps it could be of greater use in healthcare, no?

Source: PCGamer